Don't Skip the Basics: Tips for Grant Writers in Tough Times and Beyond

As we have said for years, when times are tough you can always win and succeed by going back to the basics. Sure. You still have to know the basics, right? 

At Drew & Associates, sticking to the basics means realizing that your time with any funder is going to be exceedingly short and that you will also be competing against other charities for the resources of the same funders. This means you have no choice except to develop a winning theme. This theme must call attention to your strengths, distract attention from your weaknesses. It must also call attention to your competitor's weaknesses and undermine their strengths. 

For example, if you are competing against an established charity with a large number of employees, then you need to stress that your volunteers are not only better role-models for your clients but also have better social networks in the larger community too. You should also mention that your volunteers are saving you money so that more of your resources are directly spent on clients. 

Along the same lines, you are wise to write out an elevator speech for your charity. This is the speech that you would give to an interested potential donor if your time with them was limited to the amount of time you spend with them in an elevator going up to the 105th floor. 

This elevator story needs to reflect the power of your winning theme. Ideally, everyone in the organization needs to memorize your elevator pitch so you can communicate with busy donors in a clear, concise, heartfelt way. We want your prospect to be motivated to go back to her office and search for more information about your organization. Of course, you should also make sure that the winning themes in your slogan, match those in your elevator speech, and also on the website too. 

A fellow grant writer reminded us that our charities tend to be better at fundraising than they are at saving money. This means that every time we write a grant proposal we look for some ingenious cost-saving measure which can be highlighted as evidence of our thriftiness. The trick is to let the funder know that you are interested in cost-saving measures and that you are in the process of streamlining your organization. This effort at self-improvement should be taking place, day after day, in good times and bad.  

It is probably a good idea to remember that, in good times and bad, grantmakers want to make sure that the organizations applying for grants really need the money.  They also want to be certain that the money they give will be spent wisely and make an impact.  Funders are eager to justify their grants to their board members and other stakeholders. Accordingly, they are looking for thoughtful ways of measuring impact. You can do that too. You should, however, look for impacts that are also in line with your winning theme. 

You do not want to shoot yourself in the foot by measuring things that make your nonprofit look worse. Instead, you should report measures which show off your strengths. You may, in fact, need to reinvent your field to make that happen. If that is the case, do it. The alternative is to be trapped in the position of being second best.