Reality check

It is a common misconception, particularly among Boards of Directors of non-profit organizations (npo), that grants will solve all of their fundraising problems. In fact, grant funding, whether from foundations, corporations, or the government, makes up only about 10 percent of a typical npo's income. Grant funding is invaluable in helping create new programs, building physical and organizational capacity, and serving to spur new or larger donations. But it will not make up for an absence of regular solicitation of individual donors, and generally will not make up the bulk of an organizations funding. (There are exceptions, notably some small, grassroots organizations who risk their future by relying on one or two sources of funding that could disappear with a downturn in the stock market.)

Most proposals are unsuccessful. For instance, in 2003, the Jeannette Rankin Foundation in Athens, GA received 2,569 funding proposals, and awarded 45 grants (ratio: one in 57). The Ford Foundation received about 40,000 and made only 2,510 grants (about one in 16). Staff from another foundation, who shall remain anonymous, told a colleague of mine that their foundation had received over 500 proposals in a recent funding cycle, but were able to fund only 35 (ratio: less than one in 14). Receiving grant funding is highly competitive.