How Many Grants Should I Apply For to Raise $1M? 6 Steps to Find Out

Wondering how many grants you need to apply for to reach your nonprofit’s $1 million funding goal? You’re not alone!

In this guide, we’ll walk you through a strategic approach to determine the right number of grant applications needed to meet your goals. By the end of this article, you’ll feel confident and ready to tackle the grant application process with a clear plan.

Let’s make reaching your fundraising goals less overwhelming and more achievable!

Grants aren’t a given, and securing funding isn’t as simple as thinking, “I need a million dollars, each grant is for $100,000, so I’ll just apply for 10!”

If only it were that easy, right?!
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A good rule of thumb is that the average grant professional has a 40% success rate. This means that to realistically meet your $ 1 million funding goal, you should aim for 250% of that amount.

So, how many grants does this equate to? Well, that depends on the size of each grant you apply for. Let’s do some math!

• For example, if you’re targeting large grants of $250,000 each, you’ll need to apply for at least 10 grants.
• If you’re applying for smaller grants—say, $50,000 each—you’ll need to apply for at least 50 grants.

Make sense?

It's important to understand the "why" behind these calculations. Knowing the number of grants you need to apply for is crucial because it sets a realistic target and helps you develop a strategic plan. Without this understanding, you might fall short of your fundraising goals simply because you didn't apply for enough grants.

Finding large, relevant grants can be a daunting task, but with Instrumentl, you can streamline this process. Instrumentl helps you discover, track, and manage grant opportunities, ensuring you focus your efforts on the most promising prospects.

Keep reading, and we’ll walk you through the steps to use Instrumentl to help you meet your grant goals.

The first step in your journey to raise $1 million in grant funding is to define a clear project within Instrumentl.

FYI: A project in Instrumentl is basically a ‘saved search’ that you use to get matched with good-fit funding opportunities!

Here’s how to set up a project using Instrumentl:

1. Log Into Instrumentl: No account? No problem! Start your free trial today!

2. Create a New Project: Once logged in, navigate to the “Projects” tab on the left-hand sidebar and click “+ Project”.

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3. Edit Your Project: To start, enter your project name, project lead, and project type. For example, you might name it “Raising $1 Million for Homeless Shelter Support.”

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4. Matches Setup: Choose your applicant type, location of the project, fields of work, grant size, and funding use. This information will be used to help narrow down the results to ensure you’re only seeing good-fit matches.

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You can also choose whether you’d like to see grants specifically for faith-based organizations.

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Pro Tip: You can select up to 10 Fields of Work for any project. We recommend choosing at least 3 to ensure you see all relevant, good-fit opportunities.

Now that you have a well-defined project, it’s time to let Instrumentl work its magic and start identifying good-fit opportunities that align with your needs.

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Using Instrumentl to explore grants that are relevant to your organization’s needs is simple.

Within your project, begin by reviewing your “Funding Opportunity Matches”—these are active grants that align with the search criteria you shared while setting up your project.

When you first start reviewing your funding matches, you’ll notice that Instrumentl resembles an email inbox. The funding matches are on the left side of your screen, and when you click on a match, the details of that opportunity will appear on the right.

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It’s possible that you could be matched with hundreds of good-fit opportunities—if so, don’t get overwhelmed! Instrumentl makes it super easy to filter your results so that you can narrow them down to the most relevant ones.

You can filter by:

• Funding use
• Field of work
• Location of project
• Location of residency
• Past giving
• Funder type

Once you’ve filtered your results, you can also sort them by grant amount, best match, or deadline to help prioritize your good-fit opportunities even more.

‍Pro Tip: Sorting your results by grant amount is super helpful, especially if you know exactly how much you need to raise to meet your goal!

With a list of potential grants in hand, the next step is to prioritize which grants to apply for. This ensures that your efforts are focused on the opportunities that offer the best chances of success and the most substantial impact on your project.

Here are some strategies that we use and love to help effectively prioritize funding opportunities:

Evaluate the Funding Amount

Prioritize grants based on the amount of funding they offer. Larger grants can significantly advance your project, but don’t overlook smaller grants that can add up and provide important support.

To determine the optimal amount to ask for, consider your project’s budget needs and align them with the typical grant sizes offered by the funders. This how-to guide walks you through exactly how to determine the right size for a grant request.

Consider Application Deadlines

Application deadlines are critical in prioritizing your grant opportunities. We suggest organizing your grant matches by their submission deadlines to ensure you have ample time to prepare a strong application. Focus on grants with upcoming deadlines first while planning ahead for those with later dates.

Instrumentl allows you to sort your matches by deadline so that you can see the grants with the soonest due dates first.

Assess Fit and Eligibility

Not all grants are created equal. With every grant opportunity you come across, you need to evaluate how well it aligns with your project’s goals by reviewing the grant guidelines.

Instrumentl’s “Funding Opportunity” tab provides an overview of the grant, its focus area, award amount, and eligibility requirements. All of this information is consolidated in one place so that you don’t have to go searching for it.

