How to Find Grants and Focus on the Right Pursuits

Hey there! In today's video, we are talking about how to find the right grant to go after in the first place! Let's figure out which grants are worth your time to pursue and which ones you have the best chance of winning!

There are 5 buckets of funding and we will be focusing on the first four types of funding.
🔶 Local contributions
🔶 State grants and loans
🔶 Federal grants and loans
🔶 Private foundations
🔶 Philanthropy

The Grant Research Process:

Grant research is critical to figuring out which grants are the right grants for your organization to pursue. We research in three stages:

Round 1: Find 100+ Grants
Round 2: From 100+ to 20 Worth Evaluating
Round 3: From 20+ Grants to Top 2-5

You can then put that into a funding strategy memo which outlines your roadmap for funding for the next 12-18 months.

After you've filtered it down to 100+ grants, we want to find the answers to three questions:
1️⃣ What are the funding agency's priorities?
2️⃣ At quick glance, are you eligible?
3️⃣ What's the funder's past giving behavior?

We have a spreadsheet template that makes it easier to view those grant opportunities in one place. Access the Grant Funding Research Matrix template 👉 https://www.learngrantwriting.org/fre...

🌟 Tip: Don't try to make the shoe fit, do what feels natural and right for your project!

After you've filtered to 20+ grants, we...
1️⃣ Determine competitiveness: What percent of applicants were successful last year?
2️⃣ Read funding guidelines
3️⃣ Contact past applicants
4️⃣ Contact the funder

In Grant Writing: From Start to Funded you will learn every step to finding the right 2-5 grants worth pursuing 👉 https://www.learngrantwriting.org/gra...

To do all of this, we use the grant database, Instrumentl.com and in this video we walk through how to use Instrumentl. You can set up a free trial with Instrumentl.com to research grants, review 990 forms, and manage your grant pursuits.

⚡️ If you end up buying a subscription, use discount code LEARNGRANTWRITING for $50 off using this link: https://www.instrumentl.com?grsf=rpkih4

You can find a review of the top 10 grant databases 👉 https://www.learngrantwriting.org/blo...

Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below! We'd love to hear from you!

🧡 The Team at Learn Grant Writing

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 How to find grants and focus on the right pursuits
00:47 Buckets of grant funding
02:15 The grant research process and framework
02:30 Grant research funnel
03:39 Two approaches for researching grant opportunities
04:05 Questions to ask yourself as you filter grant opportunities
05:41 Determine the competitiveness of grant opportunities
06:33 How and why to contact past applicants
06:53 How and why to contact the funder
07:40 How to use a grant database (Instrumentl.com) to research grant opportunities
16:15 Resources to learn more about grant writing and grant databases