Grant Writing 101: From LOI to Report
Find the right funders, write a fundable proposal, and report in a way that earns the second grant.
Through the Human Services lens
Local and regional foundations plus county and state government grants are very often the largest funding category outside individual giving for a food bank, shelter, or youth program, which makes concentrating on ten well-researched proposals rather than fifty sprayed ones survival math, not a nice idea, for a shop with no time to waste on a low-odds application. A fifteen-minute call with a program officer before writing can save a stretched shop a week spent on a proposal that was never going to be funded, and it is worth asking for far more often than most small nonprofits do.
Continuing education
1.00 points
Securing the Gift · Current and Prospective Donor Research
Learning objectives
- Read a funder's Form 990-PF and recent grant list to find its median grant, its trustees, and whether it accepts unsolicited proposals, and explain why fit and low risk outrank prose quality on a program officer's docket.
- Write a one-page letter of inquiry that opens with an alignment sentence in the funder's own words, names the request amount and the total cost, and asks for a call rather than a grant.
- Draft a full proposal from the standard skeleton, distinguishing outputs from outcomes, budgeting with real numbers and true costs, and answering the sustainability question honestly.
- Build a one-sheet grant tracker with a stage column that runs from RESEARCH to RENEWAL CONVERSATION, work it in a 30-minute weekly rhythm, and use it to watch pipeline coverage, win rate by approach, and report deadlines eight weeks out.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 21 min
Video lesson
How foundations decide
II See · Current and Prospective Donor Research
- 17 min
Field guide· PDF
The LOI that gets a meeting
III Discern · Securing the Gift
- 22 min
Template· DOCX
Proposal skeleton with prompts
IV Invite · Securing the Gift
- 12 min
Template· XLSX
Grant tracking spreadsheet
VI Accompany · 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
Fundamentals & Ethics
How Fundraising Works
The map you weren't given: where the money comes from, why people give, and what a development program is made of.
Major & Principal Gifts
Your First Donor Conversations
Scripts, practice, and nerve for the conversations that fund your mission: discovery visits, thank-you calls, and your first ask.
Annual Giving & Direct Response
The Annual Fund, Explained
Appeals, segments, and the giving calendar: how recurring annual revenue gets built, one season at a time.