EXCERPT
BIGGEST MISTAKE #7: ORGANIZATIONS TRY TO “HAVE IT THEIR WAY”
If Burger King is not your targeted Funder, then stop trying to “have it your way”. Funders are particular not only about what they want from you, but also the way in which they want you to give it. Often times, government Funders will provide strict guidelines on how your grant proposal and application should be submitted (e.g. font size, number of copies, page limitations, line-spacing, etc). Follow their instructions exactly. Nothing will tick off grant proposal evaluators more than attempting to read a 40 page, single-line spaced, unnumbered grant proposal in 10 point font that was supposed to be no more than 20 pages, one-and-a-half-line spaced, numbered grant proposal in 12 point Times New Roman font. In fact, they will not. Your proposal is likely to be disqualified during the screening process.
You must remember that these grant proposal evaluators are individuals with lives and emotions. Some of the proposal evaluators may even be volunteers. They rarely have time or patience to accommodate your blatant failures. Depending on the size of the grant proposal review panel, evaluators may have to read a significant number of proposals. Sometimes, as an evaluator you take the proposals home at night and over the weekend to read and evaluate the documents. If you break all of the rules and instructions the Funder provided, your proposal is likely not to be read and evaluated and/or scored more severely for your failure to comply. The competition is stiff. Funders need some way of weeding out candidates.
If you cannot follow the Funder’s directions now, then what will make them think you will follow their directions later when you have to produce reports and other documentation? Order the kind of whopper you want on your own time and dollar. For now, do it and have it the Funder’s way.
COMMANDMENT #7: THOU SHALT HONOR THY FUNDER THAT YOUR DAYS AS A GRANTEE MAY BE LONGER
Surely the one who has given you their resources and money is worthy of your honor and respect. When you accept the Funder’s resources, you have entered into a sacred relationship with them. Do not dishonor them by coming late to their meetings, turning in late or paltry reports of your program activities, refusing to return their calls, and/or failing to meet their deadlines.
One of the fastest ways to end a relationship with your Funder is by acting like you do not owe them anything. Let’s face it, if you could have gotten the funding and resources from a different or better source, then you would have already done so. So, if you cannot be with the one you love, then love the one you are with.
To honor your Funder, consider doing the following: 1) keep them abreast of what is going on with your programs; 2) invite them to some of your key events; 3) give them some free press by having their name or logo on your organization’s T-shirts, newsletters, and other promotional items; and/or 4) call your Program Officer on the telephone and check in with them to make sure that they are pleased with how their money is being spent. A Honored Funder makes a more giving Funder.
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