Before anything else, preparation is the key to success – Alexander Graham Bell
With so many for-purpose organisations and fundraising teams across Australia and New Zealand constrained by limited human and financial resources and competing priorities, we know how easy it is to feel like you’re operating reactively rather than proactively.
That’s why we can’t overemphasise the benefits you’ll realise—for yourself, for your colleagues and for your organisation as a whole— through proactive project planning for grant success. (Afterall, there are a multitude of reasons why effective project planning and development is one of the seven key success factors included in the Strategic Grants Best Practice Tracker, our free tool specifically designed to help for-purpose organisations assess and improve their grant-seeking efficiencies!)
Carving out the time to document the aim, need, activities, beneficiaries, cost and outcomes of your funding needs, whether that’s a new CRM or expansion of program delivery into a new geographic region, can yield many benefits—aside from increased grant success, of course!
To get you started in your proactive grant planning, here are just five of those benefits:
1. Strategic alignment
All organisations want to deliver the greatest impact for their beneficiaries. A common pain point is applying for grants that, in hindsight, don’t truly align with your core mission or, even worse, commit you to delivering activities that aren’t truly strategic. Preparing grant-ready project plans for your priority funding needs—and having these plans endorsed by your leadership team—ensures the project’s outcomes align with your organisation’s strategic direction and are not just an idea born of good intentions with no real prospect of being implemented and/or furthering your mission. This saves wasted time and resources on applications that were never truly a fit.
2. Proactive project planning means ‘everyone is ‘on the same page’
Have you ever had a colleague approach you to insist—incorrectly—that program X is a good fit for grant Y? (We’ve all been there!) Having a grant-ready project plan that is endorsed by all relevant stakeholders means you can easily determine if the project’s outcomes match a funder’s focus and granting criteria. The plans may also prove invaluable to justify your decision making when faced with well-meaning but misinformed suggestions. This eliminates those awkward internal conversations and ensures clarity.
3. Only applying for truly aligned funding
Tempting as it may seem to ‘adjust’ parts of a project to align with a funder’s focus when a large amount of funding is on offer— a common trap that can lead to significant headaches down the line, including having to return funds or delivering projects that aren’t sustainable. Utilising those grant-ready plans ensures you’re only applying for truly aligned funding opportunities, no creative writing is required, you’re not wasting the funder’s time and potentially damaging your organisation’s reputation.
4. Saving time with a collaborative process
You are time poor—and so are your colleagues. Program planning ‘up front’ can not only help you realise efficiencies and ensure you’re not having to approach your colleagues time and time again to gather information (think less ‘chasing down details’ and more ‘focused application writing’), but it can also help to break down silos between departments, improve relationships and reinforce that you’re all working towards the same goal.
5. Rapid response to those grant rounds with short openings
Speaking of being time poor…you’ll be able to respond to grants with short opening periods. With a project plan at the ready, you’ll spend less time rushing to gather information when a grant is due. This has a multitude of other positive outcomes:
- You’ll be able to prepare a comprehensive application that answers all the funder’s questions. Funders can tell when a submission is rushed!
- You’ll have time to sense check your application— and spell check!
- Your sanity is saved (for now at least!)
It goes without saying that demonstrating the impact of your programs to funders is essential…the many benefits of embedding monitoring and evaluation into your project plans is a whole other topic, so here’s a blog we prepared earlier. There are also some incredible sector suppliers who specialise in impact measurement, community data sharing and monitoring and reporting, like our friends at Seer Data & Analytics.
Ready to move from reactive to proactive project planning for grant success?
We understand the unique pressures faced by fundraisers in Australia and New Zealand. That’s why we’ve developed resources specifically designed to alleviate your grant-seeking pain points and empower you for success.
If you’re a GEMS subscriber, be sure to head to your GEMS Knowledge Centre to access resources (included with your subscription) like our Project Planning Templates and Best Practice Monitoring and Evaluation Guide.
If you’re not a GEMS subscriber (take this as your sign to book in a free, no obligation, personal demo!), you too can access great resources via our Webinar Library, our Grants Best Practice Blog and our digital Best Practice Tracker.