When I made the decision to start this newsletter, I promised myself that I would talk about the good AND the bad of non-profit grant writing.
I have been doing this for 20+ years and am very pleased with my growth and successes, but it isn’t always fun.
Eight months ago, I was approached by a small, two-year-old non-profit with a very worthy cause that I could personally relate to in my own life. I wasn’t looking to take on another client, but I felt strongly that I could quickly generate grant funding for this org.
We had the intro call, where I asked questions to ensure the org was grant-ready. I specifically asked if they could upload specific financial docs to a Google Drive folder. They agreed. They also let me know that they only had one staff member. No problem. I ensured they had a current budget, and we were off to the races.
Grant Writing Tip of the Day
Develop and explain a clear evaluation plan to show how you will measure the success and impact of your program.
The organization had never applied for any grants, so I was starting with $0 grant revenue. My retainer agreement was that I would research and write 3 grants per month for a $2000/month retainer. After one year, we would adjust the contract to add reporting.
My plan of action was to go for the low-hanging fruit first. I applied for small ($1K-$5K) local grants. After that, I would use the smaller awards to leverage larger grants.
Within the first 45 days, we were awarded $8K. During months 3 and 4, we were awarded an additional $6K. At this point we still had 8+ grant proposals pending a decision. I felt optimistic about the future.
During month 4, things began to go south. I was scheduled to apply for a few larger state grants. I requested updated financials and was told they would take 2 months to get from their bookkeeper. I also asked for payroll financials for their staff member and was told they don’t actually have a paid staff member.
This revelation removed 4 big grants from my grant schedule because we were unable to meet the grant guidelines without this information.
At this point, they had paid me $8K and had received $14K in grant awards, so they were ahead, and I didn’t want to give up. I had to pivot.
I began looking for more obscure grants. I found a list of foundations that required a proposal letter to be snail-mailed to them. This seemed like a great way to win a few awards while they got their crap together.
I wrote a few proposal letters and emailed them over to my client for mailing. I asked them to use envelopes with their return address and to include a copy of their impact report and IRS Determination Letter.
They refused. They “didn’t have the bandwidth to mail proposals.” OK. I let them know that I am happy to mail them. I asked them to please send me 20 return addresses and 20 printed copies of their impact report and letter.
They refused. WTH!?
During months 5 and 6 we were awarded $5K more, so the total was up to $19K in 6 months. I received an email letting me know that they no longer needed my services because they realized that they had internal issues that needed to be addressed before they could focus on grant funding.
I was relieved. They had tied my hands. Very few grant opportunities exist for organizations without a staff member or updated financials.
We both honored our 30-day termination clause and then we parted ways. Although it didn’t end the way I wanted, I was proud of the work I had done. They had paid me $14K, and they were awarded $19K, so they were still ahead.
Following my last month of service, I received notification that they had been awarded $8K more. There are still 6 pending grant applications, so that number could continue to climb.
I don’t understand their decision because we were off to a great start. I left the door open for my services in the future, and then I let it go.
Until next time,
Write Epic Grants