How to Research Grants for Nonprofits Using Instrumentl

In the competitive world of nonprofit funding, mastering the art of grant research can be the difference between success and stagnation.

Imagine having a tool that not only streamlines this daunting process but also aligns perfectly with your organization’s strategic goals.

With Instrumentl, you can rest assured that your team has the right tools for the grant research and management process to achieve better results. Ready to revolutionize your organization’s approach to grant-seeking? Let’s go!

Without a clear, strategic approach to grant research, your team might be working hard, but not necessarily working smart.

An effective grant strategy is the backbone of your organization’s ability to secure the funding necessary to fulfill its mission. Without a clear, strategic approach, your team’s efforts might fall short, leaving valuable opportunities on the table.
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By implementing a structured, well-supported grant research process, you empower your team to identify and pursue the most relevant funding opportunities, ensuring that their work directly contributes to your organization’s long-term success.

As important as grant research is, we also recognize how difficult it can be to maintain a consistent and effective prospecting strategy. Large organizations in particular often struggle with obstacles like:

• Inconsistent Research Methods: Different team members may use varied approaches to prospect research, leading to inconsistencies and scattered information across multiple spreadsheets and documents.
• Overwhelming Volume of Opportunities: Larger organizations are often inundated with potential grant opportunities, making it difficult to prioritize which ones align best with their mission and goals.
• Tracking and Reporting Difficulties: Without a centralized system and clear strategy, keeping track of ongoing applications, deadlines, and reporting requirements can become overwhelming and important tasks are likely to slip through the cracks.

With the right tools—like those offered by Instrumentl—you can bridge these gaps, empowering your team to conduct effective research so that their efforts are focused where they will have the most impact.

Keep reading and we’ll show you how.

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To maximize the effectiveness of your grant strategy, you need to make sure that the funding opportunities you’re pursuing are in line with your nonprofit’s broader organizational goals.

Setting Strategic Grant Goals

When seeking grant funding, it’s important to make sure that the opportunities you pursue fit within the larger vision of your organization as a whole.

For example, imagine your organization is committed to expanding its impact through a new community engagement initiative. Rather than starting with the specific funding goal, you should focus instead on how this initiative fits within your broader mission and strategic objectives. Those strategic objectives should then be used to guide your grant search.

This approach ensures that every grant application not only addresses immediate needs but also supports the long-term goals of your organization.

By clearly defining how potential grants can drive your organization’s mission forward, you can develop a focused and cohesive strategy and increase the likelihood of success.

Involving Key Stakeholders

For a grant strategy to be truly effective, it’s essential to involve key stakeholders in the goal-setting process.

In an ideal world this would include:

• Development team members
• Finance department team members
• Program managers

When everyone is aligned on the goals and understands their role in achieving them, executing them becomes more cohesive and efficient. Involving stakeholders not only fosters collaboration but also ensures that all perspectives are considered, leading to a more comprehensive and well-rounded grant strategy.

By engaging your team in this process, you empower them to contribute meaningfully to the organization’s success and create a sense of ownership and accountability for the outcomes.

Once your grant strategy is set, the next critical step is to clearly define your funding needs and identify the keywords that will help you discover opportunities to fulfill them.

Defining Project-Specific Funding Needs

Finding the right grants is not just about searching—it’s about searching smarter.

To target the right grants, it’s essential to outline the specific funding needs of each project or program within your organization.

Within Instrumentl’s platform, you can accomplish this by creating detailed project profiles that encompass all relevant funding requirements, such as:

• Budget
• Timeline
• Key objectives

This high-level approach allows for a more focused approach to your grant search, making it clear exactly what funding is needed for what and by when.

Selecting Relevant Keywords for Search

Once your project’s funding needs are defined, selecting the right keywords is the next critical step to optimize your grant search results.

Instrumentl simplifies this process by allowing you to fine-tune keyword selection, which is crucial for identifying the most relevant grant opportunities.

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Your team can start by brainstorming a list of keywords that reflect the core aspects of your project.

For example, for a community engagement project, keywords might include “community outreach,” “public participation,” or “civic involvement.” Instrumentl’s platform then enables you to refine these keywords by offering insights into how funders describe similar projects.

Instrumentl’s keyword tools provide a more targeted search process, ultimately improving your chances of securing the right funding for your nonprofit’s projects.

Lots of grant databases let you search for grants. But Instrumentl takes it a step further by matching nonprofits with relevant opportunities so they can spend less time prospecting and more time developing winning proposals.

Utilizing Instrumentl’s Matching Algorithm

Instrumentl’s Smart Matching feature uses your project criteria and field of work keywords to deliver a curated list of good-fit grants right to your inbox.

