Workforce development grants: What funders want from job training programs
Job training programs get funded on results. A reviewer reading a workforce proposal wants to know who enrolls, who finishes, who gets hired,...
Grant readiness checklist: Is your nonprofit ready to apply?
Grant readiness is an essential part of successful grant seeking. Even a well-written grant proposal can fall short if an organization lacks the...
Multi-year grants vs. one-time awards: What nonprofits should ask for
Multi-year grants can provide organizations with greater financial stability, support long-term program planning, and make it easier to retain staff and sustain services....
How nonprofits should talk about overhead and indirect costs in a grant budget
"Overhead" has a branding problem. Decades of donor messaging equating low overhead with high efficiency left many funders, and many nonprofit staff themselves,...
Government grant eligibility and application process, explained
Government grant eligibility and process requirements are usually the last thing organizations check, not the first. Most sort them out halfway through writing...
How to write a grant needs statement that doesn’t sound generic
The needs statement is the first real test of your grant proposal. Before a reviewer gets to your program design, your budget, or...
What funders actually look for in a grant budget narrative
Most organizations treat the budget narrative as an afterthought. The proposal narrative gets weeks of attention. The budget gets assembled in the final...
How to write a letter of inquiry (LOI) that leads to a full proposal
Most foundations never see your full proposal. They see your letter of inquiry first and if it doesn't move them, the proposal never...
State and local government grants: The overlooked middle tier
Federal grants get most of the attention in the grant writing world. Foundation grants get most of the rest. Between these two sits...
Grant readiness audit: 10 things funders check before they read your narrative
Most organizations spend the majority of their grant preparation time on the narrative. The story, the need, the program design, the outcomes. All...