Tips For Preparing Online Grant Applications

It seems since everyone is online, everyone knows how to communicate online.  As a grant writer, researcher and consultant (www.cloudlancerwriting.com), I deal with nonprofit organizations throughout the United States. Surprisingly, I find that many of them are unprepared for online applications and some even avoid them. That’s like refusing a bottle of fine wine or turning down a pot of money because you don’t like the package.

As organizations of all types downsize to control costs, the online grant process is becoming more common. Unfortunately, there is no nationwide standard for formatting an online application. Some foundations simply turn their paper application into a pdf file and expect you to print it and submit it via snail mail or in person, while others have every step painstakingly (and sometimes painfully) detailed online. Some allow unlimited text entries in the narrative section, while others barely allow enough room to enter a headline for your entire mission or program. In short, if you have created a standard or boilerplate application packet, it may not work online. Here are some hints to make the process less stressful.

Make everything “attachable”

In nearly every case, the application will ask you to attach a file when submitting online. Convert your determination letter, audited financial statements, most recent 990, and your annual report to e-files. Unless your accountant is still using a 1953 Royal typewriter, all of your financial information resides in their server or on a disc somewhere. Ask them to send you a copy. If the information is original to your computer system, I recommend saving a copy as a pdf file. Convert your determination letter to a pdf if it is in paper format.

Do a dry run

If possible (and it usually is) download the application outline and create the responses as word docs that you can cut and paste. That gives you the chance to monitor word and character count to be sure that information is not left out because there is an automatic end to the field. Some online applications will warn you when you are exceeding the limits of the text field (box), but many will not. Be as brief as you can without losing the impact of the narrative. That can be tough, since many nonprofits have board-approved language, but brevity is a virtue online. What works in a 2000-word brochure or five-page hard copy application won’t always work online. Thoughtful editing is a must.

Proofread and update your web site

Many applications will ask you for your URL. Be sure that your website looks and reads professionally, and has accurate hard data available. Be sure that links work, and the language on the web corresponds with the language in your application. Your contact information should be up-to-date, as should board lists if you provide them online. It goes without saying that if you don’t have a website it is definitely time to put one up. Your website should feature your mission statement on the home page, and a brief overview of your current programs, successes, and contact information on successive pages. A Facebook page is nice to have, but websites allow for the inclusion of more informative dialogue, and many reviewers will use the content to verify or expand upon things in your application. Your web site is also a sales tool, so be sure it is performing that function. 

Proofread the application

Most online applications do not allow you to edit a submitted application. Before hitting “submit”, proofread the application and if possible, have someone who did not enter the original information proofread it too. Some online applications do not allow you to save and return to the application later, so allow enough time for the proofreading, and be sure all of the attachments are at hand before starting.

©2012 Rebecca Lee Baisch and Cloudlancer Writing Services

So, What Happens Now?

Many of my nonprofit clients are having minor to major meltdowns since the election. Everyone is asking the same question; where do nonprofits go from here?  Will foundations stop giving out grants because their dividend and interest income is  too low?  Will individual donors quit supporting their favorite cause? Will corporations adjust or eliminate their philanthropic goals?  Will the Feds have more or less money available for grants? Will all Federal money only be given out in block grants? What causes will the government support? Will all the grant money go overseas now? Will states take away sales or other tax exemptions for nonprofits? These are only a few of the questions NPO boards are asking.

I would say we have to wait and see. There is no doubt that this administration is going to try to maximize its cash inflows from the people and companies it defines as “wealthy”. This president is consistent in his message. He truly believes that an economically classless society is the best thing for America and that the government should be the source of, or at least in control of, economic activity. The country re-elected him, so it is logical to assume that he now feels that he has “more freedom” to advance that ideology. Whether you agree or disagree with his vision for America, he will push it as far as he possibly can. If that strategy results in only a minor correction in the economy and doesn’t produce the dire results predicted, it will produce one set of realities, and if the opposite effect occurs, perhaps there will be a course correction at some point in the future. Unfortunately, none of us can accurately predict the future.

