Read My Corrections Of A Poor Annual Appeal Letter I Received So Your Nonprofit Crafts Professional and Sucessful Donation Requests That Retain Past Donors and Create New Ones

It is the time of year that nonprofits send out annual appeal solicitations in order to get ahead of donors planning to give.  Nonprofits solicit during the final quarter every year so that they might be one of the organizations a donor chooses to give to.

If your organization is about to ask previous and potential new donors for support be sure to learn how to do so effectively.   You want your appeal to successfully raises money.  The author of this letter, I can tell, has not learned how to craft a successful nonprofit solicitation letter yet.  I do hope that they take the time to learn. 


The following is easily one of the worst nonprofit appeals I've received this year.

I provide it, here, not to chastise or insult anyone.  Rather, I provide it to assist you, my reader, in the hopes that after reading this post you come to understand how to craft a professional and successful appeal letter for your nonprofit.

I altered the letter, below, so the organization and author are not evident.  The entire letter is here in green font to set it off clearly from the blog post.

"Dear DONOR,

"Whenever NONPROFIT makes an appeal for funds, I am always reminded of my UNCLE who throughout his life was heavily involved with many worthy causes, and who truly believed in " giving back.” Part of this work required him to engage in fundraising - something he did enthusiastically and successfully.

"To be honest, fundraising makes me uncomfortable. When I was younger, I once asked my UNCLE how he was able to be respectful of the donor while simultaneously stressing the importance of the cause he was collecting for. I have never forgotten his answer, and I would like to share it with you.

"My UNCLE explained that each time he requested funds for an organization, he would tell the potential donor: “ I feel extremely fortunate that no one is collecting for me, and you should feel fortunate that no one is collecting for you!”

"With this in mind, my UNCLE not only became a successful fundraiser for a host of worthy organizations, but he also reminded himself, and the donors he engaged, how truly lucky they both were.

"I hope that by reading about my UNCLE’s perspective on fundraising, you might take a moment to consider just how worthy and important NONPROFIT has become to thousands of people throughout the world .

"Our past was rich.  By helping NONPROFIT you make sure that our future will be as rich as our past.

"RIGHT NOW, we need YOUR help. Whether it's $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000 or more – your donation will help us preserve our history for future generations.

"At this point, we are less than $XX,000 away from our October fundraising goal. This gives us a little more than 3 days.

"Please help NONPROFIT reach this important goal.

"We are hoping that 200 people can donate $75, or more, by 11:59 pm on October 31. ( Gifts of $100 or more qualify for Value Added Services). Each night, we will send an update to let you know how we are doing.

"There are four easy ways to donate now:
"1)  Click here to donate via our secure website.

"2) Via PayPal by  clicking here.

"3) Call us at 555-232-4433.

"4) Make checks payable to NONPROFIT, and send to:

"NONPROFIT
221B Baker Street
London, England, United Kingdom

"Thank you in advance for your kind consideration.

"How lucky you are that I contacted you today to enable you to support our mission, and how very lucky I am to be able to act as an intermediary!

"Sincerely,

"Nonprofit Executive Name
Executive Position
NONPROFIT

"P.S. We need your help to continue our important work. Your support of NONPROFIT will ensure our ability to preserve our history for future generations. Please contribute whatever you are able at this time - it will make an immediate difference."

Now that you have read it, let's go over it.

First, let me be fair.  I know that the author clearly states in their letter, "To be honest, fundraising makes me uncomfortable."  It is not the most natural thing to ask people for money.  I know this.  Too, we are all ignorant when any of us begins a new job or task that we have never done before and that is completely acceptable and normal, of course.  Learning to get over any lack of knowledge or experience is how any of us grow in our careers and goals.  Hopefully the author of the real solicitation reads my post or learns how to properly solicit on behalf of a nonprofit.  More on this point below...

