Five Signs Your Organization Is Grant-Ready

Before you spend three weeks on a proposal, it's worth spending twenty minutes on a different question: is your organization ready to be funded? A strong program can still stall in review because the paperwork behind it isn't there yet. Here are five signs you're ready, and what to do if one is missing.

1. Your legal footing is in order

Funders want to know who they're giving to. That starts with your IRS business registration, your EIN, and your registration with your Secretary of State or Attorney General (and as a charity, if your state requires it). If you're a nonprofit, your 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) determination letter should be easy to find. If it takes a search through old emails, fix that first.

2. Your budget tells the full story

Reviewers like to see an organizational budget with actuals from past years next to a projection for the current fiscal year. A recent audit, financial review, or compilation of your financial statements shows that someone outside your team has looked at the numbers. None of this needs to be fancy. It needs to be current and consistent.

3. You can say who you serve, and who has already backed you

How many individuals did you serve over the past two years? Who are your major funders? These two answers come up in almost every application, and they're hard to write well in a hurry. Keep them on one page where you can find them.

4. The people behind the work are documented

A board list with titles, employers, and contact information. Staff résumés and bios. An organizational chart. Personnel policies and bylaws. Funders aren't only funding a program, they're funding the team and the governance that will carry it out.

5. You have proof you can point to

A recent annual report. A current strategic plan. Letters of support from partners who will vouch for you. A handful of recent photos for PR. These are the pieces that turn "trust us" into "here's the evidence."

What to do next

If you read that list and found a gap, good. Finding it now costs you an afternoon. Finding it mid-application costs you a deadline. Our Grant Readiness Checklist walks through all of these items and lets you check them off, so you can see exactly what's left.

Which one is hardest for your organization to pull together? Start there.