Do you know which funders are most likely to say “Yes” to your proposal?

Hi friend,

Happy New Year!

I hope you just enjoyed some wonderful time off and are feeling rejuvenated. 

As we bid farewell to the old year and welcome a fresh start, I wanted to get into your hands a key tool to bring you clarity in your grant writing this year.

The way to know which funders are most likely to say “Yes” to your proposal is by identifying the profile of your perfect fit funder. This will give you crystal clarity on who you should be reaching out to, and will bring in more $ in less time.

Let me tell you a story:

When I was at the Inter-American Development Bank, my team funded Access to Finance projects. And our mandate was to support piloting for scale. But many organizations that reached out to us for funding didn´t fit into this programmatic area. Or their programs weren’t scalable at the level we were looking for. Or they were requesting a grant size smaller than we gave. These organizations did important work, and the amount of money they were asking was usually right for them, but it wasn´t right for us.

On average, 30% of proposals funders receive don’t fit their criteria. What a waste of your time!

Instead, if you send proposals only to funders that are a perfect fit for you, you will use your time better, get more wins, and build relationships with funders who will champion your work over the long term.

So here´s how to define the profile of your perfect fit funder:

Note down-

• What the goal of your organization is

• What your programmatic areas are

• What stage your programs are in (idea, pilot, ready to scale)

• How big your organization is (# staff)

• What your organizational values are

• Where your programs are

• Where your organization is registered (US, another country, both)

• The country where your headquarters is

• Your annual organizational budget

• The smallest and largest grant size you are open to

• If you can put up matching funds

• What makes you innovative

• What scaling looks like for you (if you are interested in scaling)

• If you have any deadline by when you need the grant funding

THIS is the profile of your perfect fit funder.

Then, next time you identify a potential new funder, you can walk through this tool like a checklist: Does this foundation support projects on the topics we work on? Do they fund in the regions where I operate? Do they give to organizations with my size operating budget? Do our values align so that it will be a fruitful partnership? And so on down the list. A perfect fit funder ticks ALL the boxes in your list. See how clear that makes things? You can download this tool here.

This is just one of the tools I shared in my recent grants masterclass. If you missed it live, catch the recording of the whole masterclass here!

(PLUS, If you found this tool helpful, you will really benefit from the first session in my small group Funded with Ease intensive. In that session, which is all about the “Perfect Fit Funder”, you will get my guidance and feedback on your perfect fit funder, we will get you clear on what makes your organization “yes´able” to a funder, you will get one of my favorite templates for engaging donors, and so much more

• Want to join the intensive in Spanish? Sign up here.

• Want to join the intensive in English? Send me an email and I may open another English cohort soon.)

Wishing you a joyous, wonder-filled, ease-filled 2024,
Shoshana