Second, let me say what the author and organization did well. They e-mailed their donors which is great.  It saves the author and organization money, time, and resources (i.e. saving volunteer time folding and stuffing, envelopes and letterhead, and postage costs).  Too, they e-mailed the solicitation on their organization's virtual letterhead which was very professional looking.  In the letter they provide a clear statement as to why they are contacting their donors.  They are requesting a donation. They state what they need.  They need cash donations.  Some organizations request In Kind donation items they are seeking in addition to asking for cash contributions, and still others also request assets, and so on.  They thank the donor in advance.  (They should really just say thank you (without saying 'in advance') because donors should be thanked for previous support.  Just say thank you.  Any new support a donor gives can be thanked through a formal thank you letter/donation receipt after the nonprofit receives it (and donors should be).  They do a very good job at clearly stating different points of contact through which the donor can give to the nonprofit and they provide all contact information clearly.  Finally, this letter is succinct, on point, and laid out clearly.  It does not waste the reader's time and they do not dawdle.  They get to the point and they remain clear.  It is easy to scan, if the reader does not have a lot of time to read a complete letter word for word.  If a recipient only scans this request, instead of reading the entire letter, the recipient/reader would still get the gist of the solicitation and how they might give should they wish to.

Now, I will explain what was done incorrectly in this donation request, why it's 'incorrect', and what would improve it:

__ The punctuation after the solicitation ("Dear DONOR,") is wrong.  Unless the author knows every single recipient of the letter they should not use a comma after the salutation.  I do not know the author of this letter personally so I know he/she does not know every recipient.  The more professional thing is to follow proper punctuation.  A colon (:) should be used after the solicitation.

__ Literally the first half of this appeals letter is an anecdote about the solicitation's author's UNCLE.  Why?!  I am sure they were trying to be charming.  They should not be writing about themselves or a relative in a letter seeking support FOR A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.  A better use of the space at the beginning of a single page nonprofit donations solicitation letter is to discuss the nonprofit that the donor will potentially give to. You want to provide the organization's name, mission statement, and talk about the beneficiary/ies of the organization.  You explain who or what the beneficiaries are, what their current needs are, how the organization is meeting those needs (ideally better than any other nonprofit) and why the organization is uniquely suited to successfully serve it or them.  These kinds of points should explain why this organization is doing what it's doing and how it's doing that.  As such, you will want to list all of the organization's major programs and services and ideally provide a brief (but truthful and clear) snapshot of the year's service statistics for each program/service.  How many people or forests or schools or whatever the beneficiaries are were served this year?  What was successful this past year?  Did the organization receive any accolades or awards from the community?  These are the kinds of clear, short, and truthful bullet point items that could be easily listed in the first half of the letter allows potential donors to see what their money will do for the organization and the community it serves, how the money is spent, and why the donation and the organization is needed in the community.  This is all compelling information for a potential donor to understand.  Making a compelling case is the finest fundraising that exists.  I wish the author had discussed any or all of these attributes of the nonprofit.  I'd feel like giving rather than feeling like I got to know his/her UNCLE a bit (who literally has no affiliation or tie with the NONPROFIT at all).

__ At no point does the author explain where the money raised this month will be spent.  Donors who understand where their money will be spent, why (to what benefit for whom or what) and when feel included and informed.  This information is also compelling and makes the case when soliciting nonprofit support.  In clear succinct phrases answer the following... Are there new programs the nonprofit is launching in the new year?  If so, what are they and why are they being started?  What need will they address?  Is there a new but as yet unmet need the beneficiaries have that your organization is uniquely suited to address successfully and efficiently?  Tell the potential donor.  Tie the donor to the organization's work and successes.

__ How much of every dollar raised is spent on the organization's programs and services?  If an organization spends 20% (or less) of each dollar raised on overhead and 80% (or more) on programs and services this is considered both ethical and professional.  Let the donor know.

__ The benefit of a donor's contribution should not be some general good deed or happy cheer.  The benefit of a donor's contribution is that the contribution they give enables the nonprofit to do the work of its mission statement to better the lives or welfare of the organization's beneficiaries.  If these facts are not laid out for the donor well... you are not making the case in a compelling fashion.

__ Does the organization need volunteers (besides financial support)?  If yes, say so besides requesting donations and explain how those interested in volunteering can do so with your organization.  How might someone needing the organization's assistance, support, or services contact those offices?  What is the organization's federal Tax Identification Number (demonstrates the organization is a legitimate nonprofit 501(c)(3)  and can assist potential donors in further researching your organization's track record and reputation).  What if a potential donor wishes to speak to a fundraiser in the organization's office because they wish to give a very large amount or even a bequest?  That contact information should be provided.  Does your organization have a website?  Provide its domain.

My final two points are philosophical or professionally methodological...

