A questions most nonprofits ask all the time: Should we apply for this grant? The answer is about more than mission alignment; when swept up in the possibility of a lucrative grant, these basic strategies are are often forgotten. Use the steps below to determine whether you should apply:

Eligibility

• Starting with the obvious, review the grant guidelines – all of them! I’ve found very limiting eligibility criteria hidden in small print, at the end of the text, on a linked web page, in the downloadable .pdf but not on the web site, etc. If confused, contact the grantor.

• Review past grantees’ projects, looking for identify potential alignment with your ideas/concepts. Do previous recipients have similar projects? similar geographical service areas? similar demographics?  

Talk to an agent

If you the grantor allows, talk to one of their agents! Discuss your ideas for the grant via a video call (preferred) or a phone call. Sometimes agents can be quite candid and their responses can be key to helping you decide if the grant is worth pursuing. If they won’t provide a direct opinion, be aware of their facial and voice cues; this is less reliable but can sometimes give you clues to the ideas that are of most interest to the funder.

Return on investment (ROI) & likelihood of success

• In a call, by email or researched, ask this: What is the total dollar amount available to grantees? then ask: What is the average amount granted to recipients? This helps you determine if the most likely granted amount will be worth your efforts.

• Similar to the above, ask: How many applicants are anticipated? then ask: How many will likely be successful? Also check the number of successful grants in each of the past few years. If most applications are successful, and the average amount granted works for you, continue investigating the opportunity. Often, this information is often available only upon request; ask early for this as soon as possible in case the grantor takes a long time to respond.

Your Internal capacity

• Sometimes we forget to triage our work. When your team has the time, you are able to write and apply for grants that you wouldn’t usually consider. In these times, you might consider potential grants that are less directly aligned, give lower dollar amounts, or are more competitive.

• Even when your team is very busy, sometimes we need to make the time there are grants with potentially high likelihood of success. If there is a way to get it in by the deadline, either a) find the time to apply, or b) hire a grant-writer to write it for you. I often use AI to help, but be sure to edit the results so the writing fits with your organizational culture and program language.

Summary: After considering all of this, if the potential grant still look positive, it’s time for your team to write and submit that Letter of Intent, proposal, or application!