We’re looking for authentic, collaborative staff around the country who want to be excellent partners to nonprofits of all sizes, issue areas, and grant needs.
We’re looking for authentic, collaborative staff around the country who want to be excellent partners to nonprofits of all sizes, issue areas, and grant needs.
We know that communities around the country are capable and resilient – and that nonprofits will continue to be a positive force during this season of suffering and scarcity. But it is incredibly hard right now for our sector.
The need is deep, wide, and growing. Private funding is as constrained as it has been in decades. Federal funding has evaporated. Expenses are at an all-time high after years of inflation.
Elevate is digging deep to meet the moment comprehensively for our established nonprofit clients and prospective clients. We have been a trusted expert and partner to hundreds of nonprofits for over a decade, resulting in over $1 billion dollars raised from grants. Today, we are focused on reducing risk for nonprofit leaders as they make critical decisions for their organizations. I intend for Elevate to be the lowest-risk option for your grants program at this moment of revenue uncertainty.
With this in mind, we are introducing the most responsive and flexible service packages we have ever offered because we know clients need options right now. We have more affordable options that focus on just the support you really need and we have increased our options for adding more support for even our already comprehensive scopes of work.
We are also helping nonprofit leaders tap into the information they need to project future revenue and decide which programs and revenue sources to prioritize. Together, we will meet this moment.
We have been talking to our nonprofit clients all year. Below is a summary of what we are hearing and how we are adapting. My hope is that you see your organization and your distinct situation in one of the below themes – and that you can chart tangible next steps that are available for you right now.
If you are a prospective Elevate client who sees your organization in one of the scenarios below: we want to talk! Please reach out to Jessica Culverhouse, the head of our Business Development team.
If you’re an established Elevate client: we are so proud to partner with you at this critical moment. If you need to discuss your options, particularly during difficult budgeting periods: we should talk! Please reach out to Jaime Roscoe, the head of our Client Relations Team.
And of course, everyone reading this right now is invited reach out to me personally to discuss what you need and how Elevate can respond!
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
The overall funding landscape is contracting for our work. There is less money now. What should we do?
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
ELEVATE is helping clients define and fund their core programs. During contraction, nonprofits need to protect their mission-critical programs, something we highlighted in a conversation series earlier this year. Wherever possible, they should re-direct time, attention, and investments to support this essential work.
Preparing data-driven revenue projections and assessing the feasibility of programmatic and organizational grant revenue targets;
Conducting peer landscape analyses to explore whether re-framing current work or focusing on a previously lower-priority program’s funding needs could replace other funds that are disappearing from the marketplace;
Offering an external perspective on an organization’s essential programs and how we can best communicate what is at stake if those programs disappear to a funder audience;
Monitoring key indicators of grant program effectiveness so we can help clients pivot more quickly if one strategy is not working as intended.
Taking the work of maintaining an existing grant program off of a senior leader’s plate, so they can focus on securing resources from new sources or on stabilizing an organization undergoing dramatic change.
Through our custom solutions, we are supporting this work by:
Reducing the cost of our comprehensive grant writing services model by removing revenue growth services – prospecting and cultivation – for organizations that want or need to focus on just maintaining what they have.
Offering time-bound projects or series of projects to address specific needs, rather than ongoing support services. For example, we can assess your existing budgets to identify what may be turning off funders in a competitive market. Or, we can research a handful of priority funders you would like to pursue independently.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
We need to downsize or restructure our development department or fundraising function. We are looking for ways to delegate essential tasks so that our limited internal capacity can focus on the most important work.
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
ELEVATE has long been a good solution for organizations that need to restructure their overall development department or grant function. In the current context, we can provide both short- and long-term staffing solutions that give organizations a lot of flexibility to choose an option that meets their needs and budget now and add or subtract from that option in the future as their needs change.
Through our Comprehensive Grant Writing Services, we offer a low-risk staffing solution by taking on the work of hiring, training, and establishing the workflows for an entire grant department. You pay for a fraction of a senior strategist, a writer, and a data manager rather than three distinct positions. And, if any of those staff members are no longer available, we find another team member for you while maintaining continuity for your overall grant program. And, if your budget is limited right now, you can choose one of our smaller scopes of work and scale up later if your circumstances change.
Through our Ongoing Writing Retainer Services, we also take on the work of finding stellar grant writing talent and establishing a streamlined process for outsourcing part or all of your grant writing and submission needs. Like our Comprehensive services, we can scale our support up or down as your needs change. For the first time, we are offering our most cost-conscious package – 2 grants or reports per month for $3,500 month. Finally, if you ever need more strategy or prospecting support, we will help you transition to a more comprehensive engagement or recommend a one-time project to meet your needs.
Through our custom solutions, we can further ensure your development function is positioned to meet the moment. For example, we can add additional data tracking to your Comprehensive services to track every deadline you need to keep tabs on for your grants program, even the work you do internally. Or, we can engage in a one-time project to assess your development needs and map those functions onto available staff roles and capacity.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
We are cutting programs, activities, or interventions and need to understand what funding can be retained or re-deployed.
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
Funder positioning is one of Elevate’s strengths: we are the best and figuring out how to tell an authenticstory to a funder in a way that helps them really understand how they can have an impact.
Through our Comprehensive Grant Writing Services, we take a critical look at every upcoming deliverable to assess whether the previous year’s strategy is still the right one in this context. Through intentional revenue target development and funding projections, we can recommend whether we need to focus upcoming asks on a new program or initiative that is underfunded.
Through both our Comprehensive and our Ongoing Writing Retainer Services, our draft process helps us understand funders’ current giving priorities, we can make data-driven recommendations about which funders will be most receptive to a request that looks a bit different than in years’ past.
