Spring Clean Your Grant Strategy: 5 Ways to Refresh Your Approach

With the change of seasons comes a perfect opportunity to refresh your grant strategy. Many organizations fall into familiar patterns with their grant seeking, but sometimes a good "spring cleaning" is exactly what you need to reinvigorate your funding approach.

5 Ways to Refresh Your Grant Strategy This Spring

1. Audit Your Success Rate

Take a look at your grant applications from the past year. What percentage were funded? According to the 2024 State of Grantseeking Report, organizations submitting fewer than three applications have a concerning 38% chance of winning zero awards. If your success rate is lower than you'd like, it might be time to reassess which opportunities you're pursuing.

Quick Win: Create a simple spreadsheet tracking your applications, results, and the time invested in each. Look for patterns in the grants you win versus those you don't.

2. Research Your Competitors' Funders

One of my favorite grant research hacks is to look at who's funding similar organizations in your field. This strategy can uncover perfect-fit funders you might have missed.

Quick Win: Identify 3-5 organizations similar to yours and visit their websites or annual reports to see who's funding them. Then investigate whether those funders might be a good fit for your work too.

3. Refresh Your Boilerplate Language

When was the last time you updated your standard grant language? Organizational descriptions, program overviews, and evaluation metrics can quickly become stale or outdated.

Quick Win: Review your most-used grant sections with fresh eyes. Update statistics, modernize language, and ensure you're speaking directly to current funder priorities like equity and measurable outcomes.

4. Clean Up Your Budget Presentation

A professionally formatted budget can make all the difference between winning and losing a grant. Too many organizations simply export a QuickBooks report and call it a day!

Quick Win: Create a clean, reader-friendly organizational budget template that clearly shows your diverse funding sources and thoughtful expense allocation across programs and administration.

5. Declutter Your Grant Calendar

Are you chasing too many small grants that don't justify the time investment? Or perhaps focusing exclusively on large, highly competitive opportunities with low success rates?

Quick Win: Evaluate whether each grant on your calendar passes the "effort vs. reward" test. For small grants, the application should be simple; for complex applications, the potential award should be substantial enough to warrant the work.

Remember, grant seeking isn't about applying everywhere and hoping something sticks—it's about being strategic with your limited time and resources. And nothing feels better than decluttering your grant calendar to focus on opportunities that truly align with your mission!