Your Grant Authority

If you’re new to the grant writing consulting game, please heed my advice: avoid the start-up. I’m speaking of the brainchild of someone who, with the best of intentions, has decided to begin their own nonprofit for their choice of cause. These well-intentioned souls, needing cash for their new undertaking, often look to grant money as their quickest route to big bucks. Now, please don’t be offended by my advice. While I admire those who have the determination to begin a movement to assist someone in need, often these folks are operating under the assumption that “somewhere out there” a magic grant exists that will alleviate their start-up woes. Not!

I give you this warning because I have been a participant in this scenario and there was definite frustration on both sides. The organization was frustrated because I was unable to write a winning grant for them and I was frustrated because they were unable to provide me with the pertinent information to write the applications. They had no budget, no client data, no overall fundraising plan and no paid staff to delegate responsibility for collecting or sharing information with me. In short, it was a mess.

I was new to my consulting business and eager for clients, so I took what was offered. Don’t make my mistake – be sure that the organization has a history. Also, you’ll want to see that they have most of these documents in place that are common to grant applications:

501 (c)(3) designation letter
Current financial statement
Board list with officers
Audit
Organization budget
Bylaws
Bios of key staff
Annual report
990 PF
Anti-discrimination policies

So, in conclusion, repeat after me “I will say no to the start-up…I will say no to the start-up….I will say…” You get the picture. Good luck!