Through our custom solutions, we can work with you to build a defined project or ongoing retainer focused on communicating organizational pivots to current and potential funders. This work can include template outreach emails, a project plan with deadlines for reaching out to key funders in advance of planned solicitations, and research into evolving giving priorities.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
Our nonprofit was reliant on public funding. We’ve realized we need to diversify our funding sources.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
ELEVATE has worked with many clients over the years who are stepping into private funding for the first time, after years of building organizations through corporate, individual, or public funding. That expertise positions us well to support organizations’ pivot away from public funding sources that have disappeared.
Through our Comprehensive Grant Writing Services, we are working with organizations that have a strong private funder base to increase gift sizes from dedicated supporters and pursue focused strategies to secure funding from new supporters. Through peer landscape analyses, prospect research, draft emails to new and renewal funders, and cultivation project management, we can help nonprofits further strengthen their private grant revenue stream in the short-term.
Through our custom solutions, we are working with organizations that did not previously have a strong private funder base to:
Prioritize relationship-building and solicitation of well-aligned funders through Prospect Qualification Projects;
Provide one-time or ongoing support to strengthen their funder relationship-building by developing funder outreach materials, providing coaching, offering ongoing task management, and working with you to prep for funder calls.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
Our programs are resonating with funders right now, thankfully! We are looking for support with revenue growth while staying within our budget.
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
ELEVATE is gleaning real-time insights from our expert staff who work with a large base of clients. Based on weekly huddles facilitated by our President & Managing Director, we are seeing nonprofits in the following spaces find success pursuing new revenue streams:
Mental/Behavioral Health, particularly in connection with housing programming;
Substance Abuse recovery and prevention; and
Grassroots organizing, convening, and education around timely issues, particularly resisting corporate greed, supporting workers, economic mobility, and creating a more just democracy.
At the same time, we know that even this revenue growth may not be grounded in a high volume of new grant submissions. Instead, it may require strategically re-framing existing work to align with the most timely issues facing their communities and targeted outreach to a small pool of well-aligned funders.
Through our Comprehensive Grant Writing Services, we can re-frame your work for more promising funder spaces, analyze what is and isn’t working about past strategies, and recommend appropriate revenue targets grounded in data-driven revenue projections. For the first time, we can also scale all aspects of this model up or down – do you need less drafting but more funder research and cultivation support? We can make that happen.
Through Ongoing Writing Retainer Services, we can take routine renewals and reports off of your to-do list so you can focus on the cultivation and solicitation of new funders for new work or priorities.
Through our custom solutions, we are working with organizations to assess the long-term potential of grant funding in their space prior to deciding whether to invest in building a private grant program. Let us take some of the guesswork out of what your next move should be as you acclimate to a different revenue profile.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
Our funding seems stable, but we need to understand our funding potential for specific geographic regions, or programs, or the next 3-5 years to aid our current planning.
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
ELEVATE offers a variety of analyses that can help nonprofit leaders understand what funding is available in which geographic regions or for what programs, in order to make more strategic decisions about both investing in and decreasing investments in specific programs. In particular, we are helping nonprofit decision makers understand thelong-term funding potential in their space through Peer Landscape Analysis Projects and prioritize relationship-building and solicitation of well-aligned funders through Prospect Qualification Projects.
WHAT WE ARE HEARING:
I just need more information about what is happening in the sector in real time.
WHAT WE ARE DOING:
ELEVATE remains a resource for original data and research through our blog and email list. For example, this recent post from our President & Managing Director reports what we are seeing regarding the impact of the federal funding freeze. One potentially surprising finding was that Elevate clients had secured comparable public funding in 2025 as they had in previous years. Additionally, we hosted a Conversation Series earlier in the year and have a series of posts about the big questions right now and leading through uncertainty and: We also host workshops and training, including an introduction webinar available on demand, and other webinars available through our partnership with Grant Station.
Earlier this month, I stepped into the new role of President & Managing Director here at Elevate. In this new position, I am responsible for overseeing the work of our Executive Team and supporting cross-departmental collaboration in service of our top goal – consistently high-quality services for clients that leads to long-term partnerships.
While this role is new to me, I feel very lucky that I am already deeply familiar with Elevate, our phenomenal company leaders, and many of you, our clients. This September, I celebrated my 11th anniversary with Elevate and, while a lot has changed, so much has also remained the same.
As I step into this new role, I would like to highlight a few of the reasons why I remain deeply dedicated to our work:
We have a remarkable founder and CEO. Alayna founded Elevate to help nonprofits win more grant funding and help nonprofit leaders clarify and refine how they will achieve their missions. Her approach was uniquely pragmatic – provide the expertise, capacity, and structure that all grant programs need and the revenue will come. She challenges anyone who works with her – staff, clients, and partners – to look at problems objectively, make decisions grounded in data, and always take the right next step to achieve progress over the long-term. I feel very lucky that she remains the strategic leader for the company as we grapple with a period of deep uncertainty in the sector.
Our team is committed, super talented and, frankly, fun! Elevate staff care deeply about how their work supports the success of their clients and colleagues. Our clients get to see their excellent attention to detail, persuasive writing, and strategic thinking every day; I also get to see how they learn from each other, come up with creative new ways to solve old problems, and teach all of us in leadership a thing or two at least weekly. Finally: I rarely go a day without laughing – genuinely laughing – in a routine meeting.
We get to support smart, hard-working nonprofit leaders. Every role I’ve had – from Grant Writer to Director to Supervisor to Vice President – has involved digging into the tough, complicated, and often messy part of nonprofit fundraising and leadership. It turns out that I prefer operating in the spaces where the revenue potential is unclear, the systems are constantly in need of updates, and the community needs always seem to grow instead of shrink. I think the reason is that these complicated spaces are where really amazing nonprofit leaders also find themselves.
