I know many non-profit fundraisers who get discouraged about the grant fundraising progress. They feel like they put in a lot of effort for very little return.
But when I dig deeper, I realize they are focusing on the wrong things. These fundraisers don’t understand that, when it comes down to it, grant fundraising is all a numbers game.
Understanding the Grant Fundraising Process
The grant fundraising process is simple to understand, but it does require work to implement successfully. Here’s the process, in a nutshell:
First, dig into the foundation databases to find foundations that are a good fit for your non-profit.
Second, send a letter of inquiry (LOI) to each foundation that seems like a good fit (or submit a full proposal if the foundation prefers).
Third, follow up with each foundation via phone and email (many times, if necessary) to ensure your letter was received and to see if there are any questions.
Fourth, send a full proposal to any foundation that invites you to do so in response to your LOI.
Fifth, follow up on each proposal with more calls and emails.
That’s the success formula for raising money from foundations. It’s simple and effective. Sure, there are other tactics you can use, such as trying to leverage current relationships to find new prospective funders, but the process above should be the base of your grant fundraising process.
The More You Put In, The More You Get Out
At every step of the process, grant fundraising is a numbers game. And to truly be successful with grants, you need to put a lot into your fundraising funnel if you want to receive significant amounts of funding.
It starts with finding a lot of potential funders via foundation databases. Ideally, you’re finding at least 3-4 new foundation prospects per month. One secret that many non-profits don’t understand is how to handle foundations that say they don’t accept unsolicited proposals. When you come across these foundations, send them an LOI. Your LOI is asking for permission to submit a proposal. It is perfectly acceptable (and expected!) to send these foundations an LOI!
If you’re finding 3-4 new foundations each month, you’ll send out 3-4 LOIs (at a minimum) each month. That’s 36-48 new foundations hearing from you each year. Plus, you’ll be building up your internal foundation program year after year. If a foundation doesn’t respond this year, send them another LOI next year (or sooner). This means in year two of your program, you could be sending out 72-96 LOIs over the course of the year (36-48 researched each year, times two years!), and so on.
Follow-Up Matters Too!
Another place where foundation fundraising is a numbers game is your follow-up. I’d say that over half of the non-profits I have talked to over the years were not making follow-up calls to foundations after sending in their LOIs. This is a huge mistake (and one that we change immediately when we start working with clients).
Smart foundation fundraising programs follow up on each LOI by calling and emailing the foundation several times (we recommend 5-8 follow-ups split between calls and emails). If you don’t hear back from the foundation after then, you can place the foundation on “hold” in your system and send another LOI in 6-12 months.
Your follow-up calls and emails can be simple. Just check to ensure the LOI arrived, ask the person if they have any questions, and ask what the timeline is for a decision. Voicemails count too, so if you’re making a follow-up call and you leave a voicemail (which is what will happen 85% of the time), that counts as a “completed” call. The purpose of the calls and emails is to give your LOI a chance to be seen (moved to the top of the pile) and to make sure the foundation hears your organization’s name several times.
Put in the Effort, Reap the Rewards!
Remember, when it comes to grant fundraising, it’s all a numbers game. If you want to raise big money from foundations, you need to ship lots of LOIs and proposals, and you need to make lots of follow-up calls and send lots of follow-up emails. Far too many fundraisers send out 10 or 15 LOIs, never follow up, and then get frustrated at their “failing” grantwriting program. One-shot efforts like that don’t work. Strong foundation fundraising programs are constantly active, putting more prospects into the funnel every month.
If you’d like help building a foundation fundraising program like this for your non-profit, click here to get in touch with our team. You can even outsource most of your program to our experienced consultants, who can handle your research, send out LOIs and proposals, and keep track of your progress. All you’ll need to do is make follow up calls and deposit checks. Click here to set up a call with us to hear more about how we can help!
Photo by Nick Hillier on Unsplash
