Hosted by TechSoup Connect Texas on January 3, 2021 https://events.techsoup.org/events/details/techsoup-techsoup-connect-texas-chapter-presents-go-from-zero-to-hero-with-grants/ During this program with Will Yang of Instrumentl, we will discuss what about grants make them such a powerful source of funding, as well as what we can all do with our nonprofits to ready ourselves for grant success in 2022. By the end of this program, you'll be able to understand: ​Why grants are so powerful, especially in 2022? What is prospect research and why is it important? 5 clear steps you can take to prepare your nonprofit for grant success. Will works with Instrumentl. Backed by years of personal and professional experience in the nonprofit and academic arenas, the founding team came together to create the most comprehensive source of grant and funder data in the world, and designed it around the needs of our community. Founded in 2014, Instrumentl was built to help fundraisers make the best use of their valuable time and energy. We make the grant process faster, easier, and more efficient, so you can do what you do best: make a positive impact. About Will Will Yang leads growth at Instrumentl, the online institutional fundraising platform for bringing grant prospecting, tracking, and management to one place. Instrumentl helps over 1,400+ nonprofits save time in finding and applying for more grants, with customers increasing their grant application output by 78% after a year of using the software while saving three hours per team member every week. Will oversees community partnerships and can often be found hosting Instrumentl's bi-weekly partner workshops which feature top thought-leaders in the grant writing space. Hundreds of grant professionals tune in to these events to learn openly and collaborate with one another. These workshops featuring many of the few Grant Professional Association Approved Trainers and Amazon Best Selling educators allow Will to have a deep understanding of some of the many challenges nonprofits seeking grants face.

1. ⏳ Welcome! While you wait...
Jot down TSTEXAS50 to save $50 off your first month 🙂
This workshop is best for nonprofits with at least 90K in
operating revenue and 501c3 status.
Lastly, this presentation is being recorded 🎥
You’ll be 💌 emailed slides and the recording afterwards.

2. How to Go from Zero to Hero with
Your Grant Strategy

3. 👋 Share in the Zoom chat!
- Name
- Organization
- Title (what you do for your nonprofit)
- Your nonprofit’s mission or latest initiative
- Your biggest challenge related to grants

4. 👋 I’m Will from Instrumentl!
- Host bi-weekly grant workshops
with expert educators and
best-selling authors
- Instrumentl helps 1500+ nonprofits
in finding, tracking and managing
their grants
- Every day, we hear and see what
blocks nonprofits from achieving
their grantseeking goals

5. ❓POLL: What do you find most
challenging around grants?
1. Finding good fit funders
2. Finding the time to write them
3. Winning them
4. Staying organized with deadlines

6. You feel ill-prepared...
in your organization’s ability to
consistently find good fit
funders and apply for grants.
🤔 Does this resonate with you?

7. You feel overwhelmed…
by the number of things you
have to do when it comes to
grantseeking.
🤔 Does this resonate with you?

8. You feel Writer’s Block...
because you carve out time
wanting to write a grant but end
up staring at a blank screen.
🤔 Does this resonate with you?

9. You think to yourself…

10. “Are grants worth all the effort?”

11. ● 87,000+ grantmaking foundations
● 11,000+ active grants on Instrumentl alone
○ We add ~100 every week!
🎉 The answer is YES!

12. ● 49% of nonprofit employees expect cost cuts this year
● 54% of nonprofit leaders have implemented changes
to organizational goals and activities
● Estimates of 11-38% of nonprofits may close from
COVID-19 impact
☝ This doesn’t have to be you.
Sources: Eagle Hill Consulting, 2021 Nonprofit outlook / Candid

13. Agenda

14. ● Why grants are so powerful
● What is prospect research
● 16 Qs to Help You Evaluate Funders
● How to prepare your organization for grant success
● How to start finding good fit funders with Instrumentl
○ Stick around for two free bonuses for everyone live today :)
🛣 Where we’re going today

15. 💪 Why grants are powerful

16. ● Broad funding possibilities
○ Education / Outreach
○ Project / Program
○ General Operating Expense
○ Capital Project
○ Training / Capacity Building
💪 Why grants are powerful

17. ● Foundations must give every year!
● The Minimum Distribution Rule means foundations
give 5% of the average market value of its net
investment assets
● Bulk of these distributions go to grants
💪 Why grants are powerful
Learn more in our workshop with Margit Brazda Poirier on How to Thrive in a Pandemic Economy

18. 💪 Why grants are powerful
$2,910,364,182 x 0.05 =
$145,518,209
$146 Million!