The logic to his/her UNCLE's advice is dated.  It used to go that a nonprofit was a charity seeking a coin someone might drop into the tin can it's fundraisers held out on the street corner, so to speak.  If it works, great.  If not, shake more cans in more locations.  This is not contemporary fundraising.  The fact is, there are far more effective and efficient fundraising methods (for any and all nonprofits - not just the big or well funded ones) and that is what I write this blog for - to share the latest professional nonprofit best practices because they are proven, they cost less than other methods, and they work for any and all nonprofits (from small start ups run by one or two people to well known, mega-million dollar annual operations, hundreds of years old nonprofits).  The fact is, guilting someone has nothing to do with effective or professional fundraising (i.e. you do not  need right now so give to this nonprofit).  The way a nonprofit professionally raises donations today has everything to do with best practices.  It is about determining which people in the general public care about the organization's cause and informing them why your specific nonprofit is effective and worthy of their support.  You make a compelling case.  How?  Could you easily learn some very effective and time and money saving best practices for free on this blog?  Yes!  Read any of the posts on the topic or nonprofit operation you wish to know more about by clicking on it in the "Labels" list below to the right on this blog.  Or, click on the How To label (or click its link, just to the left).  See, too, specific information on how to write a professional effective appeals letter at the end of this blog post, below.

Above, I grant that the letter's author says they are uncomfortable raising funds.  I know that this letter's author has been one of this organization's executives for many years.  Their position's probationary period ended years ago.  Yet, they did not yet feel obligated to learn professional nonprofit best practices (yes, even if he/she is a volunteer) fundraising, at all.  Volunteer service to a nonprofit require no less professional knowledge to do one's job successfully or achieve the organization's goals than a for-profit business job requires.  A job is a job and if an organization needs support then the job should be done in the most effective and efficient manner so that the organization raises funds and uses as little resources doing it.  The only way that we get beyond our jitters over fundraising, or that we that we grow any knowledge is by LEARNING the new skills or tasks that we have been assigned that we do not yet know how to do effectively or professionally.  We do not simply lament our lack of professional knowledge after having held the position for years, and we absolutely do not tell our supporters you do not know a skill you are responsible for knowing.  Admitting you are accepting your ineptness and doing nothing about it does not create much confidence in the organization or its leadership.  Ignorance of a job responsibility or task should only be tolerated by an employer or board of directors for the usual probation period for most jobs - no more than ninety days.  A board should also be certain that each of its executives have been completely trained on how to do every aspect of their assigned responsibilities, including fundraising within ninety days of recruiting or hiring that executive.

Effective fundraising does not waste an organization's resources, or waste a potential supporter's time, but instead successfully raises funds now and again later.  It is not trite, condescending, folksy, cutesy, or anecdotal.  In fact, quite to the contrary, it is always all about the organization's beneficiaries - their needs that the nonprofit meets through the work of the mission statement; through the organization's work and its programmatic and service successes; through its potential based on the reputations, credentials, and talent of its volunteers and staff; through its professional and ethical reputation as a well managed and well operated nonprofit; and so forth.  You do not schmooze or guilt donors into giving.  You build a community of donors who understand what their contribution does for whom or what and they give because they care about the cause and believe in the organization, its integrity, and its future potential.  They invest because your organization is a wise investment for the benefit of the community!

A nonprofit that ethically and professionally succeeds at its mission only need explain that they do this to both previous and potential new donors and it retains former supporters and creates new ones.  When a nonprofit informs a donor as to what their contribution did in the community, acknowledges that partnership with each and every donor, and thanks each one - they are developing life long ties with these supporters that enable the organization's beneficiaries.  Take yourself and your uncle out of your requests for nonprofit support.

Here's some help:

Need basic 'how to' information on how to write an effective nonprofit donation solicitation (or appeals) letter?  See Write an Annual Appeal Letter to Raise Relatively Quick Funds

Wish to see yet another actual terrible nonprofit donation solicitation I received and my explanation of what they should have done to get it right?  See Let's Look At A Poor Fundraising Appeal Letter I Received Today And Get It Right

Need fundraising methods that are useful for year of end fundraising specifically?  See A List of Specific Fundraising Methods Particularly Helpful At the End of the Calendar Year

Need some help to get your nonprofit's fundraising into better order for more successes in the coming new year?  See Put Some Shine On Your Nonprofit for the Coming New Year - Helpful Tools To Improve Next Year's Organizational Outcomes, Savings, and Successful Fundraising...

