Over and Over Again: What to Do When Grant Applications Repeat the Same Question

By Sheldon Bart

You know what I mean.  Online technology has put us all at the mercy of applications designed by people who most likely have never been confronted with anything like their own handiwork.  Can’t they see that if they’re asking first for a project summary, second for your overall objectives, and third for a needs statement, or goals or anticipated outcomes, they’re really asking the same question?  Yet they expect—and demand—three different answers.

Too bad we can’t be three different people.  But, in fact, we can be.  Allow me to show you how to turn frustration into opportunity.

First Iteration

The first time the question is asked, give a straightforward answer in your own voice and based on your own understanding of the program’s purpose, highlighting its uniqueness, and why your nonprofit wants to implement, maintain or expand it.

Second Iteration

When the question repeats a second time, look for something the executive director or program director has written giving their interpretation of what the agency is trying to achieve by getting that program funded.  If you can’t find a suitable write-up, have a brief chat with them and take notes.  They are almost sure to emphasize facets of the program that you may have overlooked. This second version is that person’s voice, their understanding, a paraphrase avoiding quotations unless you feel that’s warranted.

Third Iteration

Here’s where you can get more creative.  Much of the work of the non-profit sector has to do with moving people from one set of behaviors to another.  Look around and you’ll find that in many spheres of life, people, consciously or not, impose their own barriers to success.  (This is what our Chairman, Laurence A. Pagnoni seeks to convey in his books on fundraising which I’d encourage you to read. See here.)

You very likely have on your shelves a book addressing the problem of behavioral change, or a pertinent article in your files.  Dig it out.  A quick review if it will give you another angle or vocabulary of expressions to use in answering the same question for the third time.

These three steps will get you through the application and relieve the irritation and anxiety these instruments all too often provoke.  But it will do something else too.  It presents your program with a depth and nuance that moves a funder to resonate with your mission, vision, and values. This is one of the secrets of LAPA Fundraising’s high return on our grants program.

That’s how to make the repetition work for you.

We welcome your comments about this post on the LAPA blog.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Related Posts

The CEO as Chief Fundraiser: A Role That Should Never Be Delegated

Our recent posts have lasered in on fundraising perennials–retention of fundraising staff, annual funds, and why donors give.  Another perennial stacks up as equally worthy of thoughtful commentary, and that’s the role of the chief executive officer in fundraising.  

A short definition of a CEO is he or she who makes decisions.  Nowadays, we recognize the value of consensus decision-making, and that’s fine.  But the kinds of decisions I’m referring to are the big ones, decisions such as those made by the captain of a ship.

Read More »
Fundraiser Retention

How To Improve Fundraiser Retention

That disturbingly high turnover rates and low morale plague fundraising professionals is nothing new. Research going back almost two decades shows this to be true.

One study in particular found that the “average fundraiser stays on a job only 16 months.”

In fact, just last year, author Rob Webb called on us to act on fundraising turnover right here in NonProfit Pro.

The past research on turnover was best summarized by our colleague Penelope Burke as follows:

Read More »

The Secret to Why Donors Give

There are many reasons we in the fundraising industry tell one another about why donors give.  They are moved by your mission, they know a board or staff member, they’ve given for years, to name a few.  I doubt that all of them are true, and I especially doubt that they are all true at the same point in the giving calculus for each donor.

Read More »