How to Get a Foundation Grant

Getting a foundation grant allows a person or group to launch a new organization or fund a resourceful project that helps their community or society at large in a proactive way. If you are an individual or part of a group with an innovative idea that needs a grant to fund your overall goal, observe these steps.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Demonstrate your credibility. Before you approach grant makers, you need to make sure you can show that your organization meets a tangible need in the community. You also need to prove that your board, staff and volunteers contribute to the infrastructure by their involvement and credentials.
2. Create a prospect list of potential donors. Potential donors must be funders that give to organizations like yours. To locate such a list, check directories and databases that categorize grant makers by subject, type of support and geographic. Research the kinds of foundations to which your program can apply for funding. In your research, apply to those foundations that best match your goals and purposes. The categories for funding sources list as corporate programs, sponsorships, private foundations, community and public foundations, individuals and government.
3. Narrow down your prospects list to about 12 to 15 funders. Make the best of your research time and allow yourself to be very thorough by reviewing a tremendous amount of information and comparing information.
4. Contact the funders of your choice. Start by telephone calls letting them know you are applying for a grant with the goal to get invited to submit the proposal for grant funding. Then, send a letter of inquiry (no more than two pages) including all aspects of the proposal such as required funds, organization overview, program information, why you are ideal for the grant funding, appreciations and details about how you will follow up.
5. Appoint a responsible person from your organization to be in control of the follow up with the grant maker(s), manage and complete the deadlines and to be an expert about your organization.

Tips & Warnings

• Work with your board of directors, staff and volunteers to establish a plan, importance and priorities, so you have total support from the group.
• Assign responsibilities to persons of the organization, so all activities are shared and get completed by target date.
• Having the community support your organization is essential for granting funds to your foundation.
• Examples of categories of grant makers are education, arts, civic affairs, science, theater, youth, women and technology. Keep in mind that many grant makers fall into different categories.
• Submitting grants for your foundation requires the know-how to do a full proposal in a professional manner. Remember to include in your proposal idea information on the end product of your program, and how you will qualify your program to assess whether you reached your end product.