Grants at Scale: Pipeline & Relationships
Treat institutional funders like the major donors they are: research, cultivation, and a pipeline that smooths the revenue curve.
Through the Environment lens
A program officer funding advocacy or policy work is often managing risk around lobbying rules alongside the usual portfolio concerns, which means avoiding surprises matters even more, since a funder blindsided by an organization's public position can face compliance exposure of their own. Campaign-moment fundraising can tempt a grants function toward chasing whichever funder is currently focused on the same crisis, the spraying failure mode a disciplined mix is meant to prevent, and a funder willing to commit across several years is underwriting the patience conservation and policy work actually requires.
Continuing education
1.00 points
Securing the Gift · Current and Prospective Donor Research
Learning objectives
- Size a grants pipeline backward from a revenue goal using coverage of 2.5x to 3x, a mix of renewal, warm-new, and stretch funders, and a concentration flag on any funder above 20 to 25% of grant revenue.
- Run an annual rhythm of four to six purposeful touches per funder, including one proactive update between reports and one field-intelligence question, and log each in the tracker's relationship column.
- Build the portfolio tracker with fit score, probability, weighted value, board calendar, and multi-year columns, and walk its five-number dashboard in a 60-minute quarterly review.
- Write a grant report that opens with a one-paragraph verdict, tables promised against delivered, reports one miss honestly, and closes with a renewal bridge naming the month you will call.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 20 min
Video lesson
Building a 12-month grants pipeline
II See · Current and Prospective Donor Research
- 17 min
Field guide· PDF
Program officer relationships
VI Accompany · Relationship Building
- 15 min
Template· XLSX
Grants pipeline tracker
III Discern · Current and Prospective Donor Research
- 18 min
Template· DOCX
The renewal-maximizing report
V Receive · Securing the Gift
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
More in this stage
Major & Principal Gifts
Building a Major Gifts Portfolio
Move from reactive asks to a managed portfolio: qualification, moves management, and a caseload you can defend.
Donor Communications & Stewardship
The Case for Support That Writes Itself
One master case document that powers every appeal, proposal, and conversation, built from your mission's real evidence.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
Annual Giving Systems: Calendar & Segmentation
Graduate from one-off appeals to a segmented, scheduled program with lapsed-donor recovery built in.