So, while there are a few changes that come with a new role and new structure to our Executive Team, there are also a lot of things that remain constant. I look forward to building on the parts of Elevate that make us who we are – and continuing to work with leaders, staff, and clients who have set the standard for me over the years.
Elevate is proud to work with numerous nonprofits working in the areas of visual arts, performing arts, theater and arts education, literature, dance, music, and more. This article, written by one of our talented arts fundraisers, covers one of the most challenging topics when it comes to grant writing for arts organizations: outcomes!
If you’ve ever sat down to write a grant proposal for your arts organization and struggled to articulate your impact, you’re not alone! Outcomes are among the most important things funders look for in a proposal—but unlike direct service nonprofits, arts organizations can’t always point to clear-cut metrics like meals served, homes built, or patients treated.
When it comes to securing funding, outcomes aren’t just a “nice to have”—they’re essential. According to a 2017 study from the Social Solutions Foundation, 98% of funders said an organization’s impact is the most important consideration when deciding on grants. And when asked how they evaluate impact, 67% of funders pointed to outcomes as the best indicator.
That raises an important question for arts organizations: what does measuring outcomes actually look like in practice? It doesn’t mean you don’t have outcomes. It just means you may need to think differently about what they look like—and how to measure them.
At Elevate, we work with dozens of performing arts organizations and have learned that outcomes for nonprofit theaters and arts groups largely fall into just three main categories.
The Three Core Metrics for Arts Organizations
Martin Ruiz and Rodrigo Pedreira-Photo by Daniel Martinez. Courtesy of GALA Theatre.
When you boil it down, most arts organizations can really only measure three things:
1. How many people did it – Think about the number of artists, administrators, designers, or teaching artists who worked on a production or throughout a season. These numbers capture the reach and breadth of your organization’s impact on the creative workforce. For example, a small theater company might note that 60 actors, directors, and designers were employed during the season—providing not only artistic opportunities but also income for working artists in the community.
2. How many people saw it – Ticket sales, attendance at free events, livestream views, or even gallery visitors—these audience numbers are often the most straightforward data points to collect. They can demonstrate scale, growth, or consistency in engagement over time. Tracking this information year over year can also highlight trends. Are you growing your audience base? Reaching new communities? Holding steady through challenging times? These numbers can be powerful proof points for funders.
You can also consider highlighting the broader economic impact of your work. When people attend performances or exhibitions, they often spend money at local restaurants and shops, or they may utilize transportation services, resulting in an infusion of dollars into other community businesses. Including even a brief note about this can strengthen your case by showing that your organization contributes not only culturally but also economically.
3. What people thought about it(but only if you ask!)– This one requires some intentionality. Audience surveys are the best way to capture opinions, attitudes, and satisfaction. Without them, it’s nearly impossible to tell a funder how your work resonates with your community. The key is keeping surveys streamlined and simple to encourage higher response rates. A few targeted questions can yield more responses than a long list (5-10 multiple-choice questions and 1-2 open-ended questions). For instance:
Would you recommend this show to a friend?
Would you come back to see another production?
How did this performance impact you personally?
On a scale of 1-5, how strongly do you agree with the statement “The performance reflected voices, perspectives, or experiences that are relevant to today’s world”
Getting the Data You Need
Martin Ruiz and Rodrigo Pedreira-Photo by Daniel Martinez. Courtesy of GALA Theatre.
Collecting feedback doesn’t have to be complicated. Try:
Adding a QR code to your printed programs that links to a short survey – one Elevate client began printing QR codes on cups at the bar, which significantly increased their audience survey response rate!
Projecting a survey QR code on the wall after the show while audiences exit.
Including a quick curtain speech reminder from staff or board members before performances – make the case for why their feedback matters!
Adding a link to your website where audience members can complete the survey.
Sending a follow-up email to ticket holders with a survey link the day after a performance.
Once you start collecting feedback, you can track new outputs such as:
The percentage of audience members who say they would recommend your show to a friend.
The likelihood they will return to see another production.
Ratings of artistic quality, relevance, or accessibility.
Changes in ideas or attitudes.
Pair these metrics with compelling quotes, press coverage, or reviews, and suddenly you have both quantitative and qualitative data that show how your work is making a difference. Further, you are actively incorporating the voices and inputs of your key stakeholders – your audience – into your work!
Transforming Outputs into Meaningful Outcomes
Martin Ruiz and Rodrigo Pedreira-Photo by Daniel Martinez. Courtesy of GALA Theatre.
Collecting data and feedback is just the first step. The real power comes when you turn those outputs into meaningful outcomes that demonstrate your organization’s broader impact. Outputs show what happened; outcomes show why it matters. In short, outputs are what you produce, while outcomes are the changes or impacts those outputs create for your audience, artists, or community.
Here’s how to make that leap:
1. Connect numbers to experiences – Instead of just reporting that 500 people attended a show, highlight what that attendance enabled. Did audience members report feeling inspired, challenged, or connected to their community? Use survey data or testimonials to illustrate these experiences. For example:
“95% of attendees agreed the performance reflected voices and perspectives relevant to today’s world. Audience members described feeling more connected to the local arts community after attending.”
2. Identify patterns and trends – Look beyond single events and consider what your outputs reveal over time. Growing attendance or repeat engagement might indicate increasing relevance and community trust. Positive shifts in survey responses can signal that your programming is making a measurable difference in knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors.
3. Integrate qualitative and quantitative data – Numbers tell part of the story, but quotes, stories, and reviews give your outcomes depth and emotion. Pairing survey statistics with audience testimonials or press coverage creates a richer narrative that funders—and your community—can relate to.
