Want to learn how to write an effective Grant application for a non-profit organization?
it starts with understanding each of the sections that you're likely to encounter
in a typical Grant application in this new video on this topic I'm going to take you
section by section and what you would find in a typical Grant proposal explain what
each is looking for and share some tips on how to write them [Music]
welcome or welcome back I'm Amber Melanie Smith I'm a non-profit founder and executive
director and I make these videos here on YouTube all about non-profits social
impact fundraising leadership and more as always I hope that you find this video as
helpful and useful don't forget to give it a like and thumbs up and give it a thumbs up
give it a thumbs up uh And subscribe to my channel for more content like this if you're looking for
some extra guidance and support check out my website FounderToFulltime.com where I have two
online courses one about starting a non-profit and the second one relevant to this topic about
developing a sustainable fundraising plan so I hope that you find this helpful and you can
check those out there I've talked about this in some of my other fundraising related videos but
grants are just one of many ways that non-profits can generate revenue and they can be a little
bit challenging to get because they're highly competitive lots of people assume grants are
like the top way non-profits get funding and so you get lots of applications and there are lots
of ways but since we're talking about grant funding in this video I want to give you the
best odds of success possible when you do submit a Grant application and like I said in my intro
that starts with understanding the sections and really getting in the minds of the grant funders
to understand what they are asking for and what they are looking for in each of these sections
I'm going to talk through seven common sections that you would find in a typical non-profit Grant
application and I'll start with number one the executive summary the executive summary is a
section that you'll find at the very beginning of a grant proposal narrative and it's something
that you actually want to write last after you've written the rest of your Grant application because
you're going to pull in probably some text from the other sections of your Grant proposal to put
into the executive summary but basically what this is is it's a brief overview of the organization
and the proposed project or program this is the first thing the grant maker reads so you really
want to make it crisp and concise and clear and what they are looking for like I said is the key
points of what they're going to read in the rest of the application so your organizations Mission a
sentence or two about the proposed project and especially its intended impacts if funding is
received at the end of writing the rest of your Grant proposal you want to really pay special
attention to this executive summary because as I said it's the first thing Grant makers are going
to read and if something in that top section disqualifies you somehow from getting a grant
they won't read the rest of the application so make sure it's really in great shape that is
very clear and that you have some great compelling intro sentences that grip them like you're reading
a good novel section number two that I'm going to talk about is the organization's background now
you might reiterate your mission statement in this section but the grant maker is especially looking
for sort of the history and the foundation of success for your organization they might ask you
questions about your organization's leadership its structure its history its current programs
but especially your track record of success basically this is where you can showcase your
organization's credibility and Authority for being able to execute on the program to meet
its goals if you get the funding depending on the space you have in your proposal and how in
depth you want to get here you might include something like a timeline of your organization
like the year was founded then years where large accomplishments or key Milestones occurred like
the launch of a special program or the year you reached a thousand people served or something
like that you might also include a sentence or two about your organization's key leadership and their
credentials essentially what makes them the right person to fulfill this organization's Mission what
knowledge and experience do they have what brought them to this work maybe it's a health related
non-profit and the founder is a surgeon that might be relevant because then you're demonstrating
that that founder has intimate knowledge of the cause the third section of your Grant proposal
is probably the most important and that is your need statement in this section you are going to
paint a compelling picture about the problem that your organization's program or project is aiming
to solve maybe it's a rise in homelessness in your city or the fact that a certain percentage
of kids in your community are going to bed hungry whatever the problem is in this section you need
to demonstrate that you have a clear knowledge of it and expertise in explaining it you want to
include some data and statistics about the problem especially as it relates to the geographical area
that your organization serves you might also if you have space include a short anecdote or story
about someone who has lived through this problem but especially you want to make sure that in this
section you are explaining how the project or the program that you're seeking funding for
is proven or highly likely based on past research to legitimately address the problem that you're
describing that you have good reason to believe that what you're doing as non-profit is a
reasonable solution to that problem you might demonstrate this by showcasing past feedback
of participants who've gone through your program and gotten the help they need you might showcase
research from similar programs in other cities that shows that when you do that kind of program
you get these positive results there are lots of ways to do it and I understand that newer
organizations might have a hard time showing the impacts of the past because they might not have
as many yet and they're just getting started but using research from similar organizations
who are doing similar work is another way to show the efficacy of what you're trying to do
in the fourth section you're going to get into a lot more detail about the project or program
you're seeking funding for in this section you're are going to describe your program fully you're
going to explain how it works what activities are a part of it the strategy and the mindset behind
you running the program in that way a timeline so is it a program that is ongoing does it happen in
one season of the year is it happening in a specific week what are the the steps you take
throughout the year to lead up to that so what is your whole planning timeline and then as I
mentioned before sharing your expected outcomes so the impacts you think you'll be able to make
if you're able to get that funding and like I said before the grant maker wants to see evidence that
the proposed project or program is has a strong chance of meeting the outcomes and impacts that
you have stated and showcasing that through all the different ways we talked about before you
know participant feedback other research Etc I also want to take a moment to explain the
difference between outputs and outcomes an output might be something like um number of meals served
or a number of adoptable animals served stuff like that an output is basically a product of
the action you're taking that's different though from an outcome an outcome is how the situation
changed from beginning to end so from status quo to you coming and do your work and then after that
what was the change think of it like a before and after picture for a social problem right
so an outcome would be um of the number of people that you fed meals to what percent are
no longer food insecure so that's like a change in their lives as a result of working with you
