So let's talk about what makes a good prospect. A good prospect is one where the interest of their organization and your organization are closely aligned, and both parties see there's some value in partnering together to achieve some goal. Let's say you're looking for a $50,000 grant to start a new aspect of an after school program for your organization. You're looking at your prospect list, and you come across a particular prospect that looks very promising. This is where it's so important to look at the grant history to make sure that the work that you're interested in doing, and the work that you think they're interested in funding is a match. So take time to look at their IRS 990 off the guidestar.org website, and read through their recent grant history. See if they've done similar work. The last thing you want to do is make an application, and spend your time making an application to an organization that has never supported an after school program. You also want to make sure you fit within their geographic interest. Geography is a very important aspect of how funders determine where and how they give. If you're in Sacramento California, and your funder only gives in Dallas, Texas, do not apply. It is not a good fit. Make sure that the demographics that your organization works with correspond to that of the organization you're seeking funding from. If you do a middle school or a high school program, and the funder only provides support to a K12 or a kindergarten program, then this is not a good match. Make sure that in that grant history, that there is an evidence of them giving at the level that you need for your project. So for instance, if you will need $25,000 to do a particular project in the community, then you don't want to go to an organization whose average grant size is $5,000. You will also want to identify who to contact, what that information is, their preferences of communication, et cetera. What's critical here is that you have to build a relationship. Prepare your elevator speech. A 30 second to 60 second story about what your organization is, what the project is, and why it's important that people consider funding it. Request a meeting or a call to discuss your project. This could be from an initial call, or even from an email to a contact that you've identified through your prospect research. Be prepared to talk about your project in relationship to the foundation's interest. Prepare a list of questions to ask, but don't ask questions that have been answered on their website. Think of questions such as, why is your organization interested in the goals that it's interested in? What brought you to that point? How often do you consider proposals? Is there a deadline? Is there a preferred way to apply? When you reach out to a prospect, you could talk to a number of different people with a number of different styles. So it's very important that you're prepared ahead of time. Engage the person on the other end of the phone, enter some conversation about who they are, and how long they've been working with the foundation or the corporation. Get an understanding for what aspect of their job they like the most. Ask the representative why their organization supports the things they do. Find out more about the funder of the organization, if it's a foundation. Also, get a better understanding of what that corporation is attempting to accomplish through their philanthropy. Always say thank you. And also send a follow up email with your contact information to continue the conversation after your initial contact. Potential outcomes. You're invited to enter into a deeper conversation with the organization. This could include meeting with additional people, or having the individual, your contact, visit your organization. You could be invited to submit a concept paper, which is really a brief review of your proposal. You might also find that your project is not a fit. Ask if there are others that they may know who would be interested in your work. Also, you should walk away with a better understanding of what the organization is interested in, to better target future proposals if you've chosen not to submit a proposal at this time. What to expect when applying. Foundation proposals are generally more complex. It's a multi-step process, so often they'll ask for a letter of intent prior to asking for a full proposal. The letter of intent is a critical step in the process, and is really there to sell the organization on why they should partner with you. Generally, the project should be tied to societal needs and foundation vision. There is usually one prescribed pathway. You work with the program officer. The program officer helps you navigate the organization, but ultimately, the decision is made by a board of directors. Usually, your program officer will be selling your project to the board of directors. So work very closely with that program officer to make sure that they have the information that they need in order to be successful in front of their board. The last thing you want is for them to try to support a program and not prepared. With a corporation, there are also a number of different applications, but generally it's a one step process. Usually, it's in the format of a letter or an online application. You need to be brief. You need to be to the point. You need to tie your project to corporate business goals. How are you going to help them achieve their mission? There are also numerous pathways to submission and decision. Decision can be made by corporate staff, it can be made by a board of directors, it can be made by a researcher in their R&D group. Whichever pathway it takes, keep in mind you want to work very closely with the individual who is going to advocate for support to your organization. Successful proposals will tell a story, share a bold vision for the future, and invite your target to partner with you to achieve this. You will focus on your organization's strengths and not its needs. It will be clear and concisely written. It will address how your work will help the organization achieve its goals. It will explain how the project will be sustained after funding. As I shared before, foundations and corporations are not interested in supporting your organization for an infinite amount of time. So make sure that you have a plan for keeping this program going beyond the one to three year project period. Remember, throughout this process to think like a grantmaker. The grantmaker wants to improve some situation, and has the money to do it, but doesn't have the program experience. There are hundreds of applicants that want your grantmaker to invest money in their programs, so you have to think about how you're going to put your application on the top of that pile. Your proposal is part of a continuing dialogue between you and the grantmaker. You will have many conversations with this individual throughout the process. Even though the grantmaker is designed to actually give money away, your grant officer, your program officer takes their job very seriously, and sees a lot of responsibility in making sure that they choose organizations that are appropriate, and fit with the goals and objectives of their organization. Keep this in mind as you're talking to them. This is why you want to talk about your project as it relates to what foundations are funding, or what their foundation is funding, and you want to help draw those connections between the two organizations. Remember, you're going to be competing against hundreds of organizations, hundreds of applicants every grant cycle that you apply. And so you want to make sure that your grantmaker is comfortable and feels confident that if they invest money in your program that they are going to achieve the outcomes that they are looking for. After you've written your successful grant proposal, you should be receiving a gift. Some gifts come as one lump sum payment which you have to manage. Some come broken out over the length of the period of the grant. Much like individual donors, corporations and foundations want to understand how their support was used and how it created impact. Maintain the lines of communication with your program officer after you receive the award. Share the good and the bad. Never let your funder be surprised. Keep good financial records because you're going to need to report that information back to your donor. Report back at scheduled times. Your reports are critical to the organization, and proving to the IRS that they are doing something that's philanthropic. Usually, a project is longer than one year, and your second and third year payments will be tied to completing the report back. Share publicity. Newspaper articles, broadcast news stories, tweets, Facebook pages, any place that's showing that your organization is getting out there and spreading the message that you talk about in your proposal. Here are some suggested websites and key readings for both types of organizations. The Chronicle of Philanthropy has information that's accessible without a fee, but if you want full access, you'll need to pay. Same with the Foundation Center. Inside Philanthropy, provides an insider's look at how philanthropy runs. It's focused on foundations primarily. And then there are many good books out there including Strategic Giving by Peter Frumkin. For corporate relations, you can look at the website of the Network for Academic Corporate Relations Officers. I've also listed a couple of books here that will help you understand more about what it's like to work with corporations as you search for funding. Thank you for your time and attention. I hope by watching this module, you've been able to learn more about why you should pursue corporate and foundation fundraising as part of your development program in your organization. We've discussed some of the fundamentals of corporate and foundation relations programs, as well as walked through the grant writing process. Thank you and good luck.