19. ● Many foundations are consistent in giving
○ Keep sustaining impact, and they keep funding
● Grants can be systemized
○ Clear steps to take to get to submitting a grant
● Grants help organizational accountability
○ This means more feedback loops for you
💪 Why grants are powerful

20. ❓ What is prospect research?

21. ● The process of finding,
assessing and qualifying
public, private, and corporate
foundations to pursue more
strategic and planned giving.
○ “Find Your Funding”
❓ What is prospect research?
Image Source: Carthage College

22. ● “Virtually every nonprofit has high-capacity donors hiding
in plain sight. A whopping 40% of donors in a recent
study admitted they could give more than they
currently are. Our job as fundraisers is to identify those
prospects so we can start moving them up to greater
levels of giving.”
❓ Why is it important?
Source: Iris Sutcliffe’s ABCs of Prospecting, Network for Good

23. ● Key stats on assets and giving patterns
● Names of key individuals
● Giving trends and cycles over the years
● Lists of past grantees and funded projects
● Geographic areas of focus
● Overall grant eligibility requirements
❓ What info is available on funders?

24. Create your 14-day free trial: instrumentl.com

25. Create your 14-day free trial: instrumentl.com

26. 🔑 16 Qs to Help You Evaluate Funders

27. 1. What’s the grantmaker’s mission?
a. Does it align to your initiatives?
2. What are the specific goals of the grant
RFP?
3. Do you meet their eligibility requirements?
4. What’s the size of grants being made?
a. Does it align with your budget needs?
5. What type of grant is this opportunity for?
5 Grant RFP Overview Qs to Ask

28. 1. What’s the median grant size from this funder?
2. How did the median grant amount change over the last
three years?
2 Giving Median Qs to Ask

29. 6 Funder Giving History Qs to Ask
1. Can you identify at least three previously funded organizations similar to yours?
2. Is your organization’s geographic location represented historically?
3. What percentage of those funded are new grantees?
4. Has the funder been giving to more new grantees over time, or more to repeat
grantees?
5. Does the median grant amount for new grantees align well with your project
budget?
6. Does your organization’s impact areas align with the funder 3-year historical
giving (by NTEE codes)?

30. 1. Does your nonprofit have enough bandwidth to take on
this application?
2. Can you meet the reporting requirements outlined by the
funder?
3. Does this RFP have parts where your nonprofit can
repurpose past grant proposals?
3 Internal Consideration Qs to Ask
Stick until the end for a freebie workbook with these 16 questions and more...

31. 📋 How to prepare for grants

32. “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of
your systems.
Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of
daily habits that will get you there.
This year, spend less time focusing on outcomes and more time
focusing on the habits that precede the results.”
- James Clear, Atomic Habits

33. 1. Make sure you’re discoverable!
○ Is it clear within a minute of visiting your website
what your mission is and how you measure your
impact?
○ Is it easy to find detailed case studies along with
contact information?
📋 How to prepare for grants

34. 2. Ask for your board / community’s help
○ Referrals are often the lowest hanging fruit for
finding prospects at a local level
■ Local > Regional > National
○ Consider fielding requests for introductions from
your board, staff, volunteers and community
📋 How to prepare for grants

35. 3. Strategically outline your funding strategy
○ What are your biggest resource needs?
○ What are your goals and priorities?
○ How will we track how things are going?
○ What outcomes will you be able to report?
○ When will we be able to report outcomes?
📋 How to prepare for grants