4. Align outcomes with mission and goals – Always tie outcomes back to your organization’s mission. For instance, if your goal is to provide professional opportunities for artists, highlight how employment and skill-building experiences contributed to career growth. If your focus is audience development, show how exposure to new works or perspectives led to increased engagement, understanding, or cultural participation.
By thoughtfully analyzing outputs and linking them to real-world impact, you transform raw data into compelling outcomes. This approach not only strengthens your grant proposals but also gives your organization a clearer picture of how your work changes lives—artistically, communally, and culturally.
Don’t Forget Arts Education Outcomes!
If your organization runs arts education programs, you can often borrow from more traditional education outcome frameworks. Examples include:
Academic metrics: improvements in test scores, attendance, or classroom engagement.
Standards alignment: connections to national or state learning standards.
Self-assessment tools: student surveys, Likert-scale reflections on skills or confidence.
Teacher and parent feedback: surveys or testimonials from adults who observe the impact.
These outcomes are especially compelling because they speak to funders who are interested in both arts and education. They show that your programs have benefits that extend well beyond the classroom—helping students build creativity, confidence, critical thinking, and life skills that last a lifetime.
Why It Matters
By combining audience numbers, participation rates, feedback surveys, and qualitative outcomes, arts organizations can tell a powerful story about their impact. Funders want to see that your work is valued, relevant, and reaching people in meaningful ways. With a clear framework and intentional data collection, you can transform what might feel like “intangibles” into outcomes that resonate with funders—and with your community.
And here’s the good news: you don’t have to track everything. Pick a few metrics that feel most authentic to your organization and start there. Over time, you’ll build a stronger dataset that reflects your unique impact and helps you secure more support for the work you love.
Keep Learning With Us
If you found this helpful, you might also like these other articles from the Elevate blog:
The ripple effects of these changes will be profound. Already, we have seen essential community services come to an end, reductions in force in nonprofits in nearly every issue area and sector, and contingency planning that includes fundamental changes to how nonprofits do their work.
However, substantial uncertainty persists. Not all public funding has concluded, particularly when you consider federal funds distributed to states and then passed through to local nonprofits. There are still RFPs being released for longstanding government programs. A recent Elevate article covers how the August 2025 Executive Order impacting federal grantmaking signals profound and semi-permanent changes to the way federal grants are developed, awarded, and disbursed. But, even this order assumes that some amount of federal funding will continue.
In this context, the team at Elevate wondered whether analysis of the large amount of data we track on RFPs, proposals, and funding awards could shed light on where nonprofits stand with respect to federal funding.
To this end, Elevate’s data team developed a preliminary comparison of public funding solicitations and awards in the first six months of this year compared to the first six months of 2022, 2023, and 2024. Here are our key findings:
1. Public Funding From Local and State Sources Has Not Yet Declined
To date, we have not yet seen substantial changes to patterns in pass-through funding at the local and state level.. Elevate clients have secured comparable levels of public funding between February and August of 2025 as they have in prior years.
2. Public Funding Requests Have Remained the Same (or Even Increased)
Elevate clients submitted more public grants between February and August 2025 in almost all sectors compared to the same period of time last year.
In the last six months, Elevate tracked a total of 79 public funding opportunities for our clients, compared to 62 opportunities during the same period last year. Of the proposals submitted so far this year, 42 are pending a funder response and 23 have been awarded to date. In the last three years, our win rate for public funding has been between 60% and 70%. If that continues, we expect to see an additional 25 government grants secured sometime in the next year.
3. Health, Human Services, and Housing clients have received the most public funding historically and have not yet seen a significant decline in grant requests or awards.
Elevate’s clients working in Health and Human Services secure nearly 83% of all public funding that we track. These organizations also have the largest overall budgets among Elevate clients. Health and Human Services organizations are still applying for public funding opportunities at a rate similar to prior years, and they have secured a comparable amount of public funding. While 2024 funding in this sector was nearly twice the amount secured between February and August 2025, this year’s award trends mirror 2023 award amounts, which appears to be related to several significant multi-year awards.
So, while the Trump Administration’s Executive Orders are clearly targeting a longstanding strategy of outsourcing public health and human services to nonprofits, the full impact of those changes have not yet been realised.
4. Public Funding for Education & Training organizations has been more immediately impacted.
Education & Training organizations receive 11% of the public funding secured by Elevate clients, making this the sector with the second highest amount of government funding among our partners. These organizations have experienced a noticeable decline in government grant awards in the first half of this year. Specifically, public funds awarded this year represent less than 5% of the total public funding awarded to Education & Training organizations during the same period last year. Even if you go back to 2023 to account for two-year grants, this year’s grant funds only reflect about 20% of the public grant awards during the same 6-month period.
By drilling down into the details of these funding streams, you can see that Department of Education funds distributed through local education departments represent significant missing dollars for organizations in the Education & Training sectors.
How We Got Our Data
Through our Comprehensive Grant Writing Services model, Elevate’s strategic focus is primarily to develop and grow private and corporate grant programs. However, many of our clients blend private and public grant funding to achieve sustainability. In these cases, we often track deadlines, awards, and reporting requirements for public opportunities as part of our commitment to provide holistic grant writing support. By comprehensively tracking public and private grant data whenever possible, we can support both our individual clients and the larger nonprofit sector spot and identify trends in funders and funding.
In addition, we write public grants for both current and new clients through our Writing Capacity Projects, through which we contract with clients to write and submit single proposals.
Grants are one of the foundational pillars of the nonprofit industry. Whether from government agencies, private foundations, or corporate social responsibility arms, grant funding is estimated to make up an average of 35-45% of nonprofit revenues. Behind these numbers lie hours of research, strategy, cultivation, planning, program implementation, persistence, and patience.
