Get Grants Now

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Contents

Foreword..................................................................ixIntroduction: If I Can Do This, You Can, Too..............................xiiiPart One: Before You Begin................................................11. Mission First..........................................................32. Developing the Needs Statement.........................................93. Creating a Program Based on Mission and Need...........................54. Creating the Budget....................................................9Part Two: Doing the Research..............................................295. Understanding Foundation Terminology...................................316. Finding and Tracking Funders Who Support Your Need.....................377. Forming Relationships with Funders.....................................45Part Three: Now It's Time to Write........................................538. Understanding Commonly Required Formats................................559. Writing the Proposal...................................................6310. Creating Useful Attachments...........................................6711. Appearances Do Count..................................................71Conclusion: You're Not Done Yet...........................................75Bonus Chapter: Keys to Writing Well.......................................77Appendix..................................................................85Index.....................................................................101

Chapter One

The first purpose of an organization's mission is to guide the board, staff and volunteers in all you do. The second is to let the outside world, including the funding world, know exactly why you exist. Books have been written about creating compelling mission statements that motivate and inspire. That is not the purpose of this book; but since it is the first step to successful grant seeking, it is worth spending a little time reviewing yours.

A good mission statement answers three questions succinctly: Why does your organization exist? What purpose do you serve? Who were you created to help? Take a look at the following mission statements and see if they tell you what the organization does and for whom they do it.

1. Our mission is to present and promote excellent live classical music that inspires, entertains, and engages people of all ages.

2. Our mission is to help homeless people by providing temporary shelter, finding safe and affordable housing for them, and providing them with permanent housing that includes the support services they need to maintain this housing.

3. Our mission is to provide youth, adults and families with an effective and comprehensive solution to drug and alcohol addiction.

(You likely figured out that the first organization is a community orchestra, the second provides housing for the homeless and the third helps addicts recover their lives.)

In each case, fewer than 40 words were used, and so the type of words here are the key: the type of words created a powerful and inspirational mission. These nonprofits selected words with strength and precision, words such as inspire, engage, permanent, effective, comprehensive, and solution. The language is clear, the sentence structure simple and direct.

Take out your organization's mission statement and read it through. Then call a few people - a friend, a colleague, your mother, your great-aunt Sarah - and read it to them. If they truly understand your organization's purpose from simply hearing the statement, you can skip the rest of this chapter and move on to the "Needs" chapter, next.

If they have to ask you two or three questions before getting clear about your mission, - or if your organization doesn't have a mission statement - now is the time to complete the Mission Statement Exercise below. (You might want to conduct this exercise anyway, as a way to improve or validate your current mission statement.)

Exercise: Creating a Mission Statement

Part One: Do this with the full Board of Directors since it is their responsibility to approve a final mission statement. Select or appoint a group facilitator to lead the exercise. Allow at least one hour so there is ample time for discussion. (For help, use the Create a Mission Statement Form in the Appendix.)

1. Have everyone write down five words, and only five words, that they believe are critical to understanding what their organization is all about.

2. Next, instruct them to eliminate two of these words and keep the three they deem most important.

3. Pair up board members to share their remaining three words with a partner. Each pair will come up with a total of three to four words they determine most accurate in describing your organization's purpose.

4. Put each word on a four by six post-it note in large print. Post these notes on a wall or board where everyone can see them.

5. Using these words as a focus, facilitate the group in creating a rough draft of a statement of fewer than 30 words, that describes the purpose of your organization and the people you serve. Don't worry about the exact wording: it is the ideas that are important at this stage.

Part Two: Ask for four or five people to do this next step.

1. Have them each make a phone call to someone they know who is not close to your organization. Ask that person to listen to the rough draft of the mission statement to see if he or she understands the purpose of your organization.

2. The caller group will then get together before the next meeting to share what they have learned, and to revise the mission statement based on their learning.

Part Three: After the caller group provides the facilitator with the revised mission statement, send this revised statement to all board members to review in advance of the next board meeting.

1. Allow enough time at this meeting for all members to have input on the new statement, and to make revisions if needed.

2. If there appears to be a lot of disagreement about the statement, repeat Part Two with different board members.

3. Conduct a formal vote by the Board approving the final revision of the statement as the mission statement of your organization.

When you have completed this exercise, you will have a brief statement that is compelling and capable to attract funders' attention. It speaks from the heart, it is daring, but it is not unrealistic. It is challenging, but it is not impossible to achieve. It serves as the cornerstone of every proposal you will write. Ideally, you can call it the "Board Approved" mission statement in your proposal.

However, if the proposal is due in three weeks and the Board has not even decided if they want a new and improved version of the mission statement, don't hold up your proposal. Use some form of the current mission statement that clearly explains what you do and for whom you do it. Just don't call it a mission statement in the proposal: refer to it as your organization's purpose, or reason for being, or some other less formal name.

Whatever you choose to call it, you now have a mission statement with...