Getting Organized: Essential Information for Nonprofits Volume 1

Take the Time to Prepare for Grant Funding

For nonprofit leaders who are new to the work of applying for grant funding, it is important to be mindful of the pre-work involved. Working with your team to collect the essential backup documentation and to compose the right narratives will prepare you, not only for the first grant application, but for a complete cycle of applications over the course of a project period or year. Taking the time to do this work early, before the first grant application is started, will save time in the long run and will make applying for grant funding more efficient and organized.

Start as a Team

A good way to begin is to have a team meeting to learn about the application guidelines of grant opportunities you have identified. You will soon find that there are similarities for the required application materials that are nearly universal.  For instance, most grantors will need your organization’s essential information, request narratives, strategic plans and annual reports, budget materials, tax documents, board information, program data, and we’re just getting started.

Get the Essentials in Place Early

In Getting Organized, Volume I, we are focusing on your organization’s essential information. Do the work early to provide the right information in PDFs for key finalized documents and in Word or a shareable format for documents to be fine-tuned and/or customized for each donor.  Having this work ready and organized for your core team will save everyone needless hours of searching once your team is in the groove of writing and submitting applications.

The following is an important list of essential organizational information about your nonprofit for your team to have at the ready:

1. IRS Determination Letter of 501c3 Nonprofit Status
2. EIN #
3. Dunns # and Sams # (For State and Federal Grants)
4. Web Page
5. Organization’s Contact Information
6. Executive Director’s Contact Information and Resume
7. Board Information, Demographics, Affiliations, % to make Financial Donations
8. Mission and Vision of Organization
9. A Detailed Description for the Regular Work of the Organization
10. Organizational Chart
11. Latest Annual Report (Good idea to create one of these.)
12. Company Letterhead in Word with Executive Director’s Signature
13. Organization Latest and Current Operational Budgets
14. Organization’s W9, Signed in Current Year
15. Organization’s Latest Audited Financial Reports and/or Form 990 Tax Document(s) (latest two years available)

Keep Up To Date

Whether your team handles grant-writing duties on their own or in coordination with a hired   grant-writing firm, making sure this information and documentation is up to date, professionally presented, and easy for your team to access is the first step saving a lot of time and energy for your long-term grant-writing work.

Volume 2

Grants New England will address the prep work involved in telling the story of your organization. From cover letters to annual reports to strategic plans, we will discuss the many dimensions of this work and the documents to have at the ready for all grant applications opportunities coming your way.