|
Getting rejected is an inevitable part of the grant writing experience. No grant writer gets 100% of their proposals funded; in fact, if you can get a third of your proposals funded you are doing fairly well. Part of becoming a successful grant writer is knowing what to do when a proposal gets rejected.
I recommend different routes depending on whether your contact was with a private foundation or trust, or if you applied for a state or federal government grant. If you applied to a foundation or trust, make sure to read my blog post on creating a letter of inquiry and that you followed all these steps in your request.
If you applied to a foundation:
- Get any feedback you can that explains why your proposal was not funded. Call to ask for this information if you have to, but don't bug them too much. Some foundations just don't offer feedback. If you are able to get feedback, use the information to improve your proposal or letter of inquiry.
- Have another grant writer (or objective third party that is familiar with grant writing) review your proposal or letter of inquiry. They may have suggestions on how to better align your focus with that of the funding agency.
- Send your letter of inquiry to 10 more foundations, or as many as you can find that your proposal might be a fit for. A letter of inquiry is not the same as a grant proposal and it's okay to send letters to many foundations, as you want to try to attract interest. Just make sure that you are sending the letter to foundations that might be interested in funding. Make any individualized changes to your letter when applicable.
- Don't resend an application or letter of inquiry to the same foundation a second time. With foundations, a rejection usually means they will not consider your proposal again in the future. (This is not the case with government grants).
One note about foundations and trusts is that they often fund those organizations with which they have a personal connection. If you do not know someone within the foundation, it can be very difficult to get funding. That is why I recommend sending your letter of inquiry to many foundations or trusts, not just one.
If you applied for a state or federal government grant:
- Get a copy of the readers’ comments and review them carefully. Most government grant competitions will send you these comments or provide them on request. This will usually tell you exactly how many points you scored in each section and why. Reading this will help you find out if your proposal was consistently scored low in certain sections or if one "rogue reader" (as we call them at ERC) did you in.
- In the case of government grants, apply again on the next round. Most government grants are offered on annual or semi-annual cycles. Unlike foundation grants, the government might fund you on the second or even third try. At ERC, we commonly resubmit unfunded grants (after improving them based on readers’ comments), and get them funded on the second try.
- Be careful to reformat your grant to the new RFP if you submit it a second time. Often the government will change an RFP just to catch people who are being lazy and trying to submit the exact same proposal a second time without making any changes. They may reorder the questions or do something to make you do some re-writing or re-formatting.
Overall, the best advice I can give on working from this rejection is two-fold. One, study your desired funding source and make sure that your organization, project and needs fits with the motives of the foundation, trust or grant. And, two, make sure that your letter or proposal is written to the requirements of the funding agency or RFP. This includes using the grant writing tips you can find for free here at Smart Grant Writing. Do not get discouraged if your proposal or inquiry does not result in immediate funding. Use the strategies above and you’ll likely see improved odds of getting funded.
Do you have more questions? Ask them in the comments below.
|
