How do you improve upon a grant proposal when you’re applying for funding from the same grantmaker more than once?

Whether you’re writing a proposal for a grant opportunity that you’ve won in the past or you’re reapplying with a grantmaker that you’ve been unsuccessful with, this advice is for you.

By taking these steps to improve your grant proposal, you also have the potential to improve upon your programs and strategic plans.

Step 1

After receiving the grant award or rejection notification, send a thank-you note to the grantmaker. This can be digital or physical. What’s important is doing it promptly and being sincere.

Step 2

If allowed, respectfully ask for feedback on your grant application. Sometimes the grantmaker is willing to do this by email, phone call, or even sharing the notes from the grant reviewers. You should do this even if you were awarded the grant. They still might think some elements of your grant proposal needed further explanation or that you need changes in the design of your program that could affect your next application if you don’t make changes.

Read thoroughly, ask for any clarifications if you need them. But don’t be argumentative or try to offer further explanation of what you wrote.

Save their response in your folder for that grant application.

Step 3

When the next grant cycle opens, if you still think the opportunity is a good fit for you (and the grantmaker indicates that as well in your other conversations), it’s time to think carefully about what you will do differently in this application.

Find an outside party who can read your grant application and give you feedback. (This is one great function of being a member of a grant writing community like the one in our Grant Writing Made Easy course. You can easily organize writing exchanges with someone who is not part of your organization, but knows a lot about grant writing.)

Step 4 

Revise your grant application by focusing on the following elements:

• Update the statement of need to illustrate changing statistics, community events, legislation, or whatever it is that impacts what your participants/stakeholders need.
• Revise your program design to reflect any feedback they gave you, changes to the design since the last application, and growth of your program.
• Add any new participant/stakeholder testimonials, outcomes since the last application, and any media coverage about or awards for your work.
• Update the budget, board of directors information, 990s, financial statements, i.e., any changes from year-to-year.

Step 5 

If you receive the grant this time, be diligent and thorough with reporting requirements. How well you actually fulfill the work of the grant will undoubtedly impact whether you receive another award from that grantmaker.

The big takeaway from all of this is that dialogue with the grantmaker will take you further than anything else you can do, so don’t be hesitant to reach out and ask for feedback and communicate with the grantmaker about how your work is going if you did receive an award.

That’s it! I wish you the best of luck with your next grant application.

Thanks so much for reading, and I hope you’ll join us on Facebook and share your grant reapplication experience.