Home Library Translate
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Fundraising for Nonprofits

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

GRANTS: FREE MONEY – NOT QUITE !! (Part One)

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on May 14, 2010

 
Every day, thousands of non-profit organizations, believing that their financial problems are soon to be over, generate/send proposals that receive, at best, a brief reading.

Contrary to popular belief and unlike the grants Mr. Question-Mark touts in the TV ads, grants to non-profit organizations are not free-money. Grants come with a variety of obligations. Corporations, foundations and government agencies don’t just give it away. It takes more than mailing applications and waiting for the checks to arrive.

To Get Funded, you must know how to tell your story. You need a well-written narrative that tells:
• How and why and by whom your organization was created;
• The community needs you have been serving and/or intend to serve;
• Why there is a need to create/expand your program, and how you will do that;
• How successful you’ve been; and,
• Specific funding needs for all aspects of your operation.

The vast majority of grantors want to see your audited financial reports and your budgets. They want to know where the rest of your funding is from, and you will need to prove that you are fiscally responsible, can be trusted and that you operate in a business-like manner.

Funders want to know who your leaders are — trustees, volunteers and staff. And, they want to see if/how those people are financially supporting the organization.

You must also be able to tell the funders:
• How your mission/project(s) meets their guidelines;
• How your mission/project(s) will make a significant difference to the community;
• How their funding will help create a project/program that will become self-sustaining; (Remember, most funders don’t’ want to adopt you. Funding is designed to help you create something. You’ll then have to learn how to generate the ongoing funding by yourselves.) and,
• In the case of corporate funding, how the relationship will benefit the corporation — how it will impact their bottom line.

=====================
Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet the Blog’s Host

Hank Lewis with Development Consultant Associates has over thirty years as a fundraising consultant and is a specialist in Board and Leadership Development, Capital Campaign, Bequest Program and Major Gifts. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts

  • Show Me … Don’t Tell Me: Say It With Video
  • Video – An Often Overlooked Development Tool
  • Using Video in the Development Process … And Increasing Dollars
  • Corporation Solicitation Programs: Not For Every Nonprofit
  • The Gift Table: An Essential Fundraising Tool
  • The Planning Study: Implementation
  • The Planning Study: Conceptualizing & Preparing
  • Leadership: The Key to a Successful Major Gifts Program
  • Ensuring The Future of Your Nonprofit: Major Gifts Are The Way
  • Top Ten “Rules” of Fundraising

Categories of Posts

  • Accounting For Fundraising
  • Basics and Overviews
  • Board and Fundraising
  • Fundraising & Social Media
  • Fundraising Basics: Concepts & Philosophy
  • Fundraising: Beyond The Basics
  • Fundraising: Capital Campaigns
  • Fundraising: Consultants
  • Fundraising: Corporate
  • Fundraising: Database/Software
  • Fundraising: Direct Response
  • Fundraising: Grants
  • Fundraising: Hiring Development Staff
  • Fundraising: Major Gifts
  • Fundraising: Millennials In Development
  • Fundraising: Planned Giving
  • Fundraising: Planning
  • Fundraising: Special Events
  • Fundraising: The Combined Federal Campaign
  • Uncategorized

Related Library Topics

  • Boards of Directors
  • Capacity Building
  • Consultants (Using)
  • Executive Director Role
  • Financial Management
  • Fundraising and Grantwriting
  • Marketing
  • Program Evaluation
  • Program Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Staffing
  • Starting Nonprofits
  • Strategic Planning
  • Taxation
  • Volunteers

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development
About Feedback Legal Privacy Policy Contact Us
Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC ®; All rights reserved.
  • Graphics by Wylde Hare LLC
  • Website maintained by Caitlin Cahill

By continuing to use this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.X