How to Look for Grants as a Small Nonprofit

Large nonprofits may find grant seeking as climbing a hill; if you belong to a small one, you might find the task more comparable to scaling Mount Everest. And for understandable reasons.

First off, the process needed to secure grants from certain foundations may be grueling, requiring rigorous efforts when submitting and verifying the quality of an application. Then there’s the competition—small nonprofits are often in contention with other NPOs, small, medium, and large ones, seeking a limited funding pool to which only one or a few will be awarded. And even in a relatively less competitive space, foundations may still prefer to provide grants to larger organizations.

However, smaller nonprofits can turn what feels like a mountain climbing expedition into a more manageable journey that doesn’t require superhuman efforts to secure a grant. With the right approach, your nonprofit can obtain a grant that helps fund your mission and initiatives, giving you the means to make an impact in your communities.

This post will explain how you can stand out, where you can look for grants, and tips to make your search fruitful.

Understand What Makes a Grant a Good Fit

Errors and missed deadlines often lead to nonprofits getting their grant applications rejected, but a poor fit is perhaps the main reason why