Grant writing and strategy is more of a science than an art. Here are some tips to help your center be more effective at identifying the right grant makers to approach for funding.
Strategic Steps for Grant Writing
1. Consider using a tool like Foundation Directory or Foundation Search to identify Foundations that are located in your state that may have an interest in funding your center. Use keywords related to your work that will identify Foundations that are pro-life and/or faith-based.
2. If you are not able to purchase the subscription for these search tools, get creative in compiling your own directory. Ask Board members and other supporters of your center. Do a google search. Research your own files for Foundations that may have funded you in the past. Then start to compile your list. Only exclude Foundations from this list if you know for sure that they won’t fund you. Don’t exclude based on assumptions or guesswork.
3. Once you have the list of Foundations, do some preliminary research by visiting each Foundation’s website (if they have one) or review their 990’s on Guidestar. You will then be able to determine if there are restrictions they have that would prevent you from applying.
4. If there are no restrictions that exclude your organization, proceed by sending a one page letter introducing the work of your center. At the conclusion of the letter, request a meeting with the Foundation as a next step in exploring the possibility of submitting a grant proposal.
5. Call each Foundation that received a letter one week after the letters went out. Use this call as an opportunity to confirm with them that they received the letter and ask for a meeting.
This post is excerpted from an article originally appearing on the private, affiliate-access portion of Care Net’s website.