When you begin submitting requests to foundations, you should have the organizational infrastructure in place to not only prepare competitive applications that articulate the change your organization creates, but also to demonstrate that you are in a position to effectively steward the grant funds and maximize the impact of the award.
So how do you know if it’s time to begin investing into a grants program? The Elevate team has identified key benchmarks of organizational readiness that we consider to be essential to establish before investing in a grants program.
1. A Theory of Change
While it is not typically required to have a formally documented Theory of Change, your organization should be able to succinctly explain
the who, what, how, and why of your work. Make sure that your Theory of Change is aligned with the mission and capacity of the organization. With this framing, you’ll be positioned to have meaningful conversations with grantmakers and develop the detailed narratives, workplans, timelines, and budgets that may be required as part of the grant application.
2. Core Funding
While grants may ultimately make up a significant portion of an organization’s revenue, they are not generally the first funding sources for new nonprofits. This can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the long timeline to receive funds and grantmakers’ interest in investing in organizations with a track record of successful outcomes and predictable results. Grant work requires an up-front investment, meaning that in most cases, organizations will need to have other revenue streams support their work until the grants start coming in. In fact, most organizations do not see grant dollars in the door sooner than 9-18 months after they begin the process of researching and pursuing new grant opportunities.
3. Financial Infrastructure
Relatedly, grant applications typically require you to submit organizational and program budgets, accounting records, and audited financial statements. Before approaching a funder, be sure your organization has the proper financial infrastructure to track, administer, and report on the use of funds. Failing to do so can mean the end of a relationship with a funder.
4. Established (and Effective!) Programs
Similar to your Theory of Change, you should have an established program or programs with clearly defined activities, outputs, and outcomes, as well as a plan for how you will use funding. These programs should have clearly defined metrics for impact and success that you can track and report out on. In most industries, this doesn’t need to be a professional third-party evaluation, but you should be able to outline the specifics of your activities and how you know if they have been successful.
5. A Clear Understanding of the Landscape
Before investing time and resources into a grant program, research your organization’s funding landscape, including which grantmakers are supporting peer organizations (an indication that they may be interested in your work) and what type of grant funding is available (such as program-restricted funding, general operating grants, or capacity building). This knowledge enables you to develop plans for your grant program that are grounded in the reality of available funding opportunities. However, grants are not the right funding stream for every organization. An analysis of your landscape can help you to understand whether it makes sense to invest in a grants program, and if so, how to focus your efforts.
As I’ve hopefully conveyed, establishing a successful and sustainable grants program requires dedicated capacity and strategy. While it may be feasible for executive or program staff to write an application here and there, if your goal is to develop a robust grants pipeline, it will require significant research, cultivation, proposal writing, reporting, and stewardship. Organizations with limited resources should be creative about how to create and maintain this capacity. Consider dedicating a portion of staff time to these responsibilities, and encourage your board to contribute their time to these efforts. For organizations that need a capacity boost for a few proposals a year, Elevate’s Writing Capacity Projects might be the right fit.
We hope that this list provides a helpful starting point for organizations that are launching a grants program. If you need assistance in tackling one or more of these benchmarks, Elevate’s Grants Accelerator Project Suite can help! We offer a variety of short-term projects focused on these building blocks for a new grants program. Contact us today if you are interested in learning more!
Executive Order on “Increasing Oversight of Federal Grant Making”
What Nonprofits Need to Know Now
Since the new administration took office earlier this year, Elevate’s nonprofit clients continue to be impacted by a wide range of Executive Orders. A recent Executive Order issued August 7, 2025 makes substantial changes to the development, decision-making, and disbursement of discretionary grants at the federal level. This article summarizes some of the most salient details for nonprofit organizations.
What Happened & Immediate Ramifications
On August 7th, President Trump’s White House published an Executive Order designed to “improve the process of Federal grantmaking while ending offensive waste of tax dollars.”
Short-term, the most significant impacts of this Executive Order are that
1. All federal agencies must pause any new funding until they designate a senior appointee to oversee all discretionary grant processes according to the new requirements in the Executive Order.
A senior appointee is intended to be a political appointee, not a career civil service staff member.
2. Within 30 days (so by September 7th), each agency head will review the agency’s standard grant terms and conditions for compliance with the new Executive Order and submit a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
What this means for nonprofits right now:
If you were anticipating a new NOFA or RFP in the next few months for a federal discretionary grant, it will likely be delayed.
If you currently have a discretionary grant from any federal agency, you may be required to agree to updated terms and conditions allowing the government to, for example, terminate the grant at any time or require additional documentation to draw down funds (more on this below!).
What Does this Executive Order Mean For My Organization?
Beyond the short-term ramifications, there are a variety of new requirements for federal agencies that focus on increased oversight of all aspects of discretionary grant funding, from the development of initial RFPs and NOFAs to disbursing funds and canceling grants.
Here are five changes to federal discretionary grantmaking all nonprofits should know:
1. The Executive Order is limited to discretionary funding, sometimes referred to as competitive grants. It does not include programs where legislation establishes an entitlement to the funds on the part of the recipient, such as block grants; those awarded based on a statutory formula; or disaster recovery grants. Many nonprofits Elevate works with receive federal funding primarily as pass-through funds from their local government. In many cases, this Executive Order will not affect those funds.
Key Action Step: Make sure you know the original funding source of any pass-through grants. Block grants, such as Child Development Block Grants or Community Development Block Grants, are not directly affected by this Executive Order. If your local government has applied for and secured competitive federal funding and then re-granted to you, those funds may be at-risk.
2. Organizations that are currently funded via a discretionary federal grant or that are planning to apply for a discretionary grant in the future should be aware that they may be required to agree to new terms, particularly the government’s right to cancel the grant at any time (“termination for convenience”), including when the award no longer advances agency priorities or the national interest.
