Grant Research Checklist For Nonprofits

Effective grant research is crucial for nonprofit organizations seeking funding opportunities. However, it can be a daunting task to know where to begin.

In this article, we've compiled a comprehensive grant research checklist that will walk you through the essential steps and actions to take when searching for grants. That way, you will have a better understanding of the grant research best practices to save you and your team time - and money.

The first step in our grant research checklist is to research and identify potential funders whose interests align with your nonprofit's mission and projects. Why? Targeting the right funders will greatly increase the likelihood of grant approval.

Instrumentl's Foundation Discovery feature is a perfect way to match with suitable funders, including those that are invite-only​​ or those who don’t even have a website. Just go to the “Funder Matches'' area to see potential funders whose interests align with yours and who may be selective in their soliciting process.

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Next, you will want to gather detailed information about potential funders' past funding activities. This is because understanding a funder’s history will help tailor your proposal to their preferences.

For example, you can use Instrumentl's Funder History and Advanced Funder Insights to access key contacts, application history, and strategic assessment of new funders​​​​. For example, Instrumentl gives access to funder’s 990 reports, which show the amount they have given to new grantees versus repeat grantees.

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As noted in the example above, this funding opportunity would be attractive because in 2022 the funder gave double the amount of grant monies to new grantees than to past grantees. The 990 reports are easily accessible through Instrumentl and have a wealth of helpful information.

Have you wondered what organizations are funding nonprofits that are similar to yours? This is the next step in the grant research checklist.

Now you will want to research and analyze the funding sources and patterns of similar nonprofits because understanding the grant success of similar organizations can provide valuable insights for your own grant strategy.

Review Recipient and Funder Profiles

You can easily separate Recipient Profiles from Funder Profiles in Instrumentl to explore the funding sources of nonprofits that are similar to yours. This will accelerate the search for the right funders.

Go to the top left corner and search the nonprofit in the “Quick find” search box. Type in the nonprofit that is similar to yours (we used the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank) and click “Recipients” to filter the results.

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Review Past Awards Received

Click on the recipient profile for further evaluation and then scroll down to “Past Awards Received.” You will see a table that lists the funders that have given to this nonprofit, how much they gave, and the purpose for the grant.

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From this list of nonprofit grant prospecting, you can click on the funder’s name to further evaluate its giving history and potential active opportunities in Instrumentl.

You shouldn’t have to sift through all of the potential grant opportunities on your own. This is why the next step in our grant research checklist is to assign specific team members as owners for each grant application you save in Instrumentl’s “Tracker” section.

By granting clear leadership and ownership, you will ensure focused responsibility and better management of each grant opportunity that comes your way.

You can use Instrumentl's Grant Ownership feature to assign a dedicated owner to each grant, clarifying responsibilities and streamlining the application process​​.

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One of the biggest mistakes in grant researching is missing a funder’s deadline. This is why it is imperative to integrate grant management activities with team calendars for better coordination. That way, synchronizing grant-related tasks with team calendars will ensure that everyone is aware of each of the important application deadlines and responsibilities.

Instrumentl's Calendar Integration and Calendar View features allow you to stay on top of tasks and grant deadlines. With this one-way sync, you can view Instrumentl deadlines on the following platforms:

• Apple
• Outlook
• Google Calendar
• iCal

This step in our grant research checklist will ensure your entire team is on the same page so that you meet all required deadlines and responsibilities during the grant research process.

Once you find the grants your team is interested in pursuing and have them saved in your “Tracker,” you can begin the next step: organize the necessary documents and create a plan for the grant application process.

Application Guidelines

Being prepared ensures efficiency and adherence to the application guidelines and the funders' requirements. This part of the grant research checklist can include any of the following:

• Application Submission Deadlines: The first thing your team should document is the exact date and time in which your application needs to be submitted. Missing this deadline will ensure your application is rejected.
• Eligibility Requirements: If you’re not eligible for the grant, why waste the time preparing a proposal? All grant proposals will detail the specific eligibility requirements; therefore, your team should document all factors, such as nonprofit status, location, and whether your project aligns with the funder’s mission.
• Project Scope: Your team will want to review the scope of the funder’s project and the specific areas of focus.
• Application Format: Believe it or not, your proposal could be rejected if you use the wrong font size, have too many or too few pages, or even use the wrong margin sizes. Be sure to document the application format guidelines to ensure you aren’t rejected on a technicality.
• Budget Requirements: Numeric data is key to any grant proposal, so you’ll want to understand how to prepare and present your proposed budget. A budget that is too small could hurt your chances of actually completing the project if awarded. Yet, a budget that is too large may get you rejected.

