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THE BOARD'S ROLE IN GRANTSEEKING: What the Foundation Folks Won't Tell You!

Excerpted from Grantseeking: A Step-by-Step Approach by Bob Zimmerman

Most nonprofit staff members who are new to the world of grantseeking assume that grantors consider letters and proposals on their merits. While it is important that nonprofits do good work and submit material that is well-written and convincing, this is really only half the battle.

Would that organizations could raise money based purely on the merits of their programs and proposals! Like any other endeavor in our society, "whom you know" is at least as important as "what you do." Consider if you had the choice between:


♦ writing the most powerful proposal the funding world has ever known; and,
♦ knowing that the president of your board of directors played golf last week with the chair of the foundation board that you plan to ask for money, and your board president scribbled something about your program on the back of an envelope and handed it to the foundation chair

Which would you choose?

The correct answer is the second choice. If you haven't completely repressed your high school geometry, you may remember the idea that something can be "necessary but not sufficient." Doing good work as a nonprofit organization and writing good proposals are necessary. What gives your grantseeking effort sufficiency is the involvement of members of your board of directors in the process.

When Zimmerman Lehman contracts with a client to do grant solicitation, we always inform members of our client's board of directors of the names of the board members at the grantors that we intend to approach. You would be surprised how often a board member at our client organization will say: "I knew that woman in law school and haven't seen her in years," or "We have dinner together a couple of times a year, but I had no idea he was interested in philanthropy."


You must involve your board of directors in the grantseeking effort. Inform them when they join the board that this will be one of their responsibilities. Find out who on your board knows board and staff members at grantor agencies. Most important, when there is a personal connection, make sure that your board member makes a friendly telephone call or drops a note to his/her friend soon after you have submitted your letter of intent. If no one on your board has contacts in the grantor world, you should consider recruiting new board members who do have such contacts. "Greasing the gears" can often make the difference between success and failure in the world of grantseeking!

Copyright 2015 Zimmerman Lehman

This information is the property of Zimmerman Lehman. If you would like to reprint this information, please see our reprint and copyright policy.



 

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