| The Ten Most Common Reasons
Grants are Declined (from Grantseeker.com Learning
Library)
1. "The organization does not meet
our priorities."
2. "The organization
is not located in our geographic area of funding."
3. "The proposal does not follow
our prescribed format."
4. "The proposal is poorly written and difficult to understand."
5. "The proposed budget/grant request
is not within our funding range."
6. "We don't know these people. Are they credible?"
7. "The proposal doesn't seem urgent. I'm not sure it'll
have an impact."
8. "The objectives and plan of action of the project
greatly exceed the budget and timelines for implementation."
9. "We've allocated all the money for this grant cycle."
10. "There is not enough evidence that the program
will become self-sufficient and sustain itself after
the grant is completed."
The Grant Research Process
Proposal writing is only one part of the grant-writing
process; bad proposals account for 4 of the top 10
reasons grants are declined. Bad research accounts
for 4 of the top 5 reasons grants are declined. Poor
research could be the result of an inexperienced grant
writer or a grantwriter in a hurry to crank out as
many grants as possible as quickly as possible. This
shotgun approach doesn’t usually work; you end
up wasting not only your time, but the grantor’s
time as they have to sift through and discard hundreds
of applications that just don’t match their
guidelines.
I like to do a 3-tiered approach. First, I gather
the raw data. I sift through the various grant directories
online using their descriptions to judge whether there
may be a match; as I find matches I cut and paste
basic info into an Excel spreadsheet. Then I look
up local nonprofits that are similar to mine and see
if they have donor acknowledgement sections on their
websites and note those names in the Excel spreadsheet
as well.
Second, I locate their websites (if they weren’t
listed) and visit every website skimming through the
Grant Guidelines or Requirements section of each one
to verify we fit into a particular funding priority
(listing that matching priority in the spreadsheet)
and noting any geographic restrictions listed and
due dates. As I go, I quickly rate each grant opportunity
as Excellent, Good, Okay, or No, based on my first
impressions. If I can’t find a website I figure
they don’t want to be found and I mark it a
No.
Then I go back to each one marked Excellent, Good,
or Okay and do more thorough research. That means
reading every section of their grants program. I note
keywords or phrases that I want to repeat throughout
my proposal in the spreadsheet. I doublecheck the
following: |
