Grant writing must be viewed as merely one tool in your organization's arsenal of fundraising strategies. Organizations too often look for grant funding to sustain their entire operation and it is critical that agencies diversify their funding sources; especially nonprofits. It may not be obvious that grant writing is a specialized form of fundraising and development.
Corporate Donations Provide Diversified Funding
Sometimes organizations are not ready to apply for many grant opportunities because they are unable to show funders an existing revenue stream. Securing corporate donations is a great first step to showing foundations that there is interest in and a need for your program; even if the corporate donations are not enough to fully fund the program.
Diversified Funding Provides Sustainability
Diversified funding sources, especially annual corporate contributions, also illustrate an increased likelihood of program sustainability - which is attractive to grant funding agencies offering time-limited grants.
Sustainability Allows Documented Successes
Developing a set of measured outcomes is also important. Sometimes starting with a small pilot program can show measured positive impacts worthy of expansion and replication. The appropriate strategy is dependent on many factors of your organization's current operations.
GrantProse has helped many kinds of agencies (e.g., nonprofits, for-profits, local governments, colleges and universities) that have had diverse capacities and needs. Our experience has granted us the flexibility to fulfill many needs of our clients and perform services that stray from the strict definition of "grant writing." As a result, GrantProse offers more than just grant writing consulting and training we partner with our clients to help them achieve their fundraising goals. For instance, when our client needs to forge a collaboration with another organization, we create a draft Memorandum of Understanding for them to share with their potential partner and guide them through meetings and negotiations.
As outside consultants, however, we do not recommend that we conduct direct communications with the goal of forging relationships between organizations. Our role is to build in your organization the capacity to establish these connections on your own, so that the connections remain intact when our consultation is complete. Just as a strong grant proposal features lasting effects, our consultation services secondarily provide capacity building and professional development that lasts beyond the terms of our contracted services.
To learn more about grant writing and fundraising in general, we invite you to explore our Free Resources page, contact us, and connect with us via social media sites.