Before You Write a Grant: The Internal Work No One Talks About
Grant writing is not just filling out a form.
If you have ever received a decline letter and thought, “But our project was strong,” this is for you.
If your board keeps saying, “Let’s just apply for grants,” but you are not sure where to start, this is for you.
Most grant applications fail before they are ever written. Not because the writing is weak, but because the internal scope was never fully clarified in the first place.
I see this across the sector. Small grassroots organizations do it. Established regional organizations do it. Even national organizations do it. Leadership teams assume there is alignment, assume there is need, and assume that is enough.
It is not.
Alignment is more nuanced than shared values. Strategy begins long before the application form opens.
Grant Prospecting Is Strategy, Not Search
When I prospect grants for a client, I am not looking for keywords. I am assessing fit.
That assessment includes confirming eligibility such as geography, charitable status, organization size, and population served. It means understanding the funder’s actual priorities, not just their public-facing mission statement. It means reviewing typical award sizes and looking at who they have funded before. It means assessing timelines against your real capacity.
It also means understanding language.
Organizations and funders often use different words to describe the same thing. Sometimes they use the same words but mean something entirely different. A program you call “community engagement” might be categorized by a funder as “capacity building.” What you describe as “advocacy” may not be eligible if a funder excludes policy work. Thorough alignment requires reading carefully and interpreting intention, not just terminology.
And here is where many organizations quietly lose momentum. They invest hours drafting an application only to discover, too late, that they were never truly eligible or strategically aligned. That is not just frustrating. It is exhausting.
Prospecting done well protects your time, your team’s energy, and your credibility.
Talk to the Funder Before You Write
A short email or quick phone call can save hours of internal work.
Before drafting anything, confirm alignment. Briefly explain your project and the exact components you are seeking funding for. Ask whether that aligns with their current priorities. Ask whether there are specific streams that are a better fit.
Then go deeper.
Ask what the board or decision-making committee tends to respond to most strongly. What gets them excited about approving funding? Are they more drawn to measurable outcomes? Community partnerships? Innovation? Stability?
Ask about timelines. Confirm submission deadlines and decision dates. If you are planning program launches or hiring staff, you need realistic funding timelines.
Ask how they prefer to be recognized. Many funders value recognition in promotional materials, reports, or on-site signage. If that matters to them, give it to them. It costs you very little and strengthens the relationship.
Now let’s talk about the money question.
If you simply ask, “What is the maximum we can request?” you will often receive a generic answer. They will tell you the upper limit. That does not mean that is what you should ask for.
Instead, ask this:
Given the details of our project, what do you think is a fair ask amount? What is likely to be approved by your decision-making committee?
That framing shifts the conversation. It invites realism. It invites partnership.
When you have a friendly, professional conversation, people are often more open than you expect. They may share insight about realistic ranges, what has been approved in similar cases, or what might be too ambitious.
The friendlier and more collaborative that conversation is, the more invested they become. When your application lands in their inbox, it is not a surprise. It is something they are anticipating.
That anticipation changes everything. Instead of being one of dozens in a queue, your application becomes one they are expecting and hoping to see succeed.
Grants are competitive. Relationships and clarity reduce friction.
The Planning Phase Is Where Clarity Is Built
Before writing a single word of an application, it pays to be thorough. The planning phase is where you flush out the details so clearly that describing the program becomes straightforward.
I often walk organizations through what I call the HW5 framework. Who, what, where, when, why, and how. And not just once. Repeatedly, from different angles.
Who are we serving?
Who is leading?
Who is the support team?
Who are potential funders?
Who are primary clients?
Who are secondary clients?
What is the program?
What are the activities?
What are the program hours?
What is the board’s role?
What location will this take place in?
What impact do we want to make?
What is the outcome goal?
What is the importance of this program?
What is the target audience?
What is our inspiration to start this program now?
What will we do if we do not get funding?
What is our backup plan?
Where will this take place?
Where will participants park?
Where is the muster point?
Where will reporting data be stored?
ECT…
When you ask the same questions from multiple angles, gaps become visible. Assumptions surface. Clarity increases.
