Written by: Jane Ford, Joy Path and Speaker at the October 22 Non-profit Toolbox event.
Before researching potential funders for a grant proposal, it is important to determine the need for which you are seeking money. All nonprofits have needs and often they include more money – but your organization’s need for money won’t impress funders because almost every nonprofit has financial needs. I have spent more than thirty years working with understaffed and overworked nonprofits with great missions and limited resources. It is always a challenge to determine each day what task is more important because there are so many needs to meet.
What the funders want to know is what do the people you serve really need and how will this grant you are requesting help them get it. The needs statement below exemplifies this idea.
Residents in our recovery program need job and career training to help them discover and become skilled at work they like to do so that they can earn money to support themselves and their families.
I like to look at the needs statement as an “acorn” and the final funding request as the “oak”. Everything you want to create a fabulous, fundable program should be in that acorn. As you carefully research and develop your proposal, you can grow that acorn into a sturdy, productive oak tree that could shelter your organization for years to come.
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