Our Tips for Efficient Grant Writing
The grant writing is time consuming for nonprofit staff and volunteers. And more often than not, we are working with limited resources to put into extensive research, gathering documents and relevant data, writing the proposal, and going through revisions and final submission. following advice could save you hours of work, helping you to streamline the process without sacrificing quality!
First, check out our FREE Grant Readiness Checklist to ensure that your organization has a tool to keep track of what is still needed to be “grant ready.”
Five Steps To Efficient Grant Writing:
Step 1: Identify Your Funding Priorities and Fundraising Targets
Focusing on the 1-3 most important funding needs will help streamline the following steps. If you are not going into your grant writing process having identified a list of your nonprofit’s funding priorities and fundraising targets for each funding need, we suggest you start by reading our blog post on How to Start Writing Grants. Once you’ve read that you’ll be ready to jump right back in here!
Prepare a list or spreadsheet with titles for your specific funding priorities and note what type of category of grant you’re searching for and the fundraising target. If you’re not sure what we mean by general operating grants, capital investment grants, and program support grants, we recommend you check out our blog post on the Three Types of Grants for Nonprofits before moving on to grant research. Here is an example of the kind of list you may create:
You can use this document to track any funding that you secure through grants, donors, or fundraisers, or this may simply be a helpful reference document for getting organized before jumping into research.
Step 2: Grant Research
The Initial Search
The time spent on this stage of the grant writing process will greatly depend on what tools you have access to and what approach you take. There are many grant databases out there you can use for free and a few options which have subscription-based access too. You can also use a simple google search to find many great grant opportunities. Since this is the most accessible option, we have one essential piece of advice for finding a varied list of grant options.
Use AI to generate a list of search terms by providing it with a brief summary of your organization (your mission statement, any regional focus, and target population should be plenty) and the funding priority you are searching for which you are searching for grants. AI should generate a list of search terms that you can plug into the search engine of your choice, and by using a variety of words and phrases in your search you will double, triple, or quadruple what you find during your search without having to come up with that list yourself.
NOTE: You should not put any information into AI that would violate security clearance, non-disclosure agreements, proprietary information, etc.
Use a grant database such as GrantWatch, GrantStation, Candid, or Instrumentl are a few popular options, most of which you will need to pay for a subscription. If you’re not ready to commit to paying for a GrantWatch database, we suggest checking if your local library has access to a statewide or nation-wide grant database on their public computers.
What to Look For
When reviewing grant information, look for theses key pieces of information:
Type of Grant(s): General Operating Support (Unrestricted Funding), Capital Funding, Program Support, In-Kind Donations, Grant Loans (Must be paid back), Reimbursement Grants (will reimburse the nonprofit for expenses)
Regional Focus: National, State, County, City, a combination? You may have to search the funder’s website for this information
Funding Priorities: These could be extremely specific or quite broad. Consider that broad funding priorities may mean there will be more eligible applicants submitting proposals (more fish in the pool)
Funding Amount: Ask yourself if the grant application process is worth the potential award amount.
Deadline: Is there an open grant cycle? Has the deadline passed? Do you have a reasonable amount of time to work on a proposal before the due date?
This is enough information to gather for an initial list of opportunities. Once you’ve found 8-12 that have potential you can return to do a second round of research where you do a deeper dive to determine if the grant is an excellent fit, a good fit, or not a fit at all. This is also where you can tap in a colleague who can get a second pair of eyes on the grant opportunity. Sometimes other people catch important details that we miss!
Keep Track of Your Research
Make a note of each grant’s submission deadline in your calendar, and set a reminder at least 4 weeks before the due date so you don’t forget to give yourself plenty of time to write it.
In your research make sure to keep record of the grants you find that are not a good fit, so that you don’t waste time reviewing the same grant opportunity multiple times just to come to the same conclusion that it doesn’t work for your funding needs.
Have some backup grants because opportunities will randomly close and/or shift towards the end of the year as more and more private funding is allocated. When grants have a rolling deadline they will likely close when all of that year’s funding has been awarded. There are plenty of grants that open their grant cycles in Q4, so keep track of these for end of the year grants.
Would you like help with grant research?
