Guest Blogger: Katie Howard
One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits often make when deciding
to develop grant proposals is that they often surge ahead without a plan,
submitting proposals with very little justification. For example, they may be
pursuing a funder merely because they know the funder makes awards in their
geographic region but did not conduct deeper research to determine if the
funder is truly the best fit for the organization, program, or community need. Taking
this type of “shotgun” approach in grant proposal development is as ineffective
as throwing darts blindfolded.
Setting grant funding priorities and timelines as an
organization is an important first step; so is conducting comprehensive funding
leads research to identify the foundations and corporate donors that are most
likely to be a fit for your organizational and community needs. Monitoring giving
trends is another activity that can help inform you and your grant seeking
priorities.
One of our recommended reads is Trends in Northwest Giving. Compiled
every two years by Philanthropy Northwest, this report analyzes grant making to
Northwest nonprofits to help organizational leaders understand trends across the
region, focusing on each of the six states in Philanthropy Northwest’s region
(Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming).
The 2012 edition analyzes nearly 20,000 grants from 316
funders awarded to Northwest nonprofits in 2010. A few of the trends discussed
in the report include:
- post-recession reductions in capital grantmaking;
- the continuing prevalence of small grant awards (more than half of the grants awarded were under $10,000); and
- a 16% increase in grant funding to American Indian/Alaska Native communities.
This report is an excellent tool to inform nonprofit
organizations’ grant seeking goals for 2012 and beyond. The entire report is
available at http://www.philanthropynw.org/s_pnw/bin.asp?CID=8175&DID=56039&DOC=FILE.PDF.
[bio]
Katie Howard is the owner and principal consultant of KH
Consulting. She has more than 10 years of proposal writing experience and has won
approximately $60 million in grant and contract funds. Her grant writing
training Think, Write, Grow: Practical
Strategies for Writing Winning Grants is now available in DVD format at http://thinkwritegrow.com
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