Guided by Need vs. Guided by Funding

Is there somewhere in between?

Your organization has a proven track record for providing a particular service. You notice that funding is available for a service you’ve never considered before, but you’re qualified to provide. Should you ignore it and stick to your organization’s current plan, or should you pursue this new opportunity?

What would you say if you’ve recently had difficulty getting funding to expand your current services?

What if you’re facing budget cuts and you’re looking for ways to manage until you can get alternative funding for your existing services?

Maybe the funding opportunity will help you implement services you’ve noticed other similar organizations have been providing, and you feel like the opportunity will help you improve your expert status in your community?

Are you being guided by programming trends, or just money?

This chicken-and-egg scenario is a controversial topic in the nonprofit world, but the answer isn’t black and white. Instead of trying to decide who is right and who is wrong, let’s consider the issue carefully to help guide our future decision-making processes.

Here’s the way many people think the funding process works:

Created with Lucidchart

Anyone who has operated a grant program knows that this process is a lot more complicated. For one thing, rejection is really common in the planning stages of a program. You might have to request funding repeatedly before you get your program formula right. A lot of your success might rely on the feedback you receive from funders after applying and failing. In fact, funder feedback is an excellent way to guide and grow your program and it’s one of the reasons why we commend and appreciate the grant writing process.

There are ways to learn from funding trends that help you improve your programming and increase your chances of receiving the support you need to be successful, without losing sight of your organization’s vision.

Funding request pitfalls

Let’s start by considering the underlying problems emerging programs may face when they’re seeking funding and they’re not getting it. Many pitfalls can be avoided by doing some research into the funding that has already been awarded in your area, in your community and by the funders you hope to approach. Nonprofit leaders need to be careful here—programs MUST truly benefit the target community and align with an organization’s mission. Don’t make the mistake of focusing too much on what a funder wants to hear.

One reason for rejection may be that the program does not seem sustainable to the funder. Funders want to support successful programs, and if they cannot clearly see how the program will be able to make a long-term difference, they will pass that program over in favor of one more likely to go the distance. Keep in mind that this perception may be caused by an inaccurate or incomplete grant application. One way to avoid this mistake is to start from the assumption that your idea WON’T work and then prove yourself wrong.

Another problem might be that the program seems outdated or overdone. A funder may not wish to give support to programs that duplicate one another, or to programs that worked well in the past but may not do so well in the future. It is as much a mistake to blindly follow trends as it is to ignore them completely. It may seem like an extra expenditure of time (and money) to track trends in areas of interest outside of yours, but if you are only looking at your own programs you’re missing valuable stakeholder feedback.

Follow funding trends

Following funding trends will tell you a lot about what is important to people in your community. After all, funders do their research too—they follow trends in community needs and pay close attention to a large range of other programs that have proven themselves to be effective. This is especially true for large funders, who have the benefit of plenty of data at their convenience. Smaller funders may be more likely to take a risk based on personal interest, but larger funders may not. It will save you time later if you keep an eye on funder activity from the inception of your programs.

If you are applying for funding on a federal level, you should know that grantmakers are constantly performing an evaluation of projects that were funded in the past to see how and where they should fund in the future. Luckily, information about past awardees of federal grants (and of many foundation grants) is searchable on the Internet. It’s time consuming but not difficult to pull together a general picture of what kinds of programs are more likely to be funded by a particular organization. It can also be helpful to see what kinds of programs were not funded, or which were not eligible. This research process can bring you quite a lot of inspiration for future programs and funding proposals, if you keep an open mind.

However, when looking at trends, be careful not to limit your thinking to a particular grant. It’s a good idea to look at all of the grant opportunities you might target and use this information to help you when planning your programs.

Seek stakeholder input

When designing a program, we recommend getting a broad picture of stakeholder needs and of potential funders’ wishes before deciding on the particulars.

Holding an information-gathering session or formal meeting to collect community feedback, especially with the people who will directly benefit from your program, will not only help you to tailor your program to your community, but give you a wealth of information you’ll be able to pass on to funders as the meat and potatoes of your grant application.

Don’t forget, funders are stakeholders, too. Include them in the conversation early on and you increase your chances not just of getting future funding, but also of developing an effective and well-structured program.

An ideal project funding flow

An ideal project funding process might go something like this:

Created with Lucidchart

Before investing your team’s time in a project, it’s helpful to know what kind of funding situation you can expect. Programs should be designed not only to address a specific need, but should also demonstrate proof to be viable, sustainable and attractive to funders. Program design should also be a collective effort of the stakeholder community, and that community includes funders.

What are some ways you use information about funding trends to make your programs better? How do you balance fundraising and staying mission-focused, and avoid losing your way? Let us know in the comments below!