When we go through the process of Grant Research with our clients, we deliver a personalized in depth report with extensive notes on the funder’s details, giving history, grant eligibility, funding priorities, and our assessment of whether it is an excellent fit, a good fit, or not a good fit - and why! This can save you and your team a trip down the grant search rabbit hole. If you would like support with this process, you can learn more about our Grant Research Service.
Step 3: Gathering Required Documentation
Most funders will require a fairly standard list of required documents from grant applicants. We recommend you spend 1-2 weeks gathering all of the necessary documentation to support your grant proposals and making sure they are the most up to date version of said document.
Starting this process early in the year can set you up for a much smoother grant writing experience. It is not uncommon to find out the version of your nonprofit’s 990 on file is outdated, or that your list of board members needs to be changed. Ensure you have the proper information as early on in the process as possible!
Required Documents commonly include:
Proof of 501(c)(3) status, usually in the form of your nonprofit’s IRS Letter of Determination
Your most recent 990 form
A complete list of your Board of Directors, including their names, affiliations, how long they’ve served, and potential whether they financially contribute to the organization
A board approved organizational budget
A project budget (if applicable)
A few examples of common additional documents, which may be required or optional:
A Strategic Plan
Leadership resumes or bios
Legal documentation of collaborators (MOUs)
We suggest you download our FREE Grant Readiness Checklist to explore the comprehensive list of necessary documentation to start off strong on your grantseeking Journey.
Step 4: Develop A Clear Problem Statement for Each Funding Priority
Your grant proposals will likely differ from application to application, but the core problem your nonprofit is solving will often remain consistent - at least among applications for the same funding need. A well-articulated problem statement is an essential part of securing grant funding for your nonprofit. By weaving together impactful stories and hard data, you paint a vivid picture of the problem your organization is working to address. You can leverage this opportunity to establish why your problem is worth addressing.
We recommend that you read our blog post on How to Write a Powerful Problem Statement to learn more about this critical piece of your grant writing process.
If you find yourself completing a very demanding grant application, it is also a great idea to save the body of that proposal to draw upon for future grants. This is a common practice, to essentially “recycle strong language,” but keep in mind that it is essential that you do your research on how a funder’s priorities and history aligns with your proposed project or other funding. Copy and Pasting the same response to similar questions will come off as impersonal and fail to leave grant evaluators wanting to support you in your efforts.
In simple terms: Don’t sacrifice a compelling personalized grant application for time efficiency by recycling generic answers.
Step 5: Pace Yourself & Create A Plan
Crunching all of your grant applications into the first half of the year can seem like a great idea, until you’re overwhelmed with 4 grants due at the end of Q1 and Q2 and then you’re left to wait from funders who will often take months to select winning proposals. Crunching all of your grant proposals into Q4 after a sudden realization that your reserves are running low also leaves you scrambling for grants when most private funding has already been allocated for the year.
In our experience, we have found that the ideal number of grant submissions for your funding need is 6-10 grants before mid-November. That's less than 2 submissions each month!
Keep in mind that many (not all) grant applications tend to be due by the end of Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4. That doesn’t mean you have to write them all at the same time!
Create a schedule for yourself where you can allocate two weeks to each grant, ensuring that grants will be submitted by their due date which you have proactively noted in your calendar (Good job!).
You may want to prioritize any larger or excellent fit grants that accept proposals on a rolling basis into those initial months of the year when private foundations still have plenty of funding left!
Make sure you check that you have a username & password for each unique grant portal, so you’re not left waiting for your colleague who has access to the right email to set it up for you at the last minute.
How We Can Help
All of these steps are meant to minimize the often stressful elements of the grant search and grant writing process. We gently remind you that grant writing is a marathon, not a sprint! Take it one step at a time, and if this process goes beyond what you and your staff can take on yourselves, consider hiring a professional grant writer! You can read more about this topics in our blog posts:
This is also a process we are PASSIONATE about!
Crafting unique, data driven, narratives that get at the heart and soul of what your nonprofit works so hard to accomplish is what we are here for. If you believe your team could use support with the grant writing process, please explore Our Grant Readiness, Grant Research, and Grant Writing Services page and get in touch to discuss whether we would be the right fit for you.