However, with the implementation of this Executive Order and the nuance of the legal argument – that the initial cancellations were not well-justified or lawful under current government policies and regulations on grant awards – there is a real possibility that future federal grants will be more easily terminated, even if these lawsuits successfully establish that recent cancellations were unlawful.
Key Action Step: Factor the potential cancellation of current or future federal grants into your contingency planning. If discretionary grants can be terminated based on policy changes at the federal level, they will represent greater operational risk to nonprofits.
3. Organizations receiving federal grants in the future will be required to provide justifications for each draw down of funds, including documentation. While this is, to some extent, already required for many federal grants, experts generally believe it will introduce additional administrative burden for organizations seeking to actually spend awarded funds.
Key Action Step: Plan ahead for future disbursement requests. Check-in with finance and program staff to ensure that their recordkeeping is effective and will support detailed justifications for the future draw-down of funds.
4. The eligibility and review criteria for federal proposals is shifting. Organizations seeking federal funds should be aware that the new political appointees for each agency will be looking for the following criteria when approving discretionary grants:
a. Funds advance the President’s priorities;
b. Funds cannot be used to fund, promote, encourage, subsidize or facilitate:
i. Racial preferences, including activities for which race or intentional proxies for race are used to determine employment or program participation,
ii. Denial by the grant recipient of the sex binary,
iii. Illegal immigration,
iv. Any other initiatives that compromise public safety or promote “anti-American” values;
c. Grants should be given to a broad range of organizations;
d. Grants should be given to organizations with lower indirect cost rates, if all other considerations are equal.
It is worth noting that the language here – “promote, encourage, subsidize, facilitate” – encourages government agencies to decline grant awards for organizations that do not align with their philosophies, even if the specific requested grant funds are aligned. Moreover, the mandate that funds cannot be used for anything that the government deems as a threat to safety or American values is sufficiently broad to be used in a wide variety of contexts by current and future administrations to limit, cancel, or refuse disbursement of grant funds.
Key Action Step: While Elevate has successfully helped many organizations thoughtfully assess whether their work does or does not align with the President’s priorities and identified a path to maintain existing funding or secure new funding in many cases, these criteria will likely exclude many nonprofits from all federal funding for the foreseeable future. This may mean that organizations need to transition to a contingency plan that does not include federal funds, which will require reducing expenses in the short-term. Long-term, this shift in federal funding policy and philosophy does incentivize nonprofits to look into other funding streams, including private philanthropy, individual donors, and earned revenue.
Additional Resources
We have summarized the most important points for our client organizations and others like them – U.S. based nonprofit organizations in all sectors with budgets between $1 million and $135 million that rely on private and public grant funding. We work less often with institutions of higher education or research institutions, both of which are heavily impacted by this Executive Order, and we recommend these organizations reference more comprehensive guidance provided by the following excellent resources:
Finally, earlier this year Elevate hosted a 3-part virtual conversation series on Navigating Uncertainty in the Funding Landscape. Key takeaways and resources from these sessions are summarized in three separate articles on this blog:
Whether you’re a recent graduate or exploring a career change, grant writing might be on your radar. If you’re passionate about the work of nonprofits and have strong writing skills, this path can offer meaningful, impactful work. But how do you break into the field?
Here are four ways to get started:
1. Understand what a grant writer’s day-to-day looks like
The responsibilities of a grant writer can vary depending on the setting.
If you work in-house at a nonprofit, you’ll likely focus exclusively on that organization’s fundraising strategy—often managing everything from prospect research to proposal writing to reporting. You may be the go-to person for all things foundation funding.
If you work at a consulting firm, like Elevate, you might juggle a portfolio of nonprofit clients across different issue areas. Your day could include writing proposals, meeting with clients to discuss grant opportunities and collect info, collaborating with colleagues, and adapting your voice and strategy to fit each client.
If you are a freelance grant writer, you may spend time “selling” your services – identifying organizations in need of writing support, and building relationships with them so they come back to you for multiple projects. You’ll work largely independently to prepare and submit grants for your clients.
Want to get a clearer picture of what these roles entail? Check out job postings on:
Grant writing is its own distinct form of writing—different from creative writing, academic work, or journalism. To be successful, you’ll need to learn how to make a clear, compelling case for funding within the structure and constraints of a foundation’s guidelines.
There are a number of free and low-cost resources to help you learn:
Candid offers live and on-demand training on everything from proposal basics to advanced topics like collaboration and funder relationships.
Elevate’s free webinars, led by our team of experts, walk you through key grant writing principles and offer practical tools to strengthen your fundraising.
You might also check out Elevate’s blog post on our favorite grant writing books.
3. Get hands-on experience
Once you’ve learned the basics, put your skills to work.
Volunteering is a great way to get practical experience and build your portfolio. Many nonprofits—especially smaller ones—need support with grant writing and may be open to volunteer help. Try searching platforms like VolunteerMatch for virtual or local opportunities.
If you already work for a nonprofit, but not in a grant writing capacity, express your interest in learning about grants. Ask the development team if you might help with grant preparation, in order to build your skills while writing about a topic and organization you’re already familiar with. Many Elevate staff made their way into grantwriting through other nonprofit roles!
4. Stay connected to the field
The nonprofit landscape is always evolving, and staying plugged in will help you grow.
Subscribe to newsletters or join your local chapter of:
Your state nonprofit association—such as PANO in Pennsylvania or the Center for Nonprofits in New Jersey
These organizations offer professional development, networking, and a sense of community with others in the field.
Takeaways from Elevate’s Conversation Series: “Leadership in Challenging Times”
In a time of shifting funding priorities and operational stress, nonprofit leaders across the country are being asked to do more—with less certainty, fewer resources, and often, a heavier emotional load.