um or in the case of the animal adoptions that I mentioned um what percent of animals uh are
in their homes permanently after a year or two you know because sometimes animals get returned to the
shelter so how good of a job is your organization doing matching animals to their correct or to the
best fit home and so that they stay in that home that's an outcome versus an output Grant makers
might want to see both outputs and outcomes but they're especially interested in outcomes
because they want to know what difference will their money make if they don't give you money
will you be able to achieve anything or achieve everything anyway or if they give you the funding
how many lives are you going to change in that before and after scenario come one section number
five is your organization's evaluation plan and this is basically where you describe your process
and plan for evaluating the effectiveness of the project or program that was funded are you going
to do surveys of the people who participated are you going to track how many people were served and
in what ways basically how are you going to prove like we talked about before that your program was
effective in doing what you said it was going to do if funding was received so in this section
they're going to ask you what are you measuring and especially how are you going to measure
it literally what tools are you using if it's a survey say a survey you can even say the name of
the technology or software you're going to use to collect the surveys and the process you're going
to go to make sure that surveys are completed so really talking about your your plan here and the
the funder wants to know that it's reasonable it's achievable and that it's going to really showcase
the intended data and on another note funding aside you should have evaluation systems in place
anyway because you're starting a non-profit you're running a non-profit you're seeking grant funding
in order to make a difference in the world and I know for me I want to know if I'm actually making
a difference or if the things that I'm doing are ineffective because if they are I want to
change what I'm doing so evaluation and collecting important data really helps you be able to do that
the next section that you are extremely likely to find in Grant proposals is the budget section
and the budget section could be one of two things or both of these things it could be asking you for
your organization's total annual budget or it could be asking for just the budget related to
that specific project or program seeking funding of course the budget is going to outline the
intended expenses what you're going to spend money on for that project or program or for
your organization and the revenue that you expect to bring in and you're going to show all of the
revenue that is connected to your organization if they're asking for your organization's budget or
if they're just asking for the project or program budget the revenue attached to that program and
typically you don't want to ask for a grant to cover 100 of your program or projects expenses
in my experience that is likely to get rejected because the grant maker wants to see that they
are not the only funder that has an interest in or is willing to invest in your program or project so
um in my experience A good rule of thumb is to never ask for more than 30 to 40 percent at
the highest of your program or Project's entire budget from a single funder an exception would
be if a funder comes to you and says I want to fund this what's it going to take in which case
if they want to fund all of it great more power to you so anyway you want to have
this organization this budget ready to go and if it's your organization budget you hopefully
already have that ready to go from your ongoing operations anyway um but uh they're gonna look
for a realistic and detailed budget um that doesn't seem completely uh you know
unachievable um and they're going to want to look for in the revenue section the other groups or
individuals who are investing in that program or project as well to make up the rest of the funding
that you said you needed to fund this program fully a word on Direct versus indirect costs
they might ask you in the Grant application okay showcase what your direct costs are and then list
what your indirect costs are for this program or project if you're not already familiar with direct
versus indirect costs think of it like this what are the items services or Staffing or equipment
that you need to make sure that your program or project happens they they are directly related to
your program or project that's your direct costs um so it would be things like let's say it's an
animal rescue organization your animal adoption coordinator staff that's a direct cost you can't
run your adoption program without that coordinator Staffing it and coordinating everything in this
example other direct costs might include um the food you feed the adoptable animals it could be
um the housing for the animals that's a direct cost um so things like that that are like
directly touching the program and its outcomes now indirect costs are the operational costs that
your organization still has to cover somehow in order to be able to do all these programs
um a common example is keeping your lights on you have to have electricity and pay your utilities
bill in order to run an Animal Rescue Agency so even though the electricity isn't something
that's directly touching the process of adopting out animals you still need it so listing it out
and explaining that though it's an indirect cost it's still a very necessary cost in order to run
your programs really helps clarify the full true needs of the costs of your program to potential
funders okay section number seven and the last one I'll talk about today in this video is your
sustainability plan so in this section you're going to want to describe your plan for how you're
are going to continue covering the costs of your program or project after that funders Grant has
been used after that Grant cycle is complete the grant maker wants to see that you have like I said
before other interests from other funders that you have a plan for how you're going to generate
Revenue in order to sustain the program beyond the money they give you perhaps you're using a portion
of the grant to invest in an earned income Revenue strategy that will perpetuate the program after
the grant funding if you don't know what earned income is check out my video on earned income in
my fundraising playlist that will help you kind of understand what that is and how that works
unfortunately Grant makers usually don't want to provide year after year funding to the same
organizations they don't want you to rely on them um it's there's lots of dialogue about
whether that's uh good or not but that is currently how it is so just be aware of that
um that you you should be thinking about your plan to bring in other sources of funding outside
of this one Grant all right I'd love to hear from you what parts of a typical Grant proposal do you
find or do you think you would find the easiest to write or to develop and which sections do
you think are the hardest share in the comments below as I mentioned before if you are starting
a non-profit or developing a sustainable fundraising plan check out my website for my
courses and my resources FounderToFulltime.com and if you're looking for other resources for
change makers or non-profits I have a great monthly newsletter that I send out with some
reading on the latest trends in social impact some funding opportunities that I come across
and more you can learn about that and subscribe to that using the link below this video finally
if you're on Facebook I have a group called change the world or bust we've got thousands of people
from around the world and they're all making an impact and I encourage you to come out and join
us and join that group so I hope to see you there once again I'm Amber Melanie Smith I hope that you
found this helpful don't forget to give it a like and a thumbs up and I'll see you next time bye