Suppose you determine that the guidelines align with your organization’s needs. In that case, you can then review the “Funder 990 Report” tab, which provides essential data on the funder’s giving history that will help you better determine if the opportunity is a good fit.

Instrumentl’s 990 Snapshots provide data including:

• Average and median grant amounts
• Openness to new grantees
• Giving by NTEE code
• Total giving
• Number of grants awarded

Evaluating these metrics can significantly increase your success rate. Understanding the average and median grant amounts allows you to formulate appropriate asks and set realistic funding expectations.

Additionally, knowing the openness to new grantees and giving trends by NTEE code helps you target the opportunities that best fit your project.

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After identifying and prioritizing the most promising grant opportunities on your quest to raise $1 million, the next step is to save and track them within Instrumentl.

This ensures you stay organized and on top of deadlines, requirements, and application statuses.

1. Save Your Top Grant Opportunities: Click “Save” on the grants that catch your attention. This keeps all your potential grants in your grants tracker.

2. Leave Notes on Saved Grants: You can leave notes on each saved grant for your entire team to access. This is useful for noting important deadlines or why a particular grant should be prioritized.

3. Assign a Status to Stay Updated: To help manage each saved grant effectively, assign a status (for example, “Researching”). This allows your team to easily track each potential opportunity's progress and application.

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4. Update Grant Details in the Tracker: When you apply for a grant, update its details within your Tracker. Select the appropriate status, such as “Planned,” “Application in Progress,” or “Submitted,” to maintain a clear view of your applications.

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By saving and tracking your top grant opportunities, you can:

• Avoid clustering deadlines by spreading out applications across different months.
• Maintain a steady workflow and funding pipeline.
• Keep track of deadlines and follow-up actions.
• Focus on the most promising grants and adjust your strategy as needed.

Now, let’s move on to the final step in the process.

Once you’ve saved and tracked your top opportunities, it’s time to calculate your total potential funding. This helps you understand how close you are to reaching your $1 million goal and whether you need to identify additional grants.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Add up Potential Funding: Start by summing up the potential funding amounts of all the grants you’ve saved in Instrumentl. This will give you an overview of the total amount of funding you could potentially secure.

Pro Tip: Remember to use Instrumentl’s 990 Snapshots to see how much a funder has given in the past, as well as how much they give to new versus repeat grantees. This info will help you set realistic expectations and tailor your applications accordingly.

2. Account for Success Rate: Based on our research, the average grant professional has a 40% success rate. This means you will likely win only 4 out of every 10 grants you apply for.

We suggest you aim for 250% of your funding goal to account for this. For a $1 million goal, this means targeting $2.5 million in potential funding. This buffer ensures that you can still meet your funding needs even if you don’t win every grant.

3. Compare Potential Funding to Target: Compare the potential funding total from your saved grants to your target amount. You're in good shape if your potential funding amount meets or exceeds your target. If not, you may need to identify and apply for additional grants to bridge the gap.

Calculating your total potential funding and adjusting for the average success rate ensures that you have a realistic plan to meet your funding goals. This step is crucial in managing expectations and effectively planning your grant application strategy.

Let’s move on to the last step—monitoring and adjusting your strategy.

The final step in your grant application process is to monitor and adjust your strategy continuously. Staying on top of your application statuses and outcomes will help you refine your approach and increase your chances of success.

Continuously Monitor Application Statuses

• Use Instrumentl to track the status of each grant application. Update statuses regularly to reflect where each application stands.
• Set reminders for follow-up actions and important deadlines to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
• Assign tasks and set other deadlines to ensure you and your team stay on top of all your applications.

Evaluate Results

• Review the outcomes of submitted applications and note which grants were successful and which were not. Try to identify the reasons behind each outcome.
• Gather feedback from funders on what was or wasn’t successful whenever possible so that you can improve future applications.

Adjust and Update Your Strategy

• Use funder feedback to refine and strengthen your application content.
• If certain types of grants consistently yield better results, consider focusing more of your efforts on those categories (for example, corporate versus private grants, or program versus operational grants).
• At the end of each grant cycle or fiscal year, conduct a comprehensive review of your grant strategy and assess what worked and what didn’t.
• Based on your review, update your grant strategy for the next year. For more detailed guidance on how to develop an annual grant strategy, refer to this blog on annual grant strategy development.

By continuously monitoring your application statuses and adjusting your strategy based on outcomes and feedback, you can refine your approach and improve your chances of success.

Securing a million dollars in grants may seem impossible, but with the right strategy—and with the help of Instrumentl—it may not be as far out of reach as you think!

• Start by defining a clear project within Instrumentl to focus your efforts. Use Instrumentl’s powerful tools to find, filter and prioritize grants that align with your goals.
• Save and track your top grant opportunities to stay organized and on top of deadlines.
• Calculate your total potential funding by aiming for 250% of your goal, accounting for the typical success rate.
• Continuously monitor your progress and adjust your strategy based on outcomes and feedback.

By following these steps, you can streamline your grant application process, increase your chances of success, and secure the funding your nonprofit needs.

Ready to elevate your grant-seeking efforts? Try Instrumentl today and start reaching your funding goals quickly and easily. Happy grant writing!