Playing the Lottery or Grant Writing Investment
Friday, August 22nd, 2008 
Photo by Framapix
Nonprofits have a tendency to place barriers around what they can accomplish.
Most individuals want immediate gratification in everything they see or do. The same happens when it comes to grant writing. A person selects a foundation or corporation and submits a proposal. If the person does not hear a positive result with a 30-90 days their thoughts tilt towards it is a waste of time and gradually they stop submitting. However, I would like to point out that such an approach is like playing the lottery. Success comes with a logical laid out plan of the work that is necessary over a 12 month period. I remind you that the industry standard is a success rate of 10-17 percent. I further wish to remind you that one other measure should be whether you have obtained three times the cost of the effort. The first year can sometimes be difficult because the organization may be going through change. However, the feedback foundations is usually very useful in helping to better define the areas of improvement the organization should make.
