Steps to Take Before Submitting a Joint Grant Proposal

To boost their chances of receiving a grant, nonprofits may join together to write grant proposals. Such partnerships allow charities to demonstrate a wide range of expertise in their pitches to grant makers. Plus, when several nonprofits commit to a project, if one has to drop out or if its key staff members move on, the program often can continue despite the change.

However, it can be difficult to organize a collaborative project because there are many moving parts, and it is wise to determine if the risks outweigh potential rewards. Before you pursue a group project, it helps to answer key questions. Will you have the right staff to complete the project? Will you have to secure additional funding? Is each organization clear about its duties?

To help nonprofits answer these and other questions, Bess de Farber, grants manager at the University of Florida’s George A. Smathers Libraries, wrote a guide to collaborative grant seeking. The guide is aimed at librarians, but the lessons apply to nonprofits of any variety.

From Title to Budget

Here some of the steps Ms. de Farber recommends for assessing whether you should submit a proposal with other nonprofits.

1. Create a title that clearly communicates the project.
2. Write a two- or three-paragraph summary to communicate to a grant maker’s program officer.
3. If a grant maker has not been identified, look for one.
4. Read the grant maker’s guidelines and procedures. Seek clarification if needed.
5. Research past awards made by the foundation or donor, including amounts, project themes, regions of the country served, and the size of the project.
6. Determine the application deadline and see if there is a cost-share (matching funds) requirement.
7. Prepare a list of questions for each potential sponsor about that group’s requirements, including evaluation criteria.
8. Prepare a timeline of major activities required to execute the project.
9. List the required resources, including personnel, vendors, volunteer or student labor, supplies, equipment, and travel.
10. Assess the project’s viability by asking the opinions of experts to see if they can recommend improvements.
11. Prepare a preliminary budget and compare it with the prospective donor’s grant history and guidelines. Estimate the cost of each participant’s involvement in the project.
12. Determine if you can contact the foundation’s program officer to ask for advice and feedback about the project’s purpose and budget.
13. Create a list of possible collaborators outside the current group who could add to the project’s credibility, perform tasks outside your area of expertise, or expand the number of people who will benefit from the work. Contact the potential partners to determine their interest.
14. Based on all of this information, convene the feasibility group to get their input on the project’s viability.
15. If project is deemed feasible, create a project team to oversee it, update the project summary (step 2) and adjust the preliminary budget (step 11).

The steps outlined above may seem like a lot of work to undertake if you decide not to pursue the project. However, it is far better to reach this decision before you have accepted a grant maker’s money and before you invest in an ill-fated project that could jeopardize your nonprofit’s reputation and drain staff time from more worthy pursuits.

Adapted from “Collaborative Grant-Seeking: A Practical Guide for Librarians,” by Bess G. de Farber.