Leveraging Grant Wins for Additional Funding

Working with clients that are operating non-profits shows me that they have so much passion for their mission. It also shows me that they have little time for fundraising efforts alone. In many cases, we talk about ways to leverage funding wins for additional wins.

I have a client that obtained a sizeable grant award from a for-profit corporation that everyone would recognize. I advised my client to send out a notification to anyone on their donation list to tell them about how this corporation supported our program and how they can be part of supporting the program as well. The call to action includes a desire to be afiliated with what that larger corporation is doing to support the non-profit. If they believe in the work then you should too!

Corporate donations are good way to leverage this strategy, but federal grants might be a little different. It is good to show experience with federal grants but there might be a perception that winning a federal grant would have provided all the money an organization needs. If you want to use a federal grant in this way it may be important to note that it only allows you to go so far with the program and that additional support would be needed to expand it or for sustainability.

The PR value of your grant wins is huge. You can do it in several ways: 1) official organizaiton press release, 2) social media, 3) letters or emails to contacts, etc. Make sure to review material from the grantor to make sure that making such press releases is permissible. Some may have a review clause in their agreements or may prevent it all together.

What grant targets do you have currently that could have a high probability to win that you want to leverage for additional dolars?