6 Signs Your Nonprofit Is a Good Candidate for Major Grants

Some nonprofits are born with silver grants in their mouths.

It’s not necessarily a good thing.

I’ve seen new organizations come on the scene with million-dollar awards in the bank, sometimes multiples of that. They coast along financially until they can’t. Then they come to a consultant like me asking for help to secure another windfall.

The biggest barrier to their success: unrealistic expectations. One big, early grant is no guarantee of another.

Early and incremental support creates the kindling that allows you to fuel robust, even transformational, support. You need time to show funders that your model works.

That’s not all. Below are six muscles your organization can strengthen, whether your major grants average $50,000 or $500,000.

Promise

You can begin working on major grants practices at any point. Where they usually begin to take off is just beyond the earliest years, when you can show that you execute on your mission. Ripe organizations are beyond the start-up phase, but they don’t necessarily need multi-million-dollar budgets.

Question: Can you show some mission-related results?

Potential

Major grants flourish when you’ve garnered enough individual giving and small foundation support to show that your organization is viable. Modest grants give you early leverage. They show larger funders that others have vetted your nonprofit and approve.

Question: Do you have a baseline of philanthropic support, including some private grant success?

Peer success

If you see your peer organizations securing major grants, it’s a sign that your nonprofit belongs in the club. Some of my most successful clients came to me when they saw an aligned nonprofit make news for a new funding stream. They wanted to know how to get in the game.

Of course, someone has to be first. If your organization is first out of the gate in your niche to go after significant grants, you’ll especially want to hone the other items in this list.

Question: Do you see your peer nonprofits announcing significant awards?

Plans

Your funders are bankrolling your nonprofit’s future. They want the equivalent of a prospectus that allows them to feel confident about their investment. You don’t need the traditional strategic plan that takes nine months to develop.

Alternatives like strategic thinking create a streamlined way to generate and update plans in this fast-changing environment. Most importantly, show your funders how your team is making strides toward making that plan a reality.

Question: Does your nonprofit have an investible plan?

Personnel

You need at least one staff member dedicated to major grants. That doesn’t have to be this person’s sole focus, but someone’s goals must revolve around building this body of work. It helps when this person is not distracted by tasks vastly different from grants. It’s not quite time to devote the resources needed to fully amp up the grants function if the candidate is also responsible for, say, direct mail.

Most often, mid-level staff members begin the work. They can accomplish incredible things when they supercharge the skills they’ve learned securing annual grants. They often have a portfolio that includes all or most of their nonprofit’s institutional funding. Their careers grow along with their portfolios.

Question: Do you have a staff person dedicated to securing grants?

Professional development

It helps to have a budget line to help acclimate that junior-level staffer or a more seasoned professional who is new to the major grant space. Professional development or consulting can ultimately save time and resources by making sure the organization is prepared to stand out in a competitive landscape. The greatest expense in major grants comes when novices unwittingly apply for multitudes of opportunities that they are unlikely to secure.

If your leadership doesn’t see the value in investing here, consider the range of benefits beyond the awards themselves. I’ve seen some key grants spur new heights in media coverage, major gifts, and more significant grants. As income inequality increasingly sweeps into philanthropy, it helps to have someone on staff who knows how to keep pace with the growing and competitive nature of this field.

Question: If you don’t have an experienced major grants expert on staff, is your organization willing to train someone?

It’s okay if you can’t answer yes to every question. You are engaged in a journey, and most nonprofits are making strides on multiple fronts at any given time. When all of these pieces begin to operate at higher and higher levels, funding comes increasingly easily.

You can’t coast into major grants, even if they seeded your existence. When you prepare well, your funding potential begins to bloom. When all the above are flourishing, you create the conditions that feed organizational health and philanthropy of all kinds.