Funding

Bad things, it turns out!

I have been reading Thank you for Submitting Your Proposal by Martin Teitel, an inside look at how foundations operate, coupled with good tips on how to go with their flow. His stories and tips ring true with my experience and offer some very useful lessons, the most important of which from his book and my experience is that most proposals have a maximum 60-second shelf life in some foundations. If you can’t sell the project in the first 10 to 60 seconds, it may be dead. So why is this and what do you do about it?

First, foundation staff doesn’t read all proposals. Don’t always expect focus, courtesy, fairness, or justice. They just don’t always have time. In some cases, junior level staff (sometimes, receptionists) toss most proposals after 30 seconds of reading; program officers sometimes spend a minute skimming those not tossed and read a tiny handful of what is left. Cover letters are often ignored; in some cases, only the summary and the budget get looked at, even by program officers. So your only goal in a LOI or a proposal’s first page may be to convince a very junior person that his or her boss should see it, and then to convince his or her boss to decide after 60 seconds of reading the Summary, that it fits and should be in the docket for the Board.

Second, guidelines often come from the board, and as often as not, the board sees its job as protecting the guidelines from any deviation or dilution. Thus, the slightest deviation can be a reason for the staff to toss your work. Follow the guidelines exactly, even if they appear dumb to you. Always remember, the staff’s number one job is to convince Board members that the projects they recommend for funding fit with the guidelines and mission of the foundation. If you wander off the guidelines, the staff can’t do that no matter how much they like you or the project.

Third, foundation staff has a “nose” for effective people and can spot a failure a mile away, even on paper. They will toss the losers early on to focus on the few proposals that have a chance with the board. Note that proposals that start with negativity, even about the causes of the problems you wish to solve, may get tossed right away as too hard to sell to the board (hint: avoid a section called “Problem Statement”). Confidence counts. Take the position in the first sentence that your organization is going to do this project regardless of their decision. Make your proposal an opportunity for the foundation to get on board your obviously successful train and help it leave the station a little sooner.

Finally, since the staff may only read the summary and maybe the budget, write the summary with key words that reflect the foundation’s mission – the person reading it may actually be skimming it or using the “find” tool just for those kinds of words. Then make sure it contains concrete objectives that can be measured and that answer the question, “how will this change the world?” This is what the program officer can sell to the board.

And, just in case, make sure the rest of the proposal is solid, logical, matches actions proposed to resources requested, has a thorough evaluation plan, and answers every possible question a board member could ask. It might be among the rare minority that gets recommended.

If it is, it will have to serve as the script for the program officer who has a few minutes to pitch it to the board.