And clarity builds confidence.
When your team can clearly articulate who the program serves, what it delivers, why it matters, and how it will be sustained, your application stops sounding reactive. It sounds intentional. Funders can feel that difference.
This is also where your budget is built.
As you decide on staff numbers, client numbers, locations, hours, and activities, realistic budget figures begin to emerge. Do not build the budget in isolation. Write the budget as you flush out the program details. If you identify three staff members, calculate their salaries. If you add a part-time summer student, reflect that cost. If you expand program hours, account for utilities, supplies, and supervision.
Too often, budgets are reverse engineered to match a funding opportunity. Strong budgets are built from program reality first. When your numbers are rooted in actual staffing, timelines, and delivery logistics, they are easier to defend and easier to trust.
Clarity in scope produces clarity in budget.
Think of it like a two circle Venn diagram. One circle is what your organization is doing. The other circle is what the funder funds. The overlap is what you can confidently ask them to support. If you have not clearly defined your circle, you cannot find the overlap.
How to Know How Much to Ask For
The question of how much to request is strategic.
Many funders provide minimum and maximum ranges. That is helpful. Platforms such as Grant Connect also provide historical gift sizes, which offer valuable context about what has actually been awarded in the past.
But you cannot automatically ask for the maximum simply because it is available.
Your ask should consider the scale of your project, your organizational capacity, the funder’s historical patterns, and the insight you gained from speaking with the funder directly.
If a funder indicates that similar projects have typically been approved at a certain range, that is useful information. If they gently suggest that a full program budget might be ambitious but a pilot phase would be well received, listen to that.
Asking for the right amount is not about being bold or being conservative. It is about being strategic. When your ask reflects both your capacity and the funder’s reality, your application feels responsible, not risky.
And responsible projects are easier to approve.
What You Should Be Tracking
If you are serious about building grants as a reliable revenue stream, tracking is not optional. It is your insurance policy.
At minimum, track the following:
Before applying
Funder website
Funding focus areas
Eligibility requirements
Contact information
Notes from conversations with funder representatives
Recognition preferences
At submission
Program stream
Components included in the application
Ask amount
Submission date
Application number if provided
Expected decision date
If awarded
Amount granted
Payment schedule
Reporting deadlines
Final report due date
Any additional deliverables such as recognition or public acknowledgement
General notes
Have they funded you before
How much and when
Key contacts and communication history
Relevant links and documents
Strong tracking supports strong stewardship. Stewardship supports future funding.
Writing Is the Final Step, Not the First
Once the internal work is done, writing becomes significantly more manageable.
Your first draft is not your submission.
DO NOT SUBMIT YOUR FIRST DRAFT.
Your first draft is where you clarify your thinking. Your second draft is where you clarify your message. Your third draft is where you ensure consistency.
Review your application for continuity. Ensure that your staffing numbers are consistent throughout. If you originally wrote that you have three staff members and later add a part-time summer student, that change must be reflected everywhere. In staffing descriptions. In program activities. In outcomes. In the budget.
Inconsistencies undermine credibility.
When making revisions, review the entire application and the budget together. Narrative and numbers must align.
Strong grant writing is clear, consistent, and cohesive. It tells one story from beginning to end.
Final Thoughts
Grants are not free money. They are strategic partnerships.
They are also one of the strongest and most underutilized fundraising streams available to many organizations. Yes, grant writing can feel complex. But once you understand the system and process, even without becoming a professional grant writer, your ability to write stronger applications increases dramatically.
For many organizations, the real barrier is not capability. It is time.
If you are reading this and realizing your team does not have the time to do the internal scope work properly, that is not a failure. It is a capacity signal.
If you want a starting point, begin with a Grant Scan to assess alignment and readiness. If you are ready to move forward on a specific opportunity, the Mini-Grant package was designed to handle funder alignment, scope refinement, prospecting, drafting, and roadmap development before the application is ever submitted.
And if you want practical, real-world fundraising strategy like this delivered directly to your inbox, join my newsletter. I share tools, insights, and honest reflections from inside the sector.
Because strong applications begin long before the writing does.