The one thing I can say with certainty is it is time to be sure your nonprofit is operating efficiently, and that you need to have a definitive organizational and fundraising plan. You may need to adjust your strategic plan, or develop one if you have been “flying by the seat of your pants”.

Analysis of your costs and effectiveness is the key to survival now. If your nonprofit is spread out over many areas, trying to be all things to all people, it is time to focus on those programs that have a positive return on investment. Let go of those programs that you’ve never quite been able to fund completely. At this point, you still have control over that aspect of your organization. If you wait until the money dries up (if it does), the decisions will be made for you. For those of you in the social impact arena, it might be time to look at some of the crowd-funding options. For those of you that have felt that advertising or marketing was somehow crass or unnecessary, you need to get on the public radar in your field of interest.

You may not be able to control the economic realities facing the country, but you can control your specific organizational plan. If you need help, drop us a line at granthelp@ida.net.  

Think Small to Win Big!

My website, (http://www.cloudlancerwriting.com), gets numerous requests that begin something like this: “We need $250K for our (insert mission here). We would like you to find us a big grant so we can proceed with our goals”.  

Everyone wants to hit the jackpot or win the lottery. Nonprofits, particularly newer ones, see that one “big” grant as their winning ticket to success. 

There are several reasons to “think small”. Successful requests to local agencies build relationships that may lead to larger donors.  Local support shows regional and national donors that your community supports your mission. (After all, if your local community foundation doesn’t support you, why would someone out of your immediate area do so?). Local or smaller grants can be used as matching funds for larger donations.

Receiving smaller but more numerous grants minimizes the risk that losing a funder will close down your program. Ten grants for $2500.00 equal $25,000. Lose one, and you still have 90% of the funding you need. Pinning the success of your program to one grant for $25K means that the program simply doesn’t exist if you don’t receive that one big check.

Many grant applications have a section requesting that you list other funders that support you. Almost all of them have a section that asks how the program will continue if you do not receive their support.  Small grants, particularly if you have a history of receiving them year over year, shows new funders that you are capable of forming and maintaining relationships with other funding sources. In other words, it shows that other donors have confidence in both your nonprofit and your mission. When the time comes to expand the size and scope of your programs, you will have developed a base of support that enhances your credibility with new funders.  

Big isn’t always better. Seek out and win those little grants and the bigger ones will follow.

©2012 Rebecca Lee Baisch   All rights reserved

Avoiding Last-minute Grant Writing

It is human nature to procrastinate, particularly if you don’t want to do something.  In many nonprofit cultures, there seems to be a pattern of waiting until the last possible minute to write grant applications. 

There are many times where assembling the application and writing the narrative DOES come up at the last minute. Perhaps a previous funder sends out an invitation late, or you stumble upon the perfect funding opportunity two days before the application or LOI is due. Those are the acceptable reasons to apply at the last minute.

However, if you have a list of organizations that you apply to on a regular basis, why are you waiting until the last minute? When you do that, it leaves you no time to answer queries from the funder, and it certainly doesn’t leave a window to act upon those unavoidable “rush jobs”.

Even if your organization does not maintain a formal process for keeping track of grant application due dates, you can at least use your browser’s calendar to enter a reminder.  A quick note with the funder's name and a reminder to check on their current grant cycles 90 days out, with a follow-up to write and submit the application or LOI at least 30 days before the due date will significantly reduce your stress level.

There are many advantages to developing the habit of being proactive in your application process. It leaves time for the funder to contact you, and allows for a window of opportunity to address those “new” opportunities that materialize. If the funder does not normally let you know when applications open, you won’t miss an opportunity to apply.  If the funders’ goals have changed, you won’t find yourself having to develop a completely new narrative and possibly even a new program focus in 24 to 36 hours. If you utilize a service such as ours, you won’t be competing for our time with other procrastinators. More importantly, your application will be better crafted and more likely to receive consideration for funding. 

Although I don't have statistics, my “gut feeling” is that bombarding the funder with last minute applications also leaves the impression that perhaps you are not as organized as possible. Someone at the organization does see your application before the applications are formally reviewed. If you are there in advance of the last day rush, it could produce a more favorable view of your organization. I know of at least one foundation that times stamps all the applications when received. Does being early help?  I don’t know, but it sure couldn’t hurt.

