Many nonprofits don’t have the luxury of employing a dedicated grant professional. In this case, grant research, project design, writing, submission, reporting, and post-award monitoring can fall to another development staff member or even the executive director of the organization.
Larger grant proposals often take the input of multiple people or teams and can take weeks to complete. Thus, they should be approached as projects instead of tasks.
According to Danielle Dougherty during her session “Building the House: Applying Project Management Principles to the Grant Proposal Process,” use the concept of “building the house” as a guide. Dougherty, who is assistant director of grants management at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, suggested applying project management principles to sequence your approach intentionally and appropriately to a large grant proposal. It will ensure the highest chances of success, the most ethical use of staff time within the organization, and preparation for the use of the grant funds if awarded.
Prepping The Site & Foundation
Whether a grant opportunity came across your desk and you are wondering if the organization has something that might align or you’ve had a project waiting in the wings just for this moment, the first thing to do is prepare. You can’t build a house on a forested lot with no septic system. While you might think this goes without saying, read the entire Notice of Funding Opportunity/Request for Proposals (NOFO/RFP).
There are often details that are important but not immediately apparent during a scan of the pages.
Create a core document that distills all the necessary/important information from the NOFO/RFP in one place and use the same document template every time you review a grant opportunity. Include the grant administrator’s contact information, a summary of the funder’s priorities, eligible costs, due dates, a link to the submission portal with login information, award range, grant period of performance, and any cost share requirements.
Review the application itself and note any requirements that may be out of the ordinary or will take time to assemble – setting up a new online account, a notarized business information form, an accounting practices questionnaire, letters of support, etc. Also, note any application questions that are especially detailed or specific. It will be helpful for other team members to know that they may need to develop focused project/program details such as DEAI components, community engagement, or accessibility.
Attend any pre-application workshops to understand the funder’s goals and impetus for the award while also getting some face time. This is your opportunity to ask questions – don’t worry, if you are confused by something, likely, someone else is too.
Engage the team members who need to be involved in the process and hold an initial meeting to share information about the grant opportunity that you just gathered. Then, ask hard questions — a big grant award is very enticing, but does your organization have the capacity to complete and submit the proposal by the due date? To implement a new program or expand an existing one? To adhere to the post-award grant requirements? To spend the money by the end of the period of performance? The answer might be, “no,” or, “not this year.”
As the project manager, it’s your job to emphasize and clearly define the end goal — successfully securing the grant. Don’t submit a sub-par proposal just to cross the finish line. You might be awarded the grant and then not have the tools or resources in place to manage the project.
Once it has been determined that you are moving forward with the proposal, you may want to set up a meeting with the funder to discuss how the project aligns with their grant priorities. Sometimes, a meeting like this is a requirement if your organization has never applied before or hasn’t in several years, or you might need to be given an access code to enter the application portal. Other times, funders don’t meet with potential grantees. Either way, ensure you are meeting all initial requirements to be eligible.
Framing The House
Before you can conduct any interior work, the “bones” of the house must be erected. Create a plan that outlines the actions required to develop the grant proposal and a schedule to submit it on time. It’s helpful for reference if this lives in your core document.
Take into account all the factors that affect the “build” and all the people who are involved — are there any major events coming up that will monopolize staff time or require all hands on deck? Is anyone going to be away from the office? Is there someone who needs to approve the proposal before it’s submitted?
Use the collaborative tools at your disposal to manage the process. Google Suite and Microsoft Office applications make outlining and assigning tasks very simple, if everyone is comfortable using these programs. You may encounter a team member who doesn’t understand how to view comments or track editing in SharePoint, for example. If you have time, this may be an opportunity for a teaching moment…but most likely not.
Don’t get bogged down in technology if it’s just going to create more work and frustration. Sometimes having someone send information in an email works just as well.
Most every grant professional has a story about submitting a grant proposal at 11:58 p.m. on the due date. Sometimes, it can’t be helped. However, if you have a plan sketched out with hard deadlines and some wiggle room, you are respecting your colleagues’ time as well as your own, while also ensuring that you have put adequate thought and effort into your proposal.
Interior Work
Now it’s time for the deep work. Many components of the proposal may be out of your hands at this point. It’s up to you to stay on top of reminders and deadlines, to understand your team members’ work styles, and to know what type of support they may need. It may be helpful to provide a sample grant budget template or to share a previous successful grant proposal for reference. Don’t forget to note any character or word limits to prevent more editing work at the tail end of the process.
Keep all standard grant documents and boilerplate language in one place so you can complete those portions of the proposal easily and efficiently. This includes the organization’s Form 990, board of trustees directory, annual operating budget, certificate of incorporation, tax determination letter, employee handbook, organizational policies and procedures, a list of sources of organizational support, the most recent audited financial report, W-9 form, and a summary of the organization’s history and programs.
Review and update these documents annually and you’ll be able to quickly access these items as grant opportunities become available. While you shouldn’t blindly copy and paste content, there is no need to reinvent the wheel for every grant proposal, as funders are usually looking for similar information from year to year.
Inspection And Final Walkthrough
When the final draft is ready, take the time to sit down with the scoring rubric, if provided. This part is often overlooked but is provided for a reason. Don’t lose points for exceeding the page limit or missing an attachment. At the same time, consider and address what the funders are looking for — if it’s communicated in the rubric, it’s obviously important.
If time permits, have a trusted colleague read the proposal and provide feedback. Another set of eyes will often catch errors that you wouldn’t have after looking at the content of the draft for hours.
By sequencing your approach to developing a grant proposal using the principles of project management, you ensure that when you press “send,” you are submitting a thoughtful and strong grant proposal that sets you and your organization up for success if awarded.
