Getting Past ‘No’
CharityChannel.com  Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Sarah S. Brophy

We evaluate our programs, so why not our proposals?  Probably because that’s the hardest phone call of all:  the one you make when you DIDN’T get the grant. 

The foundation’s letter explaining “too many good projects for the available funds” is honest, if not forthcoming, and the standard response. Many factors influence funding decisions, but foundation staff have too little time to itemize proposal rejections. If you want to truly find out which factors affected your application, and may affect future proposals, call and ask. You will probably find more good than bad in the conversation. 

Introduce yourself, identify your organization and your project, explain that you were not funded in the last cycle. Ask if someone could review your file and spend a few minutes with you discussing the project. The officer may speak with you right away or schedule a later phone review.  

In the call, the officer usually begins with a review of board or panel comments, then compares your competitiveness within the applicant pool. Always ask about the quality of the writing and the appropriateness of the proposal format. Ask if anyone felt the project was missing components. Then ask about applying again. 

Take notes! 

Possibly you applied too late in the project, or too early, for their preferences. Another organization may have had a similar program, but with a capacity-building element you overlooked.  Maybe someone else just planned to reach more students than you could. A board member may have questioned your budget or timetable.  Perhaps the foundation supported so many publications last time that they felt direct service programs were more competitive this time.  Geography may have tipped the scales. 

Ask what put the winners on the top of the pile. Try to discover if these decisions applied only to this pool or are consistent themes in their funding. 

The determining factor may have been very concrete. It could also have been philosophical; in that case you may be hearing the first inklings of a shift in the funder’s priorities. For example, the board may be developing an interest in early childhood education and so selected the pre-school program over your K-1 offering. That’s when the phone call is critical to preparing the second proposal.

Once the officer said “we would have funded that a year ago.” Ay Caramba! But there was a compliment there. The project idea was a hit. The problem was the change in economic conditions — with the stock market decline money did not stretch to the neighboring state. So, we will revisit their funding ability and our needs later in the project or campaign to see if the right conditions have returned.

My worst news ever — that between the time the staff and I discussed our application, and the time the board reviewed the proposal, all within a cycle, the board had decided to stop funding this type of project. Sigh.

It’s a bit like meteorology — not an exact science. Use your mission as your compass; everything else is weather forecasting.  Keep an eye on current trends, be relentless in your pursuit of best practices, check the forecast before each application to be up to the minute, and hope you ride in with a high-pressure system.  

Remember, it is their money, not yours. Yet.

Copyright © 2010 bMuse, Sarah S. Brophy