Same Grant, More Momentum

Two organizations each win a million-dollar grant. Three years later, one has doubled its broader philanthropy. The other’s revenue hasn’t budged.

The difference is what came after the check.

Stewardship solidifies the relationship. Leverage compounds it.

When a major grant arrives, it fuses with other forces that build credibility, from stellar program results to prestigious partnerships. Leverage is what you do with those measures of organizational health.

This idea fuels the Major Grants Virtuous Cycle I use with clients: Revenue begets credibility, credibility offers leverage, leverage brings more revenue. The cycle gains the most traction with your organization’s largest private awards.

When you continue to build rapport with a single grant maker, you rely on that one person to talk about and elevate your agency’s profile. When you amplify your award beyond that contact, you activate a funding ecosystem.

The largest grants emerge when your organization’s name surfaces without you. Even awards from stealth funders land because your organization sent signals that drew them in.

Incubating Leverage

To use an extreme example, mega awards harbor the potential for credibility. They are proof that a third party vetted your organization and chose to invest in it. That legitimacy goes nowhere unless an organization touts its success.

Ironically, nonprofit leaders fall into scarcity thinking when windfalls like MacKenzie Scott’s arrive. They assume future funders will shun them due to their flush bank accounts. It’s not true. The downstream effect depends on whether they activate the virtuous cycle.

Organizations that stay quiet possess revenue. Those that announce build credibility. Those that announce with intention and strategy achieve leverage.

The latter matters because foundations, a notoriously risk-averse group, look for signs that they are not investing alone.

When one of my clients received a mega grant, I respected the humility that drove their preferred privacy. In this case, I cautioned, a low profile created a liability. I urged them to go public and do so in a way that would reach their most promising investors.

Multiple funders had been weighing whether to invest. At least one of them, I knew, was not a first mover. They preferred to see others give before doing so themselves.

Months later, I asked that foundation’s executive, a longtime observer of the organization, what led to her foundation’s first grant to this agency, issued just months after news of the outlier award. Her answer: knowledge of the big investment. She knew she wouldn’t have to build her case from zero with her board. She could point to the known entity that had already chosen to give.

Fostering Leverage

Publicity is only the beginning. The best major grant professionals spend the bulk of their time understanding the funding ecosystem within which their organization lives. They recognize that promotion is nothing without the discipline of where, when, and to whom a message should travel.

Funders are more likely to give within their networks, where trust is strong.

Whatever your field, there are people, publications, and places that draw relevant social impact investors. If yours is a local organization, your place-based funders gather nearby. They convene within regional grant making associations or public-private events. University funders are more likely to attend subject matter conferences or national philanthropy gatherings.

When leveraged well, major grant recipients position themselves as repeat contenders. They secure conference invitations, panel seats, and appearances before audiences of potential funders.

There comes a point when you can feel your ecosystem working for you. It’s populated with champions. Those allies tout the latest major grants among their peers: “Did you hear? The So-And-So Foundation just invested $1 million in Amazing Organization.”

Even without a monetary milestone, allies who know your work attribute credibility when they can talk about your CEO leading a national advocacy campaign or your organization headlining prominent media. Bonus points if your ally’s ally can go back to their desk and find information online that reinforces your organization’s achievements and plans.

Propelling Leverage

Some of the best major grant closers I know defy what our field expects of them. They admit their writing skills are weak. I see in them something more important. They are stellar communicators and communication strategists.

They see their organization’s strengths, and they find powerful ways to convey them. They know who to engage and what to emphasize with each audience. They put themselves in rooms with decision makers.

Those decision makers—foundation staff, advisors, and board members—tell me they are disappointed by too many applicants. Requests are misaligned and documents are poorly written, even when they describe admirable work. Major grant seekers are pouring time into something funders don’t find compelling.

The submission you are writing today might not determine your next major grant. The grant you have already won just might.