Rush. Write. Report. Repeat.
Understanding how long the grant awards process takes
Recently, a potential client told me that his organization’s board had hired him to “to secure 1 million in grants within the next six months.” He didn’t like what I told him: that while six months is enough time to get some strong applications submitted, it’s not super realistic to believe that a million dollars from grants could be actually in the org’s bank account six months from now.
The grants timeline is slow, and unfortunately, many nonprofits wait until they are in financial danger before deciding to go for them. The “hurry up and wait” nature of grant funding is one of the reasons I always suggest that clients have a work plan that lays out which grants they’ll apply for each quarter, if not each month. Keeping a constant rotation of applications in prevents scary lapses in funding.
Here are some things to consider regarding the timing of grants:
Grant submission periods: While many private and corporation foundation grants accept LOIs or even full applications on a rolling basis, the majority of federal, state, and local grants open once (sometimes twice) a year and have firm application deadlines. Certain federal agencies have a cycle of spring grants and another for fall, but most pop up annually. If your organization is going to apply for a lot of grants, it helps to organize all your options into a spreadsheet or onto a calendar so that you can see at a glance what’s due when and prioritize your work.
Federal grants are usually open for at least two months, but some smaller grants have extremely small application windows - I’ve seen some as short as one week! When this is the case, you really need to prepare your application in advance so that it’s ready to go when the window opens. If the foundation does not allow you to see the full application until the window opens, you can often find previous year calls for proposals and write based on those, then tweak the application as needed when the call is released.
Preparing an application will almost always take longer than you think it will. (Especially the first time.) Full grant applications require not only a lot of answering questions in narrative form, they also require gathering a lot of documents that may or may not be readily available. For example, you might need several years worth of operating budgets or 990s, a list of all the grants you’ve received with amounts, resumes, bio sketches or CVs for your whole team, etc. Many grants will also require partnerships with other organizations, meaning you will need letters of support or commitment from each of those orgs, as well as sub award information if you’ll be sharing some of the grant funds with them. Ideally, partner organizations will also be involved in the writing of the grant. You thus need to think well ahead in these cases. Don’t wait until the grant opens to start meeting with your project partners! Big federal grants (like HUDs and DOTS) can take well over 60 hours to write and prepare, while private foundation grants with only a few questions to answer might take less than 5.
There is often a period for questions that is not perfectly alined with the open period for submissions. Often the period for questions will cut off several weeks before the grant closes. Make sure you know when the period in which you can contact program officers to get more information is. Most organizations have questions about big grants, especially in the beginning. Webinars might not answer everything.
Shit can happen. People writing grants in the US are feeling this right now. The government shutdown means that federal program officers are not available to answers questions, publish calls for proposals, or read applications. Even when the government is up and running, submitting at the last minute can be a major problem because the big submission sites often crash as everyone tries to apply at the last minute. In those cases, extensions are not generally granted. Always log in and hit “submit” at least 48 hours early in case of technical problems.
Once you submit, you wait. And wait. Most funders take at least 6 months to make a decision on a grant proposal, and sometimes it’s more like 9. If they opt not to fund you, some of them will never notify you. It is not a fast process. You may hear back after 6 months, only to learn that you now have to go through a round of interviews or site visits. Go into the process knowing that it is slow.
Even after you’re notified of the award, you might continue to wait. While private foundations can often cut a check right away, federal and state grants may have a long period where you’re working with the agency or submitting additional paperwork before money is actually deposited. *Keep in mind that you generally cannot start spending on your grant project until your award is finalized, as most grants will not do reimbursements*
You will be expected to report either at the end of the grant period, or annually. The depth of the report usually aligns with the size of the foundation asking for it. Private foundations tend to have reporting forms that take only a few hours, while reporting for big federal grants can be almost a full time job.
In general, grants don’t move fast. If you’re just starting a non-profit, you want to keep in mind that, from the time you’re able to start applying (usually two years after you begin operations and start keeping financial records), it’s going to take about a year to really get the ball rolling and to see any funds.
You’ll also want to keep in mind that the most successful nonprofits have staff (or contractors) dedicating time every week to seeking new grant prospects, collecting data, and working on applications. Just a few hours a week is enough, but making sure someone is doing that work is important.
Be organized. Be realistic. Be patient. And stay safe; it’s a wild grants landscape.