Difference between revisions of "Prioritizing: Five Phases of Grantseeking"
From NGO Handbook
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# Stewardship and Marketing. | # Stewardship and Marketing. | ||
| − | + | ====Prospect identification==== | |
| + | Obviously, the first step in the grantseeking process is the basic research we conduct to identify potential funders and prospects. However, according to Golden, most people who are new to the process of looking for grants make the same mistake—they spend way too much time on this initial phase. While we may think that it is important to do the right research, in reality, with technology and internet search engines, we would only spend about 10% of our time in this phase. | ||
| − | + | ====Education and cultivation==== | |
| + | Education and cultivation should be given 15% of our time. Why is this? Our research may tell us all we need to know about a potential donor and their funding priorities, but they also need to know about us and what we do. This is the emphasis of the education and cultivation phase. This phase may involve educating the donor about our organization and projects. Or, if the donor knows our organization, it may be a question of making the donor aware of current activities and projects. Third, it may be the case that the donor doesn’t really understand how they can be involved in our projects or how they can help. Education may then be as simple as providing the necessary information to cultivating this relationship through spending time together. Either way, we should be spending about 15% of our total time in this phase. | ||
'''Solicitation'''. Eventually, the time comes when we need to actually ask for the grant. This is the solicitation phase of the process and should be given about 15% of our time. The basic questions of who will be involved in asking for the grant, when we ask, how we ask, what materials will we submit to the donor and all of these issues need to be addressed at this time. Nor, advises Golden, should this be done through simply sending out a proposal without having met with the donor or their representative. Cold proposals just don’t work. If we send out 50 cold proposals, we may receive 1-5 positive responses. But, for the most part, this is an exercise in futility. Our time will be better spent if we actually sit down with the donor to determine if this is a right fit. | '''Solicitation'''. Eventually, the time comes when we need to actually ask for the grant. This is the solicitation phase of the process and should be given about 15% of our time. The basic questions of who will be involved in asking for the grant, when we ask, how we ask, what materials will we submit to the donor and all of these issues need to be addressed at this time. Nor, advises Golden, should this be done through simply sending out a proposal without having met with the donor or their representative. Cold proposals just don’t work. If we send out 50 cold proposals, we may receive 1-5 positive responses. But, for the most part, this is an exercise in futility. Our time will be better spent if we actually sit down with the donor to determine if this is a right fit. | ||
Revision as of 12:35, 3 September 2008
Most of us today would agree that finding the time to do all that needs to be done is high up on our list of complaints. This is especially true for directors of non-profit organizations or those charged with finding the funds necessary to keep a project alive. A key issue is how to use our time wisely for seeking grants.
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