Over the past few years, I have noticed that grant applications are increasingly requesting links and handles to social media accounts.
There are a few reasons for this:
- Grant funders want to see if your organization is engaged and active. If the most recent post they see is from two years ago, they aren’t reassured that your programs are active.
- Pictures tell stories. Since social media is mainly comprised of photos and videos, social media provides an opportunity to see what your programming looks like on a visual level.
- The consistency and quality of your social media posts can give funders a sense of how professional your organization is.
- What is the engagement like? Does the social profile have 20K followers or 23? Does the community engage with the social profile? These types of things matter to funders.
When the application requests the organization’s social media profiles, it matters to the funders. If the funder awards a limited number of competitive grants, the decision may come down to social media presence.
Grant writers don’t typically control an organization’s social media strategy, but we can influence it.
Here are a few things you can do if you feel the organization’s social media is hurting your chances of winning grants:
- Only include the strongest social profiles on the grant application. (One of my clients only has 4 followers on X, so I never include that one.)
- Discuss with your Executive Director and let them know that social media is becoming increasingly important to funders. Offer a few suggestions for the posts funders like to see and why.
- Ask to sit in on the marketing meetings and offer strategies from a grant funding perspective. Hopefully, the marketing team will incorporate ideas that will help instill confidence in grant funders.
Until next time,
Write Epic Grants
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