Here at Cloudlancer Writing Services, we try to remind you of upcoming grant cycles when possible, but in many cases, we may not have a complete list of your previous donors. Take a few minutes this year and make a note of when you apply to a funder, and their open cycle dates. Enter it in your browser’s calendar and make your life more relaxed next time. 

Strategic Planning - Positioning Your Nonprofit for Growth

Ah, the much-maligned and often discarded strategic plan. Why would I write about that, you ask?

Probably no other topic gets more groans and eye rolling when I propose it to my clients. I get comments like “Total waste of time and money”  “Ineffective gobbledygook” and “too confining”, along with a few less printable comments.  

I get it, I really do. When I was an employee of a nonprofit, the board once decided we would have a retreat and come up with a “plan”. The retreat was held at a board member's mountain cabin, set in a lovely forest area. There were a few glitches.

First, I had to drive 92 miles through an Idaho snowstorm on poorly maintained secondary roads to get there. Not too bad, if you were used to it, and had a four-wheel drive, but I wouldn’t say I arrived in a relaxed and upbeat frame of mind. Second, the format was to have everyone write down their wish list for the agency, and put them in a hat. The moderator (a board member) would pull them out, read them and ask for a show of hands as to whether it should be included in the plan (for real…I couldn’t make this up). The suggestions dealing with budgets and controls didn’t get many votes. The result was that there was a lot of emphasis on the “warm fuzzies”, marketing, getting grants, and events. The results were expanded and put into a nice little report cover containing about three pages, and that was the strategic plan. I don’t think anyone ever looked at it again, and a couple of years later, it was thrown away.

Then there was the client who wanted to hire me to write “a two page executive summary for our strategic plan”. Great, glad to help. When I asked for the plan so I could summarize it, he responded, “Oh we don’t have a plan, we just need to have a summary for a grant”. I pointed out that I couldn’t summarize something that didn’t exist, whereupon he told me “never mind, we can throw something together.” Yikes!

Neither of these scenarios have anything at all in common with an effective strategic plan. First, these should span a minimum of five years, and should be forward-looking, with a specific goal. It should contain financial projections and the SWOT analysis I mentioned in the last post. The plan is constructed to develop methods and measurements to evaluate progress in achieving that goal. Second, there has to be a review of the plan annually. What were the first year goals? Were they accomplished, and if not what is being done to get back on track? Does this review necessitate modifying the five-year plan? If at any point, the plan goal has gone completely off track, should the original the plan be rewritten with more a realistic goal?  Ideally, the plan evolves as each year is completed, and a new five-year plan emerges for the next five-year period almost automatically.

Strategic plans, by their very nature, should not be static. Look at the name. Strategic means have a strategy (goal, plan and method) to get somewhere or accomplish something specific. Imagine what would have happened in WWII at the Normandy landing, if Eisenhower had just had all the generals throw their battle plans in a hat and took the ones with the most votes to implement. I imagine the native tongue of the United States would now be German.

Strategic plans have to begin with the desired end result or goal for that time period, and then develop methods to achieve that goal, include recognition of, and contingency planning for, the inevitable obstacles, and they must be dynamic. They are the road map for your agency. That means that your destination must be defined, and while you may have to take a detour, you still know what your arrival point is going to be, and you still follow the basic direction for getting there. The road is not a concrete channel, and a detour is not a reason to abandon the journey. If you are a group applying for 501(c)(3) status, the strategic plan will make the application much, much easier to complete, and if done well, will probably prevent the dreaded “need more information” letter from the IRS.

Don’t ignore or dismiss the value of the strategic plan. When properly constructed and monitored, it does have value, and may ultimately save you far more time and money than it cost to develop. If you need help feel free to contact me at granthelp@ida.net, or on my Cloudlancer Writing Services Facebook page.  

© 2012 Rebecca Lee Baisch   All rights reserved.