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Each match includes critical details about the funding opportunity, such as:

• Deadline
• Eligibility
• Funding Amounts
• Funding Uses
• Application Process
• And more!

You can even filter your matches to narrow down your results based on factors such as:

• Geographic location
• Funding size
• Funder type

Smart Matching has been a game-changer for grants teams, helping them identify good-fit funding matches more strategically and efficiently.

Check out this testimonial from Becky Harris, Eversight’s Director for Foundations & Corporations:
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“I really feel strongly that [Instrumentl] has increased my efficiency. It’s no longer, ‘Let’s just fill out 10 grant applications and hope we get a response.’ Now, I almost always get a response. Our success rate has gone from 14% to 22%; that’s a significant jump.”

Exploring Potential Funders

Instrumentl will also match you with funders who have a history of supporting organizations like yours. This includes foundations without websites and invite-only funders.

These funders often provide exclusive, high-value grants that are not accessible through other platforms. By tapping into these hidden opportunities, your team can significantly enhance your grant strategy, ensuring you’re pursuing the most strategic and impactful funding sources.

Forging relationships with funders who are deeply aligned with your goals boosts your chances of securing vital support and strengthens your organization's long-term financial stability.

By providing comprehensive data on funders and their priorities, Instrumentl helps nonprofits focus on the grants that best align with their strategic goals, leading to more successful outcomes and more substantial, mission-driven growth.

Using Advanced Funder Insights

Here’s a hard reality: just because a grant seems like a good fit doesn’t mean you’d be a competitive applicant.

Thankfully, Instrumentl makes it easy for teams to determine which grants are worth pursuing by sharing valuable 990 Snapshots that give insight into a funder’s’:

• Giving history
• Openness to new grantees
• Geographic preferences
• Average grant sizes
• Past grantees
• Key contacts
• And more

Traditionally, uncovering these giving patterns meant combing through pages and pages of complex tax documents. But with Instrumentl’s easy-to-read snapshots, determining if you’d be a competitive applicant only takes a few minutes.

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Assessing Funder Alignment and Priorities

Assessing whether a funder’s priorities align with your nonprofit’s mission and goals is key to a successful grant strategy.

By analyzing data points such as a funder’s past giving history, focus areas, and openness to new grantees, you can determine how well their priorities match your project’s objectives.
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For example, Sleep in Heavenly Peace used Instrumentl’s insights to focus only on funders whose priorities aligned with their mission of providing beds to children in need. By zeroing in on funders most likely to support their cause, they were able to double their grant funding in just one year, securing $2 million to support their work.

By targeting funders who were most likely to support their cause, they maximized their proposal success rate and significantly increased their impact.

Instrumentl also empowers teams by streamlining the organization and tracking of grant applications.

By providing a centralized platform for managing the entire lifecycle, Instrumentl reduces administrative burden, ultimately driving better results and increasing organizational effectiveness.

Saving Grants to Your Tracker

Instrumentl’s tracking system allows you to save and organize selected grants effortlessly, creating a clear and structured pipeline for all your applications.

This centralized system lets you keep all relevant information—such as application deadlines, grant amounts, and funder details—in one place.

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This tracking system saves teams time, improves efficiency, and makes it easier to prioritize efforts where they matter most.

Eloise Casdorph, Nonprofit Strategist at Nonprofit Navigators, shared with us how much easier Instrumentl has made staying organized:
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“Previously, we relied on separate Excel spreadsheets to manage our grant schedules and to keep a status report of all the grants that we have applied for, were received, or denied. Now with Instrumentl, we do all of that in one place.”

Mapping Out Deadlines and Assigning Tasks

Instrumentl’s calendar view feature is another powerful tool that enhances the grant management process. Teams can easily map out all their tasks and deadlines, creating a clear visual workback schedule.

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For teams, this functionality is invaluable in maintaining clear communication and accountability. By assigning tasks and setting deadlines within the calendar view, every team member knows exactly what needs to be done—and by when.

Cynthia Ceilan, Director of Institutional Giving at Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, shares:
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“I love the ability to track everything in Instrumentl. Take deadlines for reports and email reminders I get, for example. I don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night and think—oh my gosh, did I miss it?”

Instrumentl not only helps keep everyone on the same page, but significantly reduces the risk of errors or missed deadlines.

Securing the right funding can be the key to transforming your nonprofit’s vision into reality.

By equipping your team with Instrumentl, you can optimize your grant strategy, boost your proposal success rates, and secure the funding needed to bring your nonprofit’s mission to life.

Unlike other tools, Instrumentl centralizes all aspects of your grant strategy, making it easier to manage and execute your funding plan effectively. Ready to elevate your grant-seeking approach? Sign up for your 14-day free trial today!