Grants research, writing, and submission are a key piece of every nonprofit organization’s fundraising plan. In hard economic times, hiring an outside grant writer seems impractical for cash strapped organizations. In order to save money grant writing is added to the duties of already overburdened Executive and Program Directors.
For key staff however, a bigger challenge than money is – Time! Grant writing is easily pushed to the back-burner in the face of daily client and organizational issues that need to be addressed. Add to that the large amounts time required to network in the community, build partnerships, and advocate for an organization; the less immediate payoff of grant writing moves to the bottom of the priority list.
The result:
- Your organization loses out on potentially huge monetary payoffs, and valuable relationships with corporate and foundation funders.
- Hiring an external grant writer has real advantages for even the tightest budgets.
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Nonprofit tax returns, including the application for tax exemption, are open to public inspection. The most common nonprofit tax return is the Form 990. We often think of 990s as a place to get useful information about grant makers, but they are also used by many grant makers to further evaluate your organization when reviewing grant applications.
With this in mind, an important component of grant writing is ensuring that your tax returns are accurate and reflect your current mission, programs, and outcomes. You may want to consider filing a complete tax return even when it’s not required so that potential funders can learn more about what you do.
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