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Your New Program Or Project Design Must Be Clear Before Applying for Grants

You are approaching potential donors asking them for grants and this, in effect, is really raising new donors who are investors in your organization, the need it's meeting, and your organization's effort. Investors deserve to get the 'who, what, where, when, how, why, and how much' of all aspects of whatever it is you're applying for a grant for.

Whether you are the project manager or a fundraiser writing the grant proposal; writing a grant proposal often does a helpful thing. It forces the program or project design to be fully thought through, fleshed out, and finalized; because if you can't describe for a potential donor the full extent of the program or project, you have work to do. In order to raise grants, and more than one or two, project or program details must be honestly, thoroughly, and succinctly conveyed. If you need to, read my post, How Do We Tighten Up Our Grant Proposal?

Grant donors accept applications for grants because they are involved with the cause that you work for, too. They do their work by contributing money, just like your nonprofit does its work by providing programs, resources, research, etc. Know, too, that today's donors are much more savvy than just handing checks out without regard. Read my posts, What Motivates Giving? and Yet Another Example of Donors Expecting Results

Today's donor wants to know:

__ Is your project or program likely to succeed based on the peoples' experience who are running it, the resources allocated to the project, is it designed within a realistic scope of work and designed to be effective, how much need exists for the project, etc.?

__ Will your program be sustainable? Have you figured out how to keep it going, financially, after you've raised a few grants? It won't die on the vine, right?

__ Will their be evaluations or requests from clientele for feedback, during the program and after? Are their expected outcomes in place, now, before the project's begun? How will you know if your project or program is successful? What evaluation methods are you going to use?

__ Does your nonprofit retain good agency transparency, operations management, board oversight, honesty, and mission success histories? If not, you have some public relations work to do; coming clean honestly, copping to the issue, explaining how the issue is being corrected, and expressing that your organization has learned from its mistake(s) and is moving on.

These four requirements must be met to raise grants. Next, your organization must address basic programmatic requirements. They include, but are not limited to:

__ Designing a program that does not try to do a million things, but rather is focused. Define the project or program, explain it, flesh it out to its full extent. State clearly the intended outcome.

__ Designing a program based on actual current needs in your community that were discovered by recently researching or talking with the people or 'thing' needing assistance.

__ Designing a program that can succeed. It will truly meet the community or issue's need, it will be allocated all of the resources necessary to be successful, it will run over the proper amount of time (if not indefinitely), it will be easily accessible to those or that which needs it, etc.

__ Planning. Enough time, before the program or project is going to begin, must be given to planning. The project must be designed, a team put together in which everyone knows who is responsible for what, by when, how, where, and to what goal. Fundraising must be decided, BEFORE the program begins, and the plan to implement it must be put into place. Locations, transportation, meals, literature, access to doctors, etc. or whatever is necessary for the program must be arranged for, given time to respond, and contingency must be made, just in case.

__ Staffing must be appropriate given modern paradigms in your field. It must be planned out, and the proper amount of people must be allocated to the project for it to realistically succeed. Whether volunteers or hired contractors or staff, there must be enough time to design job descriptions, advertise for assistance, interview and check references on, hire, and train any new staff. All hiring requirements (e.g. experience, degrees, licensing, etc.) must meet the current legal and professional expectations for the work to be done.

__ Time. I know that the need that your organization is meeting is urgent. It usually is, but giving planning, hiring, design, fundraising, etc. enough time leads to a successful project, and that's what your constituency or cause really needs, even in the midst of its urgency.

__ Budget. Planning and effective fundraising is best done after creating a realistic and complete budget. List what all will be needed (everything), list each item's expense for the time allocated for the program, then list all avenues of income that will be allocated to this project. It's OK if they don't balance, today, as long as you're planning how to make them balance before the project begins. By the time the project begins, you don't need to have all of the money in the bank, yet, for the entire project; but you do need to know that you will realistically have all of the money in the bank that your program will need, month to month, for its full duration.

If you want to raise grants, having these basics answered will up your organization's chances many times over.

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What Are Matching Grants? I'll Explain...

What are matching grants? Are they helpful to nonprofit organizations? How does one go about getting one?

What's the deal? I'll answer...

What are matching grants?

