Decision Matrix for Evaluating Leads

After you have performed your research on each grantmaker and before you craft your plan, you will need to decide which opportunities are worth pursuing. The Decision Matrix is a tool to help you prioritize your leads so that you are focusing on those with the highest possibility of success and the least amount of effort. The key is to figure out the potential return on investment.

The questions in the Decision Matrix tool will help evaluate all the factors involved in writing and managing the grant. It will help you with:

• Objectivity: It might be tempting to just apply for the largest grant, or to the grantmaker that you know well. The Decision Matrix will provide a more objective ranking of the leads as you share your prioritized plan with your team.  
   
• Clarity: This exercise might result in doing additional research to clarify the information on your saved funders. You may even decide to search for different funders after reviewing the Decision Matrix questions.  
   
• Consensus: Reviewing the questions on the Decision Matrix with your management and board...