As part of Elevate’s 2025 Conversation Series on navigating funding uncertainty, our third and final session—Leadership in Challenging Times—brought together a powerful panel of nonprofit leaders who are living this reality every day. On March 27, 2025, we were joined by three leaders who shed light on what we can learn from challenges in the past and move forward strategically. Our panelists included Melanie Lockwood Herman, Executive Director of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center; Laura Rodgers, Chief Impact Officer for JFS in Atlantic & Cape May Counties in New Jersey; and Rebecca Parlakian, Senior Director of Programs at Zero to Three.
From managing burnout to staying mission-focused during cutbacks, these leaders shared real-world lessons that go beyond theory and into practice.
Here are three key insights we took away from the discussion:
1. Be Transparent—Even When the Answers Aren’t Clear
One of the biggest themes to emerge throughout our discussion was the importance of clear, consistent communication with staff and stakeholders—even when outcomes are uncertain.
Laura Rodgers described how her team shifted internal communication norms during COVID-19 and has continued that practice through today’s challenges. Weekly email updates became a staple—keeping staff informed, aligned, and valued.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Parlakian noted how frequent communication builds trust with funders and helps to manage expectations during shifting program needs.
“It’s okay to say, ‘I don’t know yet’ — just keep people in the loop.”
In other words, transparency in communication doesn’t require having all the answers. It does require being honest about what’s known, what’s evolving, and what’s still to be figured out.
2. Prioritize Staff Well-Being Like It’s Mission-Critical—Because It Is
In the nonprofit world, burnout isn’t just a buzzword. It’s an organizational risk.
Melanie Herman reminded attendees that people are any organization’s most valuable asset—and also its most vulnerable.
Panelists discussed how they are:
Offering flexible scheduling and time-off policies,
Creating space for rest without guilt, and
Setting clearer boundaries around workload and urgency.
Rodgers even described intentionally slowing the pace of meetings and internal decision-making, signaling to staff that it’s okay not to be in constant “crisis mode.”
“We can’t serve our community if we’re not supporting ourselves first.”
As funding fluctuates and programs change, it’s easy to fall into a scarcity mindset. But all three panelists emphasized reframing as a leadership tool.
Instead of focusing on what’s being lost – whether that’s funding, programs, or metrics – leaders are helping their teams ask:
What have we learned from this transition?
What do we want to carry forward?
How can we build back better—not just bigger?
Parlakian shared how her team used program changes as an opportunity to realign work more closely with community needs. In other words: constraint became a catalyst for innovation.
“This is a moment for mission clarity—not mission creep.”
Final Thought: There’s No Playbook, But There Are Peers
If there’s one thing that came through clearly during this conversation, it’s that no nonprofit leader is alone in feeling the weight of this moment.
Whether you’re making tough calls about the future of your organization or its programs, supporting exhausted staff, or navigating uncertainty with your board, there’s strength in shared experience. There’s wisdom in the field.
And there’s value in creating space—for listening, for adjusting, and for leading with care.
Additional Resources
Explore other resources and insights from the Navigating Uncertainty series:
In the nonprofit sector, uncertainty is nothing new. But the current funding landscape—with declining federal support and growing pressure on private philanthropy—has pushed many organizations to the edge of their comfort zone.
That’s why Elevate’s second session in our 2025 Conversation Series struck a chord. Titled Doing Less with Less, the virtual event on March 6, 2025 brought together leaders from across the country to face today’s biggest challenges head-on. We were joined by Elevate’s Founder and CEO, Alayna Buckner, as well as the Co-Founder and CEO of 20 Degrees, Sara Gibson. Alayna and Sara provided thoughtful and practical advice for nonprofit leaders at this moment of uncertainty.
Here are the five questions nonprofit professionals are asking most—and the practical steps you can take right now.
1. What should I be doing right now?
Let’s face it: being a nonprofit leader today means holding uncertainty in one hand and responsibility in the other.
Here’s what to focus on:
Do an exposure assessment: Evaluate your programs and funding sources. Which initiatives or budget line items are most at risk if grants or federal dollars are cut?
Plan for multiple futures: Think worst-case, best-case, and everything in between. Give each scenario a name (yes, really—it helps make the process easier to manage).
Strengthen your relationships: Talk to your board, funders, elected officials, and peer orgs. Communicate early, clearly, and often.
2. How do I make decisions when the future is uncertain?
No one has a crystal ball. But that doesn’t mean you can’t plan.
Smart moves to make now:
Clarify your criteria: Get grounded in your mission, values, community needs, and financial picture.
Differentiate major vs. routine decisions: Don’t freeze. Some choices—like whether to backfill a role—can buy you time while you wait for more clarity on the larger, strategic decisions you’ll need to make.
Explore your option set: Cutting costs, shifting resources, pausing programs, or pursuing mergers are all on the table.
Bonus tip: Download 20 Degrees’Resilience Roadmap for a hands-on framework to help guide your planning process.
3. What should I do if there’s just not enough funding?
It’s a hard truth: sometimes the numbers just don’t work.
What to do when you’re facing shortfalls:
Get clear on your tipping point: Know the exact conditions that would lead you to pause or end a program.
Create a closure checklist: Have a plan for winding down responsibly, including how you’ll communicate with stakeholders, other organizations where you can refer clients, and the methods in which you’ll document learnings.
Plan for a comeback: If funding comes back down the line, you’ll want to be ready to relaunch.
Remember: your mission is bigger than any single program. That mindset shift can make these decisions a little less painful—and a lot more strategic.
4. How do I make time for planning when I’m already swamped?
You’re juggling more than ever, and now you’re supposed to plan on top of that?
Try this:
Honor your energy: Schedule planning time when you’re most focused—even if it’s just 20 minutes a week.