If your organization, let's say, submitted a grant proposal four months ago to We Save Vampires Foundation (WSVF) and your organization, Bloodsuckers Included Today and Everyday (BITE) exists to assist vampires' safety from angry mobs, assist in relocating vampires to locales with less humans and a lot of cloud cover, and work on vampires' rights. Let's say that BITE is only three years old and while WSVF has heard about BITE's important work and mission success rate (the rate at which the mission is being met and constituents or the cause is being served). Let's say, though, that in response to BITE's grant proposal, WSVF responded thus:

"We at WSVF are very interested in BITE and its important work. We see the importance
and need for the program that BITE is initiating and seeking grant money for, Vampires Were
People Once, Too. Simply, we will grant BITE $50,000 for its new program, if BITE can
raise a matching grant of $50,000 within a year's time."

In other words, matching grants are grants that are offered, really, as challenges. If a foundation (or any grant donor) offers its grant with the stipulation that in order to receive it, the recipient organization must raise another grant (or other grants, plural) to match their offer amount, this is a challenge or matching grant. Matching grants are sometimes offered as such in their Request for Proposals (RFP's) when a grant is publicly offered, or they're offered in response to a grant application, after a foundation's considered a request, such as WSVF did, above.

Are matching or challenge grants helpful to nonprofit organizations?

Your organization has not been singled out negatively. Most every nonprofit that raises donations through grants, is offered a challenge grant sooner or later, and then probably again, later.

Yes, in reality, no matter what your initial reaction is to receiving the challenge may have been, matching or challenge grants are good opportunities for nonprofit organizations. I know; you'd much rather have just received the grant money. Here's the thing; you actually have, with the requirement that you double what you just received. I know; getting the grant means you now have to go raise another grant (or more). Think of it this way; the grant donor that's offered a challenge or matching grant has just helped your organization set another fundraising goal that your group has already achieved once. The pressure that comes with knowing that when you raise more money you're already promised a specific amount is very powerful. Your organization can use this promised support as a positive motivation. A challenge or matching grant is a donation coming from a potential future donor (who your organization will want to develop a strong relationship with for potential future support. Perhaps their next grant will not be a matching grant but just support given after an application is submitted). Take advantage of all of your organization's fundraising efforts, so far, and follow through - raise all of the money.

How does an organization acquire a challenge or matching grant?

Let's return to our hypothetical scenario, above. WSVF (the potential grant donor) has promised $50,000 if BITE (the nonprofit applying for a grant for a new program) can raise an additional $50,000 within a year.

The grant application response letter, that BITE received, is quoted, in part, above. The letter will likely state when the $50,000 will be paid to BITE if it does raise the challenge grant of an additional $50,000 to their own. It probably also states why they'd like the additional grant money raised, but it may not. When a nonprofit receives any correspondence from a potential donor, about a donation, and does not understand it fully - definitely contact the donor and ask for clarifications. If the donor prefers contact through email, email them and ask every question that you have. If they don't mind phone calls, or encourage them, call and ask to speak to whomever signed the offer letter. Get clarification as to what the terms of the offer are, when their grant would be paid to your organization if you raise the match challenge, and ask why they're requiring the matching grant, before they'll donate.