Structuring Overhead As An Allowable Program Expense

Many foundation grant applications state or imply that the grantor will not support administrative costs for the organization. That is why they ask for both an organizational and program budget. If your organizational budget and financial statements show a overhead expense allocation that is 50% of your operating budget it can reflect poorly on your grant request. I often receive program budgets from clients that totally (and unintentionally) understate the actual cost of the program.

Far too many nonprofits lump everything that isn’t a clear direct program cost under organizational overhead, also known as administrative or indirect costs.  For instance, an animal rescue might cite food costs, veterinary care and adoption event costs as the total cost of the program. 

In reality, there are other costs that can be legitimately tied to the program.  For instance, let’s look at heating costs. Let’s say that your animal rescue focuses on dogs. You have a building that is 2000 square feet. One-half of that building is dedicated to kennels, food storage, and bathing facilities for the dogs. Your annual heating cost for the entire building is $2800. One-half of that figure is legitimately a program expense, and should be assigned to the program when applying for a grant. If you didn’t have the space and it wasn’t being directly used by the dogs, your heating costs would be lower.

Salary expenses can be similarly expensed. If you have one paid employee, and that person spends six hours a day typing, filing and answering the phone, and two hours a day cleaning cages and feeding and bathing dogs, the two hours is directly attributable to the program. If you are not using time reporting for the employee, have them fill out a timecard that specifically details the time they spend directly working hands-on with the dogs.

Take a couple of hours and review your budget and financial statements. Identify which expense items might be improperly classified as indirect costs. Take the list to your accountant/tax professional, and determine the best way to allocate these costs to the program.  Remember, accurate recordkeeping is vital to this process. You must be able to document the division of costs for the IRS, as well as for grantors.  You may have to restructure your chart of accounts, or your accountant may be able to do a monthly closing journal entry adjustment to place the costs in the proper area if your records are complete and accurately portray the allocations.

In the beginning, this may all seem rather tedious, but having your costs properly entered will pay off in the form of better grant results, as well as in better financial control of your nonprofit. If you need help with any of the concepts above, please contact me at granthelp@ida.net.

Your Role in the Grant Process

We’ve all heard the phrases, “it takes money to make money”, or “pay to play”.  The nonprofit equivalent of that is that you have to be involved personally, and as an organization, in the process of fundraising. 

Your board needs to be committed to the concept of fundraising. Your ED or CEO must take the lead in promoting good donor relationships, whether directly, by hiring a donor relations manager or by assembling a top fundraising team. These should be “givens”.

Most of all, your organization has to be actively engaged in producing the program outline and financing requirements to approach funding organizations and keep accurate records not just of the funds received, but of your use of those funds.

Large nonprofits generally have a department that does nothing but formulate budgets for programs, tracks the grant for correct utilization of funds and does the final reporting.

Smaller NPOs often find this part of the process just plain boring. Cash and time-strapped nonprofits often hire grant writers and just tell them “Find us the money”. It isn’t that simple.

99.99% of all foundations will require a formal annual report, audited organization financials for the most recently completed year, current 990's, a detailed program budget, a program outline that defines the population demographics or target recipient for the funds, and a detailed final report that specifies exactly how the funds were used within that program. Failure to deliver any of these will doom proposals to failure, and failure to satisfy the final report or diversion of any of the funds for uses beyond those allowed in the grant can result in a request for repayment of the funds.  If you are applying for general operating support or a capital campaign, they may also require a strategic (business) plan and detailed budgets.  Cloudlancer provides assistance in constructing these “must-haves” to fully 50% of our clients.

Don’t be the client who says, “Jeez, I’m not applying to a bank for a loan…why do I need all this stuff?” Think about it - you’re asking someone you may not even know to GIVE you money. Why would you think that they wouldn’t want assurance that your organization will use it wisely? Participate in the process by having all the necessary facts on hand, up-to-date, and in a usable format.

For example, if you run a dog rescue, be prepared to verify your costs and results in detail. Examples of information would be: how many dogs have you rescued, how many have been placed, what were your costs per placement, how many dogs are typically unplaced each month and why, and what are your occupancy, feed and veterinary costs?

Your participation in the grant process is a cost-effective use of your organization's time. If you need more information, Cloudlancer Writing Services is just a click away...email us at granthelp@ida.net.