Here are some thoughts on how to approach them, based on my experience; but if any of you have other advice to share, I’m happy to add it here.
Corporate Foundations
These are probably the easiest to access, especially if either you have a volunteer working at the company, or you are in the same location as the company. What’s nice is getting a corporate grant may help build your credibility for getting a grant from a private foundation.
- Employee matching: Companies often have employee matching programs, and so if an individual donor makes a donation to your nonprofit, you should ask them whether their employer matches.
- Corporate grants: Some companies have some kind of corporate giving program (or even a corporate foundation) where they make grants to local organizations. They usually make these application processes open (versus invitation-only), so that any organization that fulfills the eligibility criteria is welcome to apply. You should check the company’s website to see if they have a corporate grants program, and reach out to them directly to learn more. If one of your volunteers/board members works at the company, they should reach out on your behalf to the corporate giving / grants officer as well.
- Employee volunteer programs: Companies in your local area also often have volunteer engagement programs, so even if you can’t get a corporate donation, you could see if the company would send volunteers to your organization. It’s a great way to start to build a relationship with the company. Also, I believe it’s reasonable to ask the company to give you a small donation (e.g., $500-$2,000) to cover any costs of hosting a large employee volunteer group — explain to them that there are admin/coordination costs associated with large group volunteer events.
- Free products: Companies may also donate free product to your nonprofit, either for use by your staff, or for benefit to the community you serve, and/or a fundraising event (e.g., silent auction).
Private Foundations
It’s unfortunately much harder to connect with private foundations. For small nonprofits, I generally advise against investing a lot in grantwriting, unless they already have a personal connection with the funder. I think time is better spent building up relationships with individual donors.
Part of why there can be a shroud of mystery regarding access to private foundations is because a lot of foundation staff are (or want to avoid being) overwhelmed by requests. I have been approached numerous times by friends of friends and cold contacts on LinkedIn for requests for donations. While a privilege to steward charitable giving, it can be exhausting to have to field so many requests, especially when the requests do not at all fall in line with a funder’s giving priorities. Many foundations have defined priorities within which they will make grants, and when I’m approached by a nonprofit, their work very often doesn’t fall within our interest area. It also doesn’t reflect well on the nonprofit if they don’t do their ‘homework’ ahead of time to find out what the funder’s priorities are.
Naturally nonprofits are focused on finding $ to meet their needs to provide services to their beneficiaries. However, it may be helpful when connecting with funders to understand funders’ objectives — the objectives are certainly overlapping with those of nonprofits, but there are also other considerations. Many foundation staff have goals to give away a certain amount of grant funding per year, to meet foundation objectives. The staff need to justify why they are recommending a grant to a certain organization (versus another organization), assess the risk of giving that grant (risk that for some reason the organization may fail to execute the grant), and after the grant is given, articulate what difference the grant made in the world, and how that impact aligns with the foundation’s stated goals/mission. This is often how a program officer’s job performance is assessed.
So from that perspective, I’d suggest nonprofits be able to articulate to a funder:
- Why your nonprofit would fit in the funder’s portfolio. For example, the funder has a strong focus on K-12 education, your nonprofit should operate in that space as well. You should research the other nonprofits the funder already supports (or ask them, if this info isn’t online), and articulate why your nonprofit complements their existing funding. Some funders try to avoid ‘duplications’ in their grantmaking.
- Related to the point above, why the funder should fund you versus another nonprofit that operates in your space. In other words, how is your nonprofit distinctive compared to other nonprofits that work in a similar space. How does your nonprofit fill a gap that no one else can / does your nonprofit have a unique/innovative approach? For example, it can be a geographic gap (e.g., nobody in the neighborhood provides a much needed service). Or it could be a service gap or an ‘ecosystem gap’ (e.g., a lot of tech workforce development programs are geared towards people who can attend the training full time, and there’s a gap for training providers who can accommodate people who work full-time and can only attend part-time). Alternatively, if your nonprofit doesn’t fill a unique ‘gap’, does it perform in a way that is more effective or cost efficient than other orgs providing a similar service? Can you offer any proof or evidence of that? If not, do you have a plan to collect data to demonstrate your impact? Maybe the funder could help you develop that capacity for monitoring and evaluation.
- Why your nonprofit has the ability / capacity to deliver on its mission and strategy. For example, you have sufficient staff capacity and capability to carry out the work. You plan to collaborate with / have strong partnerships with other nonprofits to deliver on the work.You have strong relationships to the community/beneficiaries you serve. You and your staff have lived experience or other expertise that is directly relevant to effectively shaping the work. You have a track record of strong dedication to the mission. If your organization’s finances are unstable, you have contingency plans for delivering on the work. Your organization has a unique asset (e.g., some orgs might have a celebrity board member who can help them raise additional funds). (If there are aspects of your capacity that need support, perhaps the funder can help you strengthen these aspects.)
Here are some additional thoughts on foundations:
- Candid / Foundation Center has a database of foundations that you can sort with different criteria (geographic location, topic/issue area, etc.), to see what foundations are out there.
- Many foundations have an “invite-only” policy. This means the only nonprofits who can apply for their grants are explicitly invited by foundation staff to apply. Also, such foundations often do NOT invite inquiries / cold contacts. For these foundations, you typically need some kind of connection via your network (e.g., ask your existing funders, board members, donors, and volunteers for intros — if you already have funding from a foundation, they can often approach other funders on your behalf.)
- Each major metropolitan area often has a regional membership association of foundations (e.g., in the Washington, DC area, it is Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers). Sometimes they might host events that are open to the public, not just members. You could potentially find a relevant event to attend and this would be one avenue to connect with funders. However, these events typically have “non solicitation” policies: this means you cannot ask funders for money (and I’d also avoid asking them for their contact information unless they ask for yours first). These events are geared towards funders as their primary audience and therefore are protective of funders.
- As mentioned above, if you choose to approach a foundation, you should first look at their list of stated grant-making priorities on their website to see if your nonprofit falls within these guidelines. If the information is not available online, you should ask them what their giving priorities are, before trying to pitch them.