Share the load: Involve your senior team and your finance folks. This doesn’t have to be a solo project.
Make a “stop doing” list: What can you pause for the next 4–6 weeks to free up space for the work that matters most?
Planning doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to start.
5. How do I get my Board more engaged right now?
When funding shifts, your board’s role becomes even more critical—but also more complex.
Tips for stronger board engagement:
Communicate early and clearly: Avoid surprises. Consider holding a special meeting with a single-issue agenda.
Balance realism with possibility: Share challenges, but also offer a path forward. Help them stay hopeful and informed.
Clarify expectations: Your board probably won’t fill budget gaps—but they can help advocate, fundraise, and spread the word.
And remember: business-minded board members may need extra guidance to understand the social sector’s priorities and constraints.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to have all the answers. But you do need a plan—and the willingness to adapt it.
Whether you’re evaluating programs, weighing funding scenarios, or just trying to protect your team’s energy, one thing is clear: the work you’re doing matters. And you don’t have to do it alone.
When asking donors to give their money, volunteers or staff to give their time, and even constituents to participate in your programs – it is particularly important to know why they should volunteer, give, and engage with your organization as opposed to another similar nonprofit.
Therefore, you must know the other organizations in your space, and clearly understand and communicate how you are performing different activities, or performing similar activities in different ways.
One of your most important roles as a nonprofit leader is to see the broader context and communicate it both internally and externally. Here is an example: Elevate once worked with a charter school who was seeking to raise national funding for its work. When we were brainstorming why the funders should support their work, a school leader explained with enthusiasm about all the learning that was happening in their classroom every single day.
But students learning could not be their differentiating factor, we explained: that is why the local school district funds their work in the first place. That is the bare minimum; it is what they have in common with (most) other schools, not what makes them different or better amid a crowded field.
So how can your organization set itself apart from others doing similar work in your field?
Your Unique Approach
Your unique approach is something you have probably thought about. A lot. But your position is also something that is dynamic, and shifting as the ecosystem around it does and as you learn more about what works and what does not. When building new programs or approaching new stakeholders, it will be critical that your organizational strategy is in step with the broader context of what’s happening around you.
Differentiation must be your strategy!
Not only does this benefit the most people and prevent duplication of efforts, but it improves your sustainability by ensuring donors and grantmakers do not believe there is a good substitute for your work, and stay loyal to you!
How might your organization or program be different? Factors to consider:
Geography
Are you the only service provider in a certain region? Do you have a nation-wide reach compared to organizations with just a local footprint? Elevate works with many different Jewish social service agencies – but the one in Seattle is not competing with the one in Philadelphia or Miami.
Size or Reach
Are you the largest service provider of a particular demographic – like middle school students? Or do you reach all the senior centers in a certain county?
Theory of Change
Does your theory of change (which we will discuss more at length!) distinguish your work? One of Elevate’s former clients developed their own inquiry-based method of teacher professional development. Do you have a similar method for change that you’ve refined over time?
Program Design
Do you use best practices in delivering your programs, or a promising new model that makes your program different in exciting ways? Are there features of your programs that others do not offer?
Impact
Does your program have a track record that is proven and deep? Does the change because of your program highlight a more effective program?
Stakeholder Engagement
Does your organization bring unique stakeholder perspectives to the table or ‘uncommon bedfellows’ to work on a common issue. For example, a former Elevate client was committed to bringing evangelical Christians into the progressive movement by highlighting common areas of interest – like care for creation and peace. Another brings military leaders to advice on progressive foreign policy issues.
Comprehensive or Linked Services
Do you offer a broader array of services than others or a more holistic or comprehensive experience for participants? Are you a one-stop-shop for a variety of needs?
Partnerships
Do you have long-standing or particularly deep partnerships that make your program more effective or legitimate in the community?
Broader Contribution to the Field
Are you helping to organize other actors in your space? Do you provide some other mechanism for thought leadership? Do others look to you to galvanize a collective response? For example, one of Elevate’s clients is the national leader in the creative aging space and presents at conferences on their work.
Funding Mix
Do you have earned revenue or government support, when it is not common in your space? Do you have support from the most prominent foundations or donors, who have invested in your interventions and programs?
Leadership and Authenticity
Is your Board of Directors, leadership, or staff led by former or current program participants? Does it have people who have first-hand experience with your issue? For example, an Elevate client is the only national organization against torture led by torture survivors.
Momentum or Growth
Has your organization been the fastest growing, or entered new schools, regions, or cities in the past year?
Timeliness or Relevance
Are there external factors that make your issue particularly pressing? A change in conversation or a world event that makes your work particularly distinctive? For example, Elevate works with a client who is the leading organization working on climate change from a Catholic perspective, and the Pope’s landmark Encyclical letter, Laudato Si’ in 2014, about the care for our common home helped to differentiate their work from other climate organizations at that time.
Agenda Setting
Are you addressing an issue that others have not tackled before? For example, Elevate worked with a client raising awareness and developing responses to street harassment, which was largely an untapped issue area.
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This Matters the most for Nonprofits
Because there are always limited resources, it is important that you legitimately do not spend your time and money duplicating efforts that are already working elsewhere. This is more important in the social and nonprofit sector than in the business and for-profit space. If individual investors want to try to compete with an existing enterprise, it is the investors who lose if it does not work out.
However, if your nonprofit wants to duplicate efforts that are already being done, the opportunity cost of other interventions that could be benefiting society in some other way are a public loss, not just a private one.
As an added bonus: clear and meaningful differentiation is essential to a strong fundraising program, and will ensure you raise more funding than if you are competing with similar organizations.
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Raquel Braemer
Planning doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to start.
You don’t need to have all the answers. But you 