However, over the past year, federal funding for organizations providing direct services to vulnerable groups has shrunk dramatically. This has put extraordinary pressure on foundations and other private funding streams to “make up” the difference – an ask that, as we have discussed elsewhere on this blog – is simply not feasible in light of the scale of government funding.
In a recent article, I provided some overall lessons learned from a year of grantseeking under the second Trump administration. Here, I dive a bit deeper into what we are learning from our partners operating in the social services sector, including key action steps that the most successful organizations are taking to adapt.
What changed in 2025?
Without a doubt, nonprofits supporting the most vulnerable groups saw a dramatic increase in need at the same time that federal funding cuts to essential programs rolled out throughout the year.
Specific observations that our teams supporting Elevate’s partners in the social services made over the course of the last year included:
Housing first is under attack
Under the current administration, federal policy is rapidly shifting away from a housing first model – an evidence-based approach that prioritizes stable or permanent housing for individuals experiencing homelessness without precondition and before addressing any of the underlying issues that led to homelessness in the first place.
Housing first approaches were developed in the early 1990s. Since then, housing first interventions have become the gold standard for nonprofit housing programs nationwide, and they serve as the basis for most state and federal housing funding streams.
Organizations providing housing services face the very real possibility that public funding will continue to dry up for housing first programs.
The need is extraordinary (and growing)
Over the past year, social service providers that offer case management services saw record high numbers of community members reaching out for help navigating public benefit systems, employment barriers, health services, child care, and more.
Furthermore, with increasing unemployment and skyrocketing insurance costs, there is more and more pressure on agencies providing affordable (or free) health services.
Private foundations won’t replace government dollars
Even while public funding dwindles for direct social services, private funders by and large remain uninterested in providing funding for ongoing, direct services like food pantries, case management, and housing supports.
This is noteworthy, as it is not the same behavior that we saw from grantmakers during the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, many private grantmakers offered rapid response funding to address direct service needs. Foundations did not provide the same type of support services in 2025.
The competition is fierce, and grantmakers are taking action
Finally, as I discussed in my last article, we saw a number of grantmakers close application portals before the published submission deadline, while others required additional application steps with little notice to grantseekers.
One potential cause of this unfortunate trend is the significant increase in applications from organizations looking to replace public funding; foundation staff are simply overwhelmed by the volume of applications, and these steps serve to limit the number of proposals to review and respond to.
How are Social Service providers responding?
While these changes resulted in an extraordinary burden on human service providers, Elevate’s clients in this space took action to rise to the challenges presented. Our most successful partners adapted in a few key ways.
Leverage Individual Donor Fundraising Campaigns
Several Elevate clients turned to their base of individual donors, establishing substantial fundraising campaigns designed to meet acute, time-sensitive community needs. For example, when SNAP funding was paused and other public benefit programs shrunk due to increased eligibility requirements, our partners appealed to donors to help meet the needs of their community members.
Align Programs to Policy Priorities
Some organizations identified the opportunity to launch new programs in 2025 that were mission-aligned and addressed specific community needs, but which also remain aligned with public policy trends.
For example, organizations that sought support for addiction programs and mental health services were more successful than those that continued to focus on housing first initiatives. And, even with the recent threats to addiction and mental health services, bipartisan support for nonprofits meeting these community needs has effectively insulated these programs from more dramatic cuts to public funding.
Steward Existing Funder Relationships
Building strong relationships with your funding partners is key to any successful grant program. (If you’ve read an Elevate blog, participated in a webinar, or engaged us for grant writing services, you have likely heard us beat the drum for cultivation and stewardship!)
So it is no surprise that this tactic is key to adapting to the changes in grantmaking that we’ve seen over the past year.
Our most resilient partners in the human services sector have focused on funder stewardship, with a particular eye toward anticipating application cycles and identifying opportunities to submit grant reports and proposals early.
Nonprofits that invested in their relationships with their current funders were able to cut through the noise by maintaining relationships with program officers, differentiating their requests for support from other organizations competing for limited funding, and staying on top of their grant and report deadlines.