Potential grant donors offer challenge grants for many different reasons. Their reason for challenging your organization may be (any one or several of the following):
- The grant donor always asks every grant recipient to match their donation - it's standard operation for them.
- They believe in your organization, its proposed use of the grant, and want to see if others in the community do, as well (which is sometimes referred to as community support, community buy-in, etc.).
- The potential grant donor wants to see your organization's ability to raise money, or specifically raise money for the proposed program, project, or item that you've requested grant money from them for. They think the proposed project, program, or item is a good solution to the issue it will help or solve, in your community.
- They may believe that your budget is short of what will really be necessary to successfully pull off whatever it is that your group wants the grant money for. They believe in the need for what you're proposing and in the good it will do - they just don't want to see it fail once it's underway.
- Etc.
I always remind readers that grant donors talk to one another. Not only are they in the same industry, they are curious about what other grant donors think of your organization. Maybe another foundation has funded your organization before, and they want to know what their experience was. Or, maybe they want to know what others have heard about your organization's reputation, accountability, successes, honesty, transparency, etc.
Once you understand where this potential donor is coming from, step up to the plate. Go back to the other potential grant donors that you've applied to for this program, and send them a very short but clear letter updating them. State that in response to the application you sent to WSVF (per our above example), they've offered a challenge to BITE and that if able to match it, WSVF will grant $50,000. Often other foundations will see even a challenge grant as a lead donation and give the match or part of it. A lead donation is one where once the first large donation is received for a campaign or new program, etc. other donors begin to give because they see someone they respect gave in larger amounts. Community buy-in can be demonstrated to other potential donors by simply receiving a challenge grant.
If your organization only applied for the one grant (and you should never just apply for grants from just one source - diversify and up your odds in getting a grant by applying to at least two potential grant donors for one need), research which other grant donors, who give to organizations serving your region, and who fund your cause and give money to whatever thing you need the grant for (e.g. new building (capital campaign), new program, children's' clothing, etc.). Apply to at least two other potential grant donors, stating clearly that a challenge grant has been offered to your organization, in what amount, and by which foundation (or whomever) in both their proposals and budgets.
Meeting the challenge and raising the matching grant involves submitting more grant proposals and is absolutely doable. It's done all of the time.
Above all, never forget that a challenge grant is not a foundation responding to your application with a clear "no". (And even a clear "no" is not a bad thing - every time you apply for a grant, you're putting information about your organization in front of a future potential donor. Apply to them again, if you receive a "no" now). A challenge grant is an opportunity and shouldn't be looked at as any less.

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Top 10 Resources to Find a Good Grant Writer

[Note: Always check any potential hire's credentials, and check out the resource that you receive a referral for a hire from.]

In order to begin to understand what you should do when hiring a grant writer, read the following two posts:

What Are the Steps to Hiring A Grant Writer?http://thegrantplant.blogspot.com/2004/07/what-are-steps-to-hiring-grant-writer.html

Pricing Grant Writers - What Should We Pay?http://thegrantplant.blogspot.com/2007/07/pricing-grant-writers-what-should-we.html

Top 10 Resources to Find a Good Grant Writer:

10. Talk with colleagues in your local nonprofit sector (or if you live in a small town, talk with your colleagues in the nearby larger town or city) and ask them which grant writer they've worked with that they'd recommend. Ask why they'd recommend them.

9. Look up whether there is a professional grant writers' affiliation in your region (again, look into the larger nearby town if you live in a smaller community). If there is (e.g. Puget Sound Grantwriters Association, Upstate New York Grantwriters Association, etc.) ask if they have a list of consulting grant writers. Usually they won't make referrals, but they will provide a list of members who are consulting.

8. Call a university who has worked with organizations working on the same cause as yours' is, and ask which grant writers they would recommend.

7. Whether your nonprofit is a United Way agency or not, call your local United Way and ask one of their program managers if they can comfortably recommend a grant writer or two who they've worked with.

6. Contact a nearby regional (if not local) nonprofit resource center or organization (e.g. in Sacramento Nonprofit Resource Center, Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama, Nonprofit Resource Center of Western Virginia, etc.) and ask whether they have a list of member professional grant writers.

5. Call your local community foundation (and if there isn't one near you, call the community foundation in the closest large city to your town). e.g. The Seattle Foundation, Lincoln Community Foundation , or The Rhode Island Foundation, etc.

4. Search the Internet for professional, accomplished grant writers who have referrals, who know your cause, who know grant donors who fund your cause, and who works in your geographic region. How do you find these qualities? Search for them (e.g. "grant writer, arts, Los Angeles"). Also, when you talk with them, ask them about these qualities. Get and follow up with their referrals!! Check everything out!

3. If there is a respected foundation that your organization has partnered with in the past (who your group received a grant from), ask one of their program managers which grant writers they know do excellent work. Foundations see all kinds of grant applications; they know who is good at applying for grants.

2. American Association of Grant Professionals is a great professional national grantwriters affiliation. They offer their member consultants' list. As always, talk to a few potential hires, get references and follow up with them.