36. 📋 How to prepare for grants
Fundraising
Source
2021 Funds
Raised
2022 Baseline
Goal
2022 Stretch Goal Eligible Projects
Foundation Grants
Federal Grants
Corporate Grants
Major Donors
In-Person Events
Online Fundraising

37. 4. Pro tip: Think of your programs in projects
○ Projects are temporary initiatives with a clear
beginning and end that lead to a specific outcome
○ Programs are ongoing efforts and typically include
projects
■ These often fulfill the nonprofit’s mission
📋 How to prepare for grants

38. Example: After School Tutoring
○ Problem: Getting sufficient funding for general operating
expenses
○ Solution: Position from the perspective of a project with
clear goals
■ Double capacity of weekly online tutoring programs
■ Reading drive to gift a book to every kid 2x/year
📋 How to prepare for grants

39. 5. Create a weighted decision matrix
○ Alignment with opportunity’s areas of interest
○ # of past grantees
○ Award amounts
○ Estimated time to complete grant proposal
○ Competition (relative to other opportunities)
○ Existing relationships
📋 How to prepare for grants

40. 🔎 How to find good fit funders

41. ● The easiest way is with Instrumentl
● Alternatives:
○ Google
○ ProPublica
○ List Servs
○ Charity Navigator
○ GuideStar / Foundation Directory Online
🔎 How to find good fit funders

42. 1. Built specifically to bring grant prospecting, tracking, and management to one
place - the institutional fundraising platform
2. Includes active public and private funding sources for 501c3s
3. 990 reports and foundation reports at your fingertips
4. Unique matching algorithm to show you good fit opportunities for your projects
5. Deadlines updated automatically
6. Tasks, notes and documents stored year-by-year
7. Saves 3 hours/week and increases grant application output 78% after a year
🔎 7 reasons why Instrumentl is the easiest to use:

43. Demo’ing
Create your 14-day free trial: instrumentl.com

44. Demo’ing
Create your 14-day free trial: instrumentl.com

45. ● Grant writers / consultants
● Grant writing teams (associates, managers, directors)
● Development teams
● Development and Fundraising Directors
● Executive Directors
● Any nonprofit looking to scale their grant strategy and efforts
Who does help?
Create your 14-day free trial: instrumentl.com

46. ● Use your decision matrix to evaluate fit
● Consider competitiveness
● Connect with past applicants
● Contact the funder with questions
● We’ll share entire trainings with our partners on this in the
follow up after this workshop!
🔎 How to find good fit funders

47. 💻 Let’s set everyone up with good
fit funders in 3 simple steps

48. 💻 Everyone visit the special link
in the Zoom chat!
We’ll wait a few minutes for
everyone and then go over setting
up your grant matches.

49. Fill this out
once you’re at
the special
link.
Click the
“NEXT”
button when
ready and
then wait for
instructions!

50. 💻 If you’d like a strategy
consultation with a member of the
Instrumentl team, use this link to
book a time!

51. 3 Learning Takeaways
1. Grants are a great way to diversify your funding
2. Follow the 5 steps we reviewed to prepare for grants
3. Use Instrumentl to turbocharge your grants and join us for
more free grant trainings!

52. Following Up With Will
● Email: will@instrumentl.com
● Website: www.instrumentl.com
● Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willcyang/
● Save $50 off your first month with the code:
○ TSTEXAS50

53. To be eligible:
● Go here and complete the actions
○ By end of day Wednesday, 1/5!
● Look in the Zoom chat for a direct link!
● Enter by:
○ Completing the webinar feedback form
○ Sharing on LinkedIn or Twitter what you
learned and tagging @Instrumentl
We are giving everyone live a freebie!

54. 10 Best Lessons from 10 Grant Writing
Experts
● 28 pages featuring best-selling authors
such as Dr. Bev Browning & Meredith
Noble
● Summarizes 10+ hours of grant writing
workshops
To be eligible:
● Save 3 grants to your tracker you think
are good fit funders
● Take a screenshot of your Tracker
● Email will@instrumentl.com
One last thing: everyone can get another freebie!