That Foundation Doesn’t Approve Us…!

“I don’t think it is worthy to try that foundation again, we failed to appeal to them before.” A pretty common comment I heard from some of my clients from time to time. “Any idea why you failed?” “Don’t know, they simply emailed (or phoned) telling me that our grant proposal hasn’t made it.” Do you have a similar experience when you eschewed making applications to the same charitable foundation which turned you down before because you have the impression that your organization or your projects are not something they are interested in?

Think again, think again about why they said no last time!

Exclude those situations where you applied to the wrong foundations of which the mission of your organization or your projects are not in line with their giving criteria, foundations say no for many reasons. It is not necessarily mean your organization or your project is not good enough or that they don’t think it is worthy to support. The first thing you have to do is never accept a simply no as the answer in such a situation. I am not suggesting you further discuss, debate, or confront them in the hope they would overturn their decision. Never! But ask politely why they don’t take it further in considering your grant application. I can promise you will get an encouraging reason every time you ask, which in turn will give you more solid ideas on how or when to make the next appeal with a higher chance for a yes eventually. Listed underneath are some of the common reasons why charitable foundations decline your grant application now.

1. The timing is not right. You submitted your grant application after the quarterly, or annual submission was due. Some foundation have their own timeframe for receiving, evaluating, approving and granting support, nonprofits have to follow and stick to such rules and regulations in filing their funding proposals.

2. The amount you asked for is well over their remaining annual budget. It normally happened late in the foundation’s grant cycle. They might have spent most of their annual grant budget by the time they received your grant proposal and the amount you requested was clearly over the remaining grant amount they have for the year.

3. They have funded similar organizations/projects lately. Suppose the foundation gives to a range of projects that are targeted at addressing various social issues instead of just one. In that case, they may want to diversify their grants to a range of different projects that fit in with their giving principles to create a bigger, far-reaching impact rather than supporting similar projects benefiting solely a similar community and group of beneficiaries.

4. You stopped short in demonstrating the impact that you anticipated through the intervention of your organization/project. In many cases, organizations are very good at telling their own stories, such as how long they have been established, who and who is on their board, how many and what initiatives they have launched or going to launch, and how many beneficiaries have been served and so long, but at the end of the day what was the impact that your organization has brought to the society/beneficiaries through all such projects? It is something of particular importance for grant-makers to consider any grant application.

So never think one no is a definite no and that the foundation will close the door on you forever. It is not the case. Having a good sense of why you failed in engaging the foundation this time helps you in crafting, presenting and submitting your grant proposals in the future that have a better chance of getting a nod.

Good luck with your next attempt.