1. The most respected/ethical/reputable professional fundraising affiliation the U.S. is the Association of Fundraising Professionals. They provide a list of AFP affiliated professional fundraising consultants. You can search for the service you need (grant writing) by geographic location. When you do contact a potential grantwriter, ask the writers if they have experience seeking grants for whichever cause you work for in the region that your organization serves. I encourage you to call a few of the grant writers, listed there. Always ask for referrals. Cursor down to the bottom of the page to search. The link to their consultants' list is:
http://www.afpnet.org/ConsultantDirectory/Search.cfm?folder_id=940

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Top Ten Ways to Find a Grant Donor Who Will Give to Your Nonprofit

10. Have done your homework - whatever your organization knows it needs grant money for (e.g. new program, ten new wheelchairs, a capital campaign (new building), etc.) be sure to have planned out: the timeline, staff, action items, expected results, research the target audience, understand what the real need in the community is that your new item/program is addressing, etc.

9. Research foundations, corporations, etc. who give grants. Do not print a list of foundations who operate near your town and decide the organizations on the list are who you're nonprofit is applying to for grants. Create a list of foundations who:

• donate to organizations that operate in your region (or who give to organizations that serve in your region)
• donate to the cause or issue that your organization is addressing
• demonstrate a history of giving, in the amounts that you're needing to raise, to organizations that are similar to yours'

Your organization should begin the grant application process by submitting Letters of Inquiry (LOI's) (or initially approach the potential donor how they prefer to be approached, according to their giving guidelines), to the grant donors who meet all three criteria, above.

8. Write an honest, thorough, succinct, easy to read grant proposal and tailor an original (master template) according to each foundation's guidelines' directions. All foundations are different from one another. One foundation will want you to include the list of your organization's Board of Directors, and another won't. They all require different things - read each foundation's giving guidelines.

7. Get organized. Upon receiving responses (and some are always 'we are sorry but...' and 'please go ahead and apply') from foundations to your initial contact; plan out when each application that your organization has been invited to submit is due, or when you want to have it 100% completed by (to get it into the mail, to arrive on time).

6. Prepare and educate any executive director and board members who may meet with foundation (or grant donor) representatives. Sometimes grant donors want to see a site location (when considering giving to a capital campaign, for instance), or interview organization leaders to get a feel for the organization's culture, management style, openness, etc. Get each of your organization's leaders information on the foundation, on the grant that you're applying for, and help them with talking points. They should speak honestly from the heart about why they're with your organization, answer all questions, remain open. No executive director or board member should expect to do a 'perfect' interview. Rather, they are the 'cherry on the sundae' to the organization's reputation, successes, etc. and the grant application. They should try to relax and enjoy the talk, if they can; when a potential donor wants to meet with your organization - it's encouraging and a good sign!

5. Be grateful for the foundations who decline your application. When you receive a grant it's a great feeling. The reason why I say 'be grateful for the declines, too' is that they remain a potential grant donor to your organization now, just as they were when you applied. During your foundation research (prospecting) you determined that they are. So, give it a couple of days and call their program manager (if the foundation accepts calls - look in their giving guidelines to find out) and say 'thank you for reviewing our application, we plan on applying during the next giving cycle that we're allowed to (some foundations only allow an application a year, others don't care how often you apply), could you let me know why our application was not granted or give me some suggestions?' It's OK to do this. It allows you to understand better what they want and at the very least, they've read what your organization does. You always want potential donors to know about your organization and what it does. You've done this much. Apply again.

4. Manage any grant that your group receives. It's a donation from a potential future donor to your organization. Do not spend the grant on anything other than what you stated it would be spent on, in the proposal. Create a way to track the program, project, items, etc. that you received the grant for. Provide clients with a survey asking about the program. Track who receives a new wheelchair, ask the owner for feedback on it - gather stats on the people benefiting from the grant support. Whether the donor asks for it or not, provide the grant donor with an end of grant report (state what their money was spent on, what it helped to achieve, state how you know these data points, and say 'thank you').

3. Communicate with grant donors. If something 'bad' happens (e.g. major funding for the program falls through, the site that you were going to build your org's new building got bought from under your organization, etc.) call up the foundation and tell them. Be proactive, be forthright, and remember that you're trying to get a donation now but you want a good relationship with any potential donor and to do that - you must be honest. You don't want them to find out about the mishap through another source. Besides, I've literally heard more than once, that projects or programs that were in jeopardy were saved by the potential grant donor because they believed in the new program/project so much. They knew that the need existed in our community.

2. Do not send grant donors things like newsletters, annual appeal letters, etc. after they've given to your organization. They don't need extra mail. Keep a relationship up with their program manager but don't annoy them. Develop the donor to give again in the future.

