As someone who has sat on every side of the funding table for the more than 20 years, working with big and small organizations, writing big and small grants and proposals, giving big and small amounts of money and support, I have learned a few lessons. From writing successful proposals for multi-million dollar federal programs, to evaluating the impact of programs at the local, state, and national level, to working with small non-profits who have yet to receive their first awards, I love the grant writing process. I love getting resources into the hands of people who do good work. I love using my academic and professional experience to build capacity and create positive change. I have won more grants than I have lost. I have received funding and awards from prestigious sources. I have funded great work across the entire United States. I have seen non-profit leaders grow and develop in ways I can only describe as monumental – for themselves, their organizations, and their communities. It is in the spirit of gratitude for all that I have learned that I offer these grant writing thoughts.

5 Things That Every Non-Profit Should Know About Grant Writing

Tell Your Story Well

Without exception, every successful grant I have written has come from telling the story well. Know your organization inside and out. Know the problem the grant will solve. Know the need the funds will meet. Know the community that is being served. Know the specific way participants will benefit. Part of the story also includes knowing the program activity in such detail that a complete stranger (and possibly a skeptic) will understand what the program is and why it needs to happen. I have witnessed that telling your story is often difficult for people knee deep in doing the work. Knowing the story and telling the story are different tasks. Telling the story takes time. (I often this say to non-profit leaders who do not allow room to breathe during the grant writing task.)

Know Your Theory of Change

The heart of a program’s story is it’s theory of change. Over the years, a theory of change has been called different things, particularly in relation to a program logic model. Throughout its evolution, a theory of change has remained simply this – If we do X activity, then X outcome will happen in the short term, X outcome will happen in the mid-term, and X outcome will happen in the long term. A theory of change is a road map that says that you, as non-profit leader, know what you are doing and where you are going. Knowing what you are doing and where you are going is a first step toward convincing someone to give you money to help you do what you want to do and go where you want to go.

Know Your Impact

You don’t have to wait until you can pay for a quasi-experimental program evaluation to understand your program impact. Keeping track of the basic numbers – program participants and volunteers, hours of direct service, retention rates, program attendance – can be a start. Asking program participants about their experience is one way to think about individual program impact. Asking community members about their experience with the program is one way to think about impact more broadly. Impact data can be a qualitative collection and analysis of interview and focus group information. It can be the results of surveys and more standardized instruments. It can be publicly-collected statistics about the who, what, and where of your work – what is happening around your program that establishes a context and need for the work. Creating a clearly understood definition of program impact is central to grant writing success.

Building Traction Is Key

I have learned the lesson of traction in funding over many years. Traction is critical to receiving grants. The lesson of traction goes like this: small grants are like the small rocks and gravel that give wheels something on which to grab/grip on the road toward bigger grants. Traction is your story. Traction is the relationships you develop with funders. Traction is your evidence of impact. Traction is your sources of funding like individual donations and small grants. Small grants pave the way for larger grants.

All Hat and No Cattle

In Texas they have a saying. When someone is boastful and not substantive they say they are,”All hat and no cattle.” As a former funder, this rings particularly true in the grant writing world. When specifics don’t appear. When promises are too big. When adjectives are more common than nouns and verbs. When there is no evidence base. When the past results are not front and center. It is not difficult to discern that the grant or report represents “all hat and no cattle” work. The tension between grant writing and marketing rears its well intentioned, but ugly, head in this space. Good grant writing dances elegantly between effectively marketing a program or service and fact-based storytelling. In general, the larger the grant the more cattle required.

“Do not hurry; do not rest.”

I will end with the words of a wise mentor from early in my career. Quoting Goethe, she told me, “Do not hurry; do not rest.” I have carried that with me along my path, and it has been particularly helpful as a grant writer. As a grant writer, it has meant I don’t hurry through the story I am trying to tell, I am always on the look out for potential funding and data sources, and I stay connected to the heart of the work. I hope these thoughts help you connect to your work more deeply, build capacity beyond your most ambitious strategic plan, and change our world in positive and meaningful ways.