Grant Seeking Development Tip: Monitor Trends from the Giving-Side

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