1. Give your organization enough time to be successful. Grant writing is not a quick fix fundraising method. Be sure to plan ahead. Be sure to plan out the timeline. Give yourself at least three months to research and write; and give the foundation 3 - 6 months to decide whether they'll give the grant or not. Expect these time lines. They're pretty common.

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Planning Your Organization's Grant Writing Expenses

Let's say that you and I work at The United States Star Fish Society (TUSSFS). Let's say that our nonprofit has it's 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, the board is proactive and seeking out the 'how to's' and basics, learning nonprofit oversight, management, operations, and fundraising. Let's say, too, that since its inception TUSSFS has solicited board contacts, previous individual donors, local businesses, and volunteers four times a year. We have a donor base that is growing.

Let's say that our board, during its training, learned how critical planning is for mission success. In TUSSFS' second year the board conducted four strategic planning sessions that resulted in a strategic plan. The strategic plan clearly defines what the organization's mission is, it's current work, the work it envisions itself doing in the future, and details action items, a list of who is responsible for what, deadlines, goals, and how and when outcomes review will occur.

Let's say, too, that during the second year TUSSFS' fundraising committee created a Development (or fundraising) Plan. The Development Plan lists the current fundraising work, the work it will do in the future BASED ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN'S GOALS FOR THE ORGANIZATION (e.g. new programs, hiring more staff, growing the organization's public relations and marketing, etc.), and details action items, a list of who is responsible for what, deadlines, goals, and how and when outcomes review will occur. Based on the Development Plan, TUSSFS began, during its second year, a new fundraising event, the annual Star Fish Gala Ball. We knew when we started the event that it would take a minimum of three consecutive years before this event would begin to gross revenue. The event was conceived, organized, and conducted each year (and will be in the future) to set money aside to pay for grant writing services.

We're in our fifth year, at TUSSFS. We've saved $10,000 from our Star Fish Gala Ball revenue, over the past three years, to be used for grant writing expenses. Now that we've implemented a method to raise money for our grant writing expense, and we have money in the bank - we need to know what we will expect to pay for, how much, and when.

A professional grant writer provides your organization with expertise, a developed skill, success, and leadership. Like when your organization consults with a CPA or a lawyer, you are receiving skilled services (raising grant donations), and your organization is paying a fee for those services. There are many reasons to hire a grant writer. Some nonprofits only need an expert grant writer to review a grant proposal that they've written for corrections, suggestions, and direction. Others need a grant writer to search for potential grant donors (prospecting). Most nonprofits hire grant writers to do all of the grant seeking work; research, prospecting, writing a proposal case, putting the applications together for each potential donor, managing potential grant donor interviews/visits, writing thank you letters, writing grant progress reports, and writing end of grant reports.

Here is a typical (and there are variations) consulting fee schedule for the entire grant writing process:

1. Initial free consultation to meet the grant writer, discuss the organization, determine if it's in a good position to raise grant money, discuss the organization's needs and goals, and discuss how the grant writer works and what the grant writing process is.

2. The grant writer provides the potential client with their resume', a copy of an actual proposal that they wrote and its budget (or a writing sample), letters of recommendation (or a list of professional references), and a clear and thorough proposal.

3. To begin work, many consulting grant writers will request a retainer be paid in order for them to begin work. The retainer can be 1/3 to 1/2 of the proposed total cost of the grant writing contract (in the proposal).

4. When the grant writer begins work, as billing begins, they post the retainer against their billing to your organization. You should receive regular detailed billing and you should also receive regular detailed project and schedule updates.

5. If you are hiring a grant writer to write a grant proposal (case) and you plan on them using the case for many different projects that your organization knows will require grant money - most of the total grant writing cost to your organization will be up front. For each program that your organization is going to raise grants for - the grant writer will have to prospect for potential donors, and the reporting, thank yous, and the grant program maintenance will be ongoing. The greatest amount of time will be spent writing the grant proposal. After it is written, it can be edited for each different need that your organization has for grants (and for each potential grant donor that your organization will apply to). In other words, after your grant proposal is done, most of your agency's grant program will be ongoing prospecting, filing potential donors' info, editing the grant proposal case and mailing out applications, reporting to donors, and managing what grant work is completed and what is on the horizon.

The grant writing expense is larger, upfront, usually. Maintenance is just as important, but usually does not require as much time as the initial work required to form a strong grant program.

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