Organize Supporting Documents

You will also need to organize the required supporting documents, such as any financial statements, resumes of key personnel, and letters of recommendation. You can organize all of your documents using Instrumentl's Document Library to properly store and organize all grant-related documents​​.

This section of Instrumentl allows you to integrate external online documents, whether they are from Google Docs, Microsoft OneDrive, or any other online platform, directly into your grant management workflow.

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Finding funders who align with your nonprofit’s mission can be difficult, which is why taking the time to research, organize, and have a plan are imperative steps for finding grants.

Tracking application cycles and deadlines is an important next step in this grant research checklist, so you will want to monitor and manage deadlines for different stages of grant applications. This is because keeping track of deadlines is crucial to ensure timely submissions.

Instrumentl makes this step easy by employing Instrumentl's Application Cycles and Automatic Deadline Reminders for tracking multiple steps like LOIs and full proposals, and receiving email notifications for any deadline changes​​​​.

Users of Instrumentl can set specific submission goals for each step of the application process. Just click on your saved funding opportunity in your Tracker and select “Application Cycle” to set submission goals for each step of the application process.

You can also set up Automatic Deadline Reminders within “Tasks” to remind you and your team of important milestones. More on the “Tasks” section below!

Grant research is a team process, so you will want to coordinate with your team on various tasks related to grant applications. Why? Effective collaboration enhances the quality of grant proposals and ensures timely completion.

You can use Instrumentl's Tasks feature to create custom tasks and milestones, and manage them with advanced filtering options​​:

• Select the project you want your team to work on in the Tracker.
• Click on the “Task” tab to add the task.
• Click “+Add Task” to begin the process.
• You can add the task details and then they will be visible to everyone involved.

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Next is to track the progress of submitted grant applications and manage awarded grants.

Monitoring this progress helps in understanding the effectiveness of grant applications and managing funds post-approval.

Monitor Awards in Grant Tracker

This monitoring is done easily in Instrumentl's Grant Tracker and Awards View to organize submissions and manage awarded grants​​​​. As you can see below, we have saved multiple grants in our tracker. Your team can monitor them by the application deadline, the status, or the amount of the awards.

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Stay on Track With a Calendar Tab

You can further monitor upcoming grant deadlines in the “Calendar” tab, which keeps track of grant deadlines, submissions, and application deadlines to store all of your team’s “to-do.”

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See All Your Awards in One Place

You were awarded money from funders! The “Awards View” can help your team further monitor your progress by helping with the following:

• Streamline your post-award grant management
• Access all of your awards in one place for clarity of funds
• Research each award more for further insights

This “Awards” section is easily accessible in your tracker so that your team can find this information quickly and easily. This section gives you instant access to help you further manage your awarded grants.

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This section gives you an at-a-glance summary of your awarded grants all in one place.

Last but certainly not least, your team will want to keep track of financial aspects of awarded grants. Remember that efficient financial management is crucial for compliance and planning.

Most nonprofits use spreadsheets to track spending and payments as they come in. However, how do you ensure that your spending aligns with the grant payment schedule? It is quite a bit of work to create a spreadsheet from scratch and ensure everyone on your team is managing it effectively.

You can use Instrumentl's upcoming Spenddown Tracking feature to manage grant budgets and Payments Tracking for monitoring inflow of funds​​​​. Each funding opportunity will have a section in the “Dates & Amounts” tab called “Payments.” This is where your team can organize everything - the monies you receive, the dates, and any notes to share.

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A successful grant proposal depends on following a structured grant research checklist. Not only does a grant research checklist bring value to nonprofit organizations. It helps your entire team stay on the same page during each step of grant researching. We encourage you and your nonprofit team to use this checklist as a practical guide for your grant research endeavors.

For more information on nonprofit grant prospecting, check out our helpful article on how to do prospect research.