Recently, I have seen a lot of buzz about “grant success rates” and some debate about what that even means and how to calculate it.
There are two main ideas about this:
- Win Rate=Total Grant Revenue/Total Grant Ask Amount
- Win Rate=Total # of Grants Awarded/Total # of Grant Applications
The first method values the grant awards over the number of grants; the second values the number of grants awarded and doesn’t consider the total revenue.
Which calculation is correct? Nobody knows. And the answer is really- it depends.
The Grant Professionals Association uses the number of grants with no regard to revenue and they found that the average success rate is 15%.
I work with small non-profits who want to grow their grant budgets from $0, so I calculate my win rate by dividing the number of awarded grants by the number of grant applications. My win rate using this formula is 36-38%. Once I have worked with a client for a few years and we are winning recurring grant awards from funders, they can expect this number to grow to around 50%+.
I use this formula for a few reasons. Since I work with non-profits that are fairly new to the grant world, they want to know what to expect from me. When I tell them that they can expect me to win 36% of the grants I write in the first couple of years, that makes sense to them.
Grant Writing Tip of the Day
Include testimonials to add authenticity to your success stories.
While tracking revenue from grants is important, opening the door to new grant opportunities is equally important, especially for small organizations.
I wrote a foundation grant two years ago for a small organization. I asked for $30,000, and we were awarded $5,000. Using the first calculation would yield a low success rate. However, when I reapplied in year two, we were awarded the full $30,000. This year, we will ask for more and likely get it. That’s a big win in my book.
Even winning a small grant award opens the door to larger awards in the coming years. The more of those doors we can open, the more successful we will be in the long run.
Until next time,
Write Epic Grants