Grants Are Not A 911 Emergency With Grant Readiness in Place

Picture this, Sicily 1923… Okay, don’t picture that, but drop me a line if you get the reference,  IYKYK.

Instead, picture a Monday morning when a decent grant opportunity with a challenging deadline pops up in your inbox.

If your grant writing experience was anything like mine at the start of a nearly 30 year- career, the typical response from those early days began with frantic budget building, cobbling together objectives and program descriptions on a wing and a prayer, firing off email after email for letters of support,  tracking down signatures and missing budget numbers…a drowning pool of stress and anxiety.

I reacted that way because I treated grant applications as isolated events, not the result of an ongoing grant readiness strategy.

Reframing Grant Readiness As a Mindset, Not a Process

Actual grant readiness means that your agency can respond thoughtfully and effectively when opportunities arise because you’ve built the necessary foundation, including an ongoing grant calendar.

Here are some key focus areas to consider:

1. Strategic Clarity

Your organization team should clearly understand its mission, vision, and strategic priorities. Grants should support current goals, not divert resources toward unrelated projects and potential mission drift.

Before applying for any grant, ask: “How does this opportunity advance our mission and strategic priorities?” If you’re being pressured to apply because, just like Mt. Everest, the grant is there, this is a good time to ask that question out loud with senior leaders after carefully reviewing the RFP, grant instruction guide, AKA OFA or NOFO.

2. Demonstrated Capacity

Being ready to write grants means being prepared to manage grants. You need financial systems and team members that can accurately and regularly track restricted funds, monitor expenses and budget variances, and provide regular, accurate reports. Other essential components include administrative policies and procedures that support compliance, and the technology to safely and securely track it all.

Without these fundamental grant management systems, grant awards can lead to implementation challenges, compliance issues, and damaged funder relationships.

3. Making Connections, Not Just Pressing “Submit” on Deadline

Grant readiness includes building relationships with potential funders before you need their support. This means:

• Researching funders whose priorities align with your mission
• Attending funder information sessions and networking events
• Inviting program officers to visit your organization (not everyone will say yes, but no one will if you don’t ask)
• Establishing communication channels with funders
• Understanding funder priorities, preferences, and decision-making processes

You may not always make the connections and maintain the relationships, but someone on staff or the board must take this on if it isn’t you. These relationships provide insight into unwritten expectations and increase the likelihood that your application will receive serious consideration.

The Grant Readiness Audit

How can you assess your organization’s grant readiness? Consider conducting a readiness audit that examines:

Governance Readiness

• Active, engaged board with diverse skills and perspectives
• Clear bylaws and governance policies
• Regular board meetings with documented minutes
• Conflict of interest policies and disclosure procedures

Financial Readiness

• Current financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow)
• Annual budgets with regular monitoring
• Financial policies and procedures
• Audit or financial review (appropriate to organizational size)
• Tax-exempt status documentation
• Capacity to track restricted funds separately

Programmatic Readiness

• Clear program models with defined activities and outputs
• Logic models or theories of change
• Evidence of program effectiveness
• Evaluation systems that capture outcomes
• Testimonials and success stories
• Staff qualifications and expertise

Administrative Readiness

• Organizational chart and job descriptions
• Policies and procedures manual
• Insurance coverage (liability, D&O, etc.)
• Technology systems for data management
• Communication processes and tools
• Project management capabilities

Documentation Readiness

• Mission, vision, and values statements
• Strategic plan
• Annual reports
• 501(c)(3) determination letter
• Unique Entity Identification (UEI) number and SAM registration (for federal grants)
• Brief history of the organization
• List of Board Members, including length of term, external affiliation, race/ethnicity, and gender information. You may not need it for all applications, but a comprehensive source document on hand will save time.

The True Payoff: Beyond Grant Dollars Awarded

Grant readiness has benefits that extend far beyond developing competitive grants.

Your agency will pursue only grants that advance your mission, with admin and financial systems in place to manage them fully. Funder Relationships are built on demonstrated capability. Diverse funding streams support sustainability. Teams work within their capacity rather than constantly stressing and burning out to meet unrealistic commitments. Most importantly, strategically funded programs provide the communities you serve with meaningful, measurable change.

Grant readiness is fundamentally about organizational integrity – ensuring your external representations align with internal reality. It’s about building an organization that can confidently apply for appropriate funding, successfully implement funded projects, and effectively demonstrate impact.

By shifting from a document-collection mindset to a grant readiness approach, your agency will prepare for sustainable success instead of exhausting last-minute, ill-prepared proposals that lead to implementation problems. True grant readiness makes this possible.

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Kimberly Hays de Muga

Kimberly Hays de Muga, GPC, is an expert trainer and coach in nonprofit capacity building, grant writing, fundraising, and board development. She brings more than 25 years of fundraising experience that includes raising $100 million from individuals, foundations, corporations, and local, state, and federal funding for nonprofit agencies in the education, health, and human service sectors—from food banks to pediatric hospitals, to state-wide mental health coalitions.

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