The King Foundation

Grantwriting Help

There is an old saying about grantseeking that “If you’ve seen one foundation, you’ve seen one foundation.” That’s partially true: Each foundation’s grantmaking priorities, review processes, and overall “personality” will differ from another’s. Although each is unique, all share common traits.

In this section, we’ll try to give you insight into the grantmaking process at the King Foundation. These comments won’t necessarily apply to all other foundations you may encounter, but we hope the information on our site will help you understand the basics of foundation grantseeking and proposal writing.

Let's start with some basic truths:

• Grants are very competitive.

  The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that there are more than 100,000 private grantmaking foundations in the U. S. These foundations contributed an estimated $36.5 billion to charity in 2006, representing only 12.4% of all charitable gifts. The vast majority of these foundations have very small staffs or no staff at all, and many have very small endowments. Others give only to preselected organizations or focus their grantmaking on a few areas. All of these factors combine to make grantseeking among broad-purpose foundations like the King Foundation highly competitive.
  
  It is not unusual for the initial ratio of grant dollars requested to grant dollars available to be 5:1 or more at the King Foundation. (It’s even higher at some other foundations.) In that environment, it is critical for each nonprofit to put its best foot forward from the very beginning. If a nonprofit fails to comply with guidelines, or presents a sloppy or incomplete proposal, it creates a bad impression that can permeate the entire review process.
  

• The grants review process is both objective and subjective.

  There is a natural temptation to think that if a nonprofit can demonstrate facts A, B, and C, funding is nearly assured, but there is no sure-fire formula.
  The due diligence process is a combination of both head and heart. Good grantmaking includes both factual analysis and some unquantifiable factors, such as the reviewer’s personal assessment and observations of agency conditions, or the staff quality and integrity. Also, some grant cycles have more competitive requests than others.
  

• Grantmakers are human, too.

  Personal relationships and past experience between a nonprofit and the grant reviewer can affect the process, both positively and negatively. For example, if an agency was less than forthright about important matters in the past, or previously showed poor stewardship, the grant reviewer naturally enters the process with a cautious eye.
  
  In those foundations with paid staff, employees tend to work hard and are generally pressed for time, like other nonprofit workers. In addition to these common work stresses, there is an inherent power dynamic, and resultant tension, between grantmakers and grantseekers, which exists whether an individual grantmaker promotes it or not. (Admittedly, some do.) Don’t make the review process adversarial by having an uncooperative, defensive, or resentful attitude. Try to treat the grantmaker as an advocate for your organization, rather than a critic.
  

• Homework is important.

  Read guidelines carefully before you apply, and contact the Foundation to clarify any uncertainties. Don’t rely exclusively on resources like the Foundation Directory, even if using the Internet versions. As good as these clearinghouses are, the most current and detailed information will normally be available from the Foundation itself, confirmed through a telephone conversation.
  
  Give yourself enough time before the deadline to ensure that you understand the complete process, not just the deadline date. Our grants process takes six months from submission of a letter of inquiry to the earliest possible funding. So don’t submit a letter in June for a project that will need money in October, because a grant could not be made until December.

Take our Grant Eligibility Quiz and see if your organization qualifies for one of our grants.