Are you looking for more analysis from Elevate on the trends we are seeing in grantseeking across our dozens of nonprofit partners?
Check out our observations on How 2025 Changed Grantseeking overall, and read this article from August 2025 which captures our data analysis on How the Public Funding Landscape is Shifting for Nonprofits.
And, if you’re interested in exploring how Elevate can support your organization to rise to the current challenges across the sector, we invite you to get in touch with our team! We’ll be glad to schedule a meeting to discuss your unique needs.
While the past 18 months have been marked by chaos and uncertainty, one thing is certain: 2025 undeniably changed the nonprofit sector.
Many of us are hoping that we can leave some of these changes in the past. However the reality is that many of the changes we’ve observed will drive planning, decision making, and fundraising results for nonprofits in 2026 and beyond.
At the same time, not all funder landscapes are impacted the same way; what is working (or not) for education groups is not the same for those operating in the human services space, for example.
Over the course of 2025, I hosted weekly sessions with Elevate staff to assess in real-time how grantseeking was changing for our nonprofit partners, and how we could support them in meeting the moment.
In this article, I have summarized the takeaways we captured for 2025 and what these mean for grantseekers in 2026. In subsequent articles on Elevate’s blog, I examine the specifics for those working in the areas of human services, education, the arts, and advocacy.
4 Key Strategies for Navigating the Changing Funding Landscape
Across all issue areas, there are some key strategies that Elevate teams and our nonprofit partners are using to navigate the changes to grantors’ interests, the timing of funding requests, and application requirements:
1. Prioritize Funder Stewardship
Many grantmakers are doubling down on support for their current grantees and are not accepting new applicants. In such cases, leaning into existing relationships with funders is the only path forward.
See the Meyer Foundation, for one example, which states on its website that: “In 2026, nonprofit organizations and communities across our region are navigating significant uncertainty and disruption. In response, the Meyer Foundation will focus its resources on sustaining existing partnerships and will not accept new grant applications this year.”
In other cases, foundations with open application processes were inundated with new requests. This led some to close application portals early, while others pivoted to make larger investments in existing grantees, rather than entertaining an overwhelming pool of new requests.
In this context, the most strategic nonprofit organizations are doing everything they can to stay in close communication with their key funders. If your funding needs have changed – whether due to a decrease in public funding or a new program to support your community – make sure your current grant partners clearly understand this.
Proactive communication also mitigates risk when grantors abruptly change their priorities, application timelines, and requirements; if you’re regularly communicating, you’ll be in the know when these changes come to light, so that you can be prepared to pivot your funding request as appropriate.
Because the landscape is shifting so quickly, private foundations are more cautious about investing in new organizations or issues that they don’t already know a lot about. Securing a grant from a new funder or increased funding from an existing partner is still possible, but it will result from trusting relationships (not cold requests).
2. Make the Most Flexible Ask
Whenever possible, ask funders for general support or funds that can be applied across a wide range of expenses or programs, rather than focusing your request on a specific project or program area.
While we have issued this advice to our partners even in times when the context was less turbulent, it is even more important during times like these when revenue streams and community needs are rapidly changing. This approach helps ensure that, even if your programs or priorities must shift unexpectedly, you can still fulfill your commitments to funders.
3. Forecast Funding Conservatively
While we are proponents of using your renewal grant calendar as a basis for future revenue projections, this is no longer the most prudent practice. Organizations cannot rely on past grant revenue totals to build their budgets.
Forecast future funding by closely reviewing all of your current funders. Examine their giving history and their likelihood to renew funding for your work, based on their public statements and individual conversations you have with program officers about how your work aligns with their own changing giving strategies. This practice will help you to plan appropriately for the uncertainty that lies ahead.
4. Position Your Work in a More Competitive Context
Across the board, there is increased competition for private grant dollars. This is due in large part to extraordinary cuts to public funding, which has pushed nonprofits that were largely publicly funded to pursue other revenue streams. Even those that were not immediately impacted by the loss of public funding are seeing greater competition for private dollars.
Telling a clear, authentic, strategic story that speaks to each prospective funder has become more crucial than ever.
In addition to these global strategies that can be applied across the board, we have learned that different funding landscapes are reacting very differently to public policy and funding changes in 2025 and 2026. Watch this space for specific guidance and key lessons learned by sector that will be outlined in subsequent blog articles.
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.
It is worth noting that there are several active lawsuits challenging the government’s cancellation of environmental and climate justice grants via the Environmental Protection Agency, public safety grants via the Department of Justice, and agricultural and food insecurity grants from the US Department of Agriculture. All three lawsuits argue to some degree that the cancellation of this funding was unlawful because grantees were implementing programs and services aligned to the original intent of the grants and that the Executive Branch cannot cancel existing grant programs due to changing political priorities or agency goals. Notably, federal judges have ruled in several of these cases that the federal government needs to restore funding to all canceled grants while the lawsuits are ongoing, one as recently as August 14th.
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:
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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:
2. Build your technical grant writing skills
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:
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.”
For more on how nonprofits can take action during turbulent times, check out our related blog post: 4 Things Nonprofits Can Do Now, to Better Adapt to Uncertainty
3. Shift the Frame from ‘Loss’ to ‘Learning’
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:
Raquel Braemer
Associate Vice President of Continuous Improvement
Website Bio
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.
These early steps align with the mindset we explored in this previous blog post on adapting to uncertainty, which offers additional ways to stay grounded and proactive before making major decisions.
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.
Additional Resources
12 Urgent Financial Action Steps – Nonprofit Financial Commons
Strategy Triage Tool – Center for Community Investment
Checklist for Winding Down a Program – Nonprofit Risk Management Center
4 Things Nonprofits Can Do Now, to Better Adapt to Uncertainty – Elevate Blog
Resilience Roadmap – 20 Degrees
Explore other resources and insights from the Navigating Uncertainty series:
New year, new grant services–that’s the saying right? Either way, I am very excited for the opportunity to share more information about the launch of Elevate’s newest services: the Grants Accelerator Project Suite. These projects are designed to take the strategic grant work that Elevate is known for and package it into bite size pieces that are perfect for organizations that are just getting their grant programs started. Read on to learn more about Elevate’s new offerings and how you can move forward if they sound right for you.
If you’ve been in Elevate’s orbit for a while, this name may sound familiar–for the last several years we have offered a three- or four-month Grants Accelerator Project that brought together grants strategy guidance, prospecting, and language generation. We’ve worked with dozens of organizations on these projects, helping to stand up new grant programs and set organizations on the path to grant sustainability. However, we recognized that this package wasn’t quite right for organizations that were really trying to figure out how to get started from square one, and that the bundling of multiple types of support could lead us to inadvertently miss the mark on what an organization really needed. So, in 2024 we decided to deconstruct the Grants Accelerator Project into its component parts (and add a few new projects!) to create the Grants Accelerator Project Suite!
Through the new GAP Suite, we’re excited to offer a menu of project-based engagements that are cost efficient, maintain a laser focus on a specific component of an effective grants program, and are modular in order to build on each other in the way that makes the most sense for each organization. Each project within the GAP Suite is a four- or six-week collaboration designed to address a specific strategic fundraising need or question. While we have a standard sequence that many organizations will fit into, we can build out a series of engagements that best fits your needs and resources on a timeline that works for you.
We’ve built these projects for small organizations that are at the beginning of their grant journey as well as for those that are interested in launching a new initiative or program that would require new dedicated grant funding. They are perfect if you are looking for guidance on how to get started with grants or need to figure out how to convert your initial seed funds into a more sustainable pipeline. Because we know that it can be difficult to commit to a long-term engagement, these projects are intentionally short and highly focused. At the end of each project, we’ll discuss what your next steps could look like within the GAP suite or within your organization.
If you’re interested in learning more about these new options, check out the GAP Suite page on Elevate’s website. On that page, you’ll find more information about each of the different projects and instructions on how to get started. You’ll also find information on how to join an upcoming GAP info session where you can ask questions before you get started. We look forward to seeing you there!
It is not uncommon for human services organizations to rely heavily on public funds – grants and contracts from local, state, or federal agencies. In fact, many would argue that this is the way it should be, that it is the responsibility of the government to fund housing efforts, health services, maternal healthcare, early childhood programs, arrest diversion, mental and behavioral health initiatives, and other programs that address the needs of vulnerable members of society.
So what does this mean for fundraising from private foundations in the field of human services?
Diversified revenues are crucial for just about any organization, creating sustainability and resilience when a funding source runs dry. While human services organizations may have a substantial public funding portfolio, and many government grants require a private funding match, this does not mean that other sources of revenue – including earned income and philanthropic funds – should take a back seat in your funding strategy. In fact, I encourage you to think differently about philanthropy and its role in supporting human services providers.
Imagine you’re on the leadership team of a service provider that implements a highly effective program for returning citizens; clients successfully maintain housing and jobs, and avoid further justice-system involvement. A contract with the state Department of Justice makes up the majority of the program budget, with the balance coming from a Master Leasing initiative and one wealthy individual donor who gives annually. For the most part, the program is meeting the needs of the population it currently reaches, but there is zero capacity for expansion, innovation, or outreach.
The Board and leadership team is concerned with the long-term sustainability for the program, and next steps involve developing a strategy to diversify revenues for the organization. A discussion ensues around pursuing foundation grants as a key tactic for diversification. The leadership team considers which aspects of the program may be well-suited to private grant opportunities. Should you seek grant opportunities for direct program expenses like rent and food assistance? Or are foundations more likely to support a new outreach component focused on engaging those who are incarcerated before their release? Perhaps you should seek General Operating Support?
If invited to that debate, I would argue that public funds can and should be used for direct programmatic expenses, 
whereas there may be a unique role for private foundations to provide the funding needed to build capacity, test new ideas, and establish the evidence for what works.
My advice to the leadership and development teams at human services organizations: Do not primarily think of private foundation grants and other philanthropic contributions as a budget gap-filler. Consider where public funds can and should be used, and where private philanthropy can have a unique impact.
For example, social services organizations might focus philanthropic asks on:
- Well thought-out new initiatives for which you need to establish proof of concept before advocating for public investment;
- Support for concrete diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives;
- Organizational capacity building (investments in a strategic plan, executive coach, or development strategist, for example);
- Initiatives that are crucial to your clients’ wellbeing where public funders limit their support (such as access to abortion services, gender-affirming care, or harm-reduction initiatives); and
- General Operating Support!
Above all, the grant request most likely to be funded is the one that is aligned with the foundation’s own priorities, adheres to its proposal guidelines, and for which you have the encouragement of foundation program officers, Board members, or other decision makers to apply.
Is your organization ready to establish (or grow) a private grants program? The team at Elevate can help! Reach out to us at hello@elevatedeffect.com to learn more about our work with nonprofits throughout the U.S. to build smart and strategic grants programs.
A version of this article was originally published in the Summer 2023 edition of The Provider Newspaper, the flagship publication of the Providers’ Council.
June 14, 2022
Our friends at GrantStation surveyed more than 1,750 representatives of the nonprofit community about grant seeking at their organizations and published a comprehensive report of the findings. The data covers a wide range of topics relating to how organizations tackle grants, the time and resources they invest in their grants programs, the impact of these efforts in terms of grants won and dollars raised, and some of the challenges organizations face in their pursuit of grant funding.
At Elevate, we have partnered with hundreds of nonprofits to implement effective grants programs, and much of the findings of the State of Grantseeking Survey resonate with our experience. Here are a few of the key data points that caught our attention in this year’s report.
Most organizations report that the grant cycle for their largest grants was between one and six months from when the proposal was submitted to the day they were notified of their award.
This aligns closely with Elevate clients’ experience. While many foundations make funding decisions at Board meetings held on an annual, semi-annual, or quarterly basis, others have more flexible review processes that allow them to make funding decisions quickly. We find that well-cultivated opportunities with more progressive, less bureaucratic funders tend to have the quickest turn-around times. However, in most cases you can expect a response to your grant request on a slightly longer timeframe – 4 to 6 months after a proposal submission.
It takes a lot of staff capacity to prepare a strong grant! 63% of organizations report that 1-2 staff worked on their largest grant requests, while 25% of organizations have 3-5 staff directly involved in the grantseeking process.
It’s worth noting that having more individuals involved is not necessarily a bad thing – by engaging your finance, programs, executive, and other staff in the preparation of a funding request, you can build an effective culture of philanthropy where everyone sees themselves as playing a role in securing the resources needed to implement your organization’s mission. Further, once the funds are secured, you will already have a team in place that understands the proposed activities and outcomes associated with the grant and that is ready to implement!”
Grant writing takes time! Most organizations report spending between two days and two weeks writing a grant application.
When planning to develop a proposal, you’ll need to allocate time to review the application questions or proposal requirements, collect data, stories, and activities from your team, prepare budgets and other attachments, and write the narrative. And we always recommend allowing time for a thorough review – for strategic alignment, clarity, and basic grammar as well as adherence to proposal requirements. We explore much of this planning process in our FREE How to Write Your First Grant webinar.
Relatedly, one of the biggest hurdles for organizations in the grantseeking process is a lack of time and staff capacity to research, write, and submit grants.
However, making an investment of this time and capacity is crucial for the long-term success and sustainability of your grants program. We find that organizations without dedicated expertise (either having grants experts on staff or the advice of an external consultant) and dedicated time (again – internal or external) are far less likely to secure significant revenue from grants. Aside from the time it takes to prepare grants, other challenges nonprofits face in pursuing grant funding include specific funder requirements, competition among peers, and finding well-aligned opportunities. While many of these barriers can be reduced by committing the appropriate resources to your grants program, the bottom line is that building a winning grants program is tough! It takes capacity, expertise, collaboration, hard work, and time to secure funding from grants. Are you interested in learning more about how the grant writing experts at Elevate can help you develop a sustainable and winning grants program? We’d love to hear from you! Reach out to us today to learn more!
July 27, 2020
In the era of social distancing, nonprofits across the sector are having to act quickly to move in-person events online — and for better or for worse, it’s likely that this will be our new normal for the foreseeable future.
Some of the types of events impacted by this are immediately obvious; things like fundraising events, galas, and in-person programs have demanded quick pivots and adjustments in order to make up for potential losses in earned revenue in response to COVID.
But as we’re seeing, site visits are another example of a once-standard practice that now require some flexibility and creative adjustments. And regardless of how long the effects of this pandemic last, knowing how to plan and execute a successful virtual site visit could still be an asset even when things return to normal.
Before we get too far, let’s establish exactly what we mean when we talk about site visits.
What is a site visit?
According to Exponent Philanthropy, a site visit is defined as a meeting with one or more staff, board members, or clients of a nonprofit organization, with the goal of understanding more about what they do and how well they do it. Site visits are often part of a funder’s vetting or decision-making process for a grant, or they may be used to help monitor a current grantee at the midpoint or end of a grant cycle.
At Elevate, we also leverage site visits in our work with nonprofit clients that are based outside of the DC Metro region. The primary purpose for these visits is to enhance our services to our clients by understanding their programs in more depth, seeing their programs up close, and building rapport and goodwill with our points of contact.
A virtual site visit has very similar goals, and may even look quite similar to an in-person site visit, with one obvious exception: the meeting takes place in a virtual forum.
As you think about how to make this shift for your organization and begin planning for upcoming virtual site visits with your funders, here are some ideas you might consider:
1. Start from scratch
Tempting as it might be, we do not recommend simply converting a previously-planned site visit into a virtual one. Instead, take some time to consider which aspects of your programs are easiest to showcase virtually, and how best to do so. For example: if you typically do a tour of your office or campus, will you try to do something similar via phone? Or does it make more sense to offer a tour via PowerPoint presentation?
2. Prepare an agenda
We strongly suggest you spend time putting together an appropriate agenda for the site visit ahead of time. We often think it’s best to ask funders if they have a standard agenda they’d like to use, or any questions they’d like to go over first; if they say no, that’s a great opportunity to share an agenda of your own.
When you do share your agenda, that’s a great time to ask your funder if there’s anything missing, or anything else they’d like to go over. This helps them to prepare a little on their end, and gives them an opportunity to offer more meaningful feedback about how they’d like to spend their time.
3. Bring in your participants’ voices
We always like for funders to hear directly from our clients’ program participants, volunteers, and/or recipients whenever possible. Depending on the options available to you, it may be fine to use a video or video excerpt if you have that prepared. However, if you’re able, you may want to invite a few volunteers or participants who are also working from home to join you. Not everyone needs to attend the full duration, but including others can lend more structure to the site visit and help make the tone less meeting-like.
If you do decide to include others, be sure to offer them a good range of topics or talking points ahead of time, to help clarify expectations. We recommend scheduling a meeting or prep call with everyone who will be in attendance, to walk through all the details together ahead of time.
4. Consider inviting a Board member
Having a Board member join your site visit is an excellent way to demonstrate that the Board is engaged, and that they find it important enough to carve out time from their day to meet with a funder. When selecting a board member to invite, choose someone you can trust to stick to the agenda and talking points, and who is in-the-loop enough to answer questions that might be asked of them.
If inviting a Board member isn’t an option — or even if it is! — you can also have a staff member join you. If you end up having both a Board member and a member of your staff, it’s a good idea to prep them in advance, so everyone is clear about who should field which types of questions. Typically, staff will take on the more detailed questions, while a Board member’s role is more about lending support and credibility.
5. Find ways to break up the monotony
Without having something to do or to look at, virtual site visits run the risk of feeling like a long drawn-out meeting. To help break up the monotony, think about introducing elements like a slideshow of photos to introduce your programs, or give a virtual tour of your space.
At a typical in-person site visit, we sometimes worry about focusing too much on having a PowerPoint prepared since we think it’s more important for people to have a conversation. While this is still true in principle, we also think having some prepared content to walk through can offer a welcome sense of structure and dynamism in a virtual setting. For example, you might break up a 60-90 minute site visit into a few phases, like:
- Introductions
- A virtual tour via PowerPoint/screen share
- A volunteer or participant joins and speaks about their experience for 10-15 minutes
- Q&A with the funder
6. Prepare thoughtful questions
This applies to a ‘normal’ site visit too, but the point stands: make sure you take time to prepare insightful questions to ask your funders as well. During the COVID-19 pandemic in particular, we’d recommend asking them about their future funding strategies and what is top-of-mind for them, if you haven’t already had that conversation.
7. Have a solid game plan for (and TEST) your technology
Hosting a site visit in a virtual environment is likely a new experience for you, so you’ll want to make sure you have a clear and thorough plan for how things are going to run from start to finish. Start by thinking through any apps and/or equipment you’ll need, and who on your team will be responsible for what components of the day. From there, we recommend doing at least one internal test run to make sure things run smooth, and nothing was overlooked.
We all know technology can be fickle, so having a contingency plan is key. What will you do if a team member loses their internet connection, or if that video doesn’t load properly? Once you’ve decided on what your backup plans look like for various scenarios, discuss them with your team and make sure you’re all on the same page. You’ll also want to make sure you have email addresses from all parties involved, in case you need to quickly share any documents or materials that fail to load properly. Finally, we recommend sharing a phone number with everyone who will be attending, that they can call in case of any unanticipated interruptions or hiccups.
