1. Jan Kary, CFRE – Jan Kary & Associates
Planet Philanthropy 2017
Foundations: Breaking Through “You’ve Been Declined” and Stewarding to Success
Jan Kary, CFRE – Jan Kary & Associates

2. Foundation Outreach Basics
You’ve found the PERFECT grant opportunity!
You’ve read and followed the grant guidelines carefully
You’ve studied the grantor’s 990 to review history of past funding
Your ask is aligned with grantor’s expressed interests
You’ve itemized your program’s phenomenal measurable outcomes
Foundation Outreach Basics

3. Foundation Basics - continued
Your ask amount is aligned with grantor’s giving history
Your grant is written in understandable language avoiding jargon
You’ve found in the company an internal employee “champion”
You submitted the grant (on-line or on paper) by the deadline
Foundation Basics - continued

4. Foundation Basics: check! Grant submitted: check!
Now the hard part: The wait for grant review Then it happens: The decline letter arrives How could this possibly happen for the perfectly-written grant???

5. Wisdom for all Grant seekers:
As it relates to foundations….
“Your morale - and even your sanity - will be improved if you don’t expect fairness, justice, or rationality – not to mention basic courtesy.”
Martin Teitel, Author

6. Breaking Through the Decline
Contacting foundation for a de-brief call following receipt of decline
Offer volunteer/on-site visit opportunity to the funder
Re-examine potential Board connects
Inviting the funder to non-ask event(s)
Send newsletters and other touch points
Seek to build relationships
Attend programs offered by the funder

7. Some Quotes from an Expert Grantor…
Martin Teitel, former Foundation CEO and former Non-Profit Executive Director Author: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide to Winning Foundation Grants: A Foundation CEO Reveals the Secrets You Need to Know

8. Marty’s Tips The most successful LOI’s….
Avoid causing a program officer to experience MEGO
The importance of vision statements
Check.Your.Math
Grants are often declined because…

9. Things You Can do to Help Your Proposal Make the First Cut
Write a compelling summary
List concrete, specific outcomes of your work
Connect each step of your work with your goals
Present a budget in standard format that’s legible and patently sensible
Get the proposal in early
Offer to meet. Once.

10. Red Flags Foundations are Wary of
Lobbying or Political Work
High staff turnover
Huge gap between top and bottom salaries
Board composed mostly of famous, inactive people
Board composed of staff
Extensive, expensive media strategies

11. Ways to Improve Your Proposal
Go on a cliché and gobbledygook hunt
Use short sentences, active voice, lots of white space
Paint word pictures that draw the reader in
Write as much from your heart as from your head
Have a friend edit your prose
Talk with successful grantees of that foundation
When in doubt, don’t

12. Frequent Mistakes Talking mainly about problems, not solutions
Describing specific problems with general solutions
Prolific use of buzzwords and jargon
Budgets that don’t add up
Parroting the funder’s guidelines without linking them to the work

13. Maybe You’re Thinking…..
“But you’re only talking about some foundations….not the ones I’m applying to. The foundations I’m targeting will act differently when they see my stunning proposal…”

15. Thank You. Jan Kary, CFRE Jan Kary & Associates www. JanKary. com 202
Thank You! Jan Kary, CFRE Jan Kary & Associates