Start Building Grant Capacity

Most EDs or Directors of Development who are struggling with managing grants think they need to hire a grant writer. Totally fair, but it might not always be the right move.

If your organization doesn't have the systems in place to support the work, you can still be struggling with getting funding EVEN with a great grant professional in your corner.

Instead of outsourcing your capacity as your go-to strategy, you should consider ways you can build capacity internally.

That can look like:

- training your team (and yourself!) on the grant process
- creating a single source of truth for all the foundational documents that inform your grant proposals
- documenting a set grant writing process that can be followed by different team members
- making a grant calendar that aligns with your nonprofit lifecycle stage, funding goals, programs, etc.

Outsourcing grant writing can be great during transitional periods like launching new programs or for specialized opportunities like US Federal grants, but building internal capacity is KEY when consistent, ongoing grant funding becomes a core revenue stream that your organization depends on.

No matter what stage your non-profit is in, grant writing can be such a scrambled, reactive process. I'm here to encourage you to put that same amount of effort into proactive activities that can take the stress out of the deadline crunch (AND increase your likelihood of getting funding!!)

It's counterintuitive, but if you want to stop dreading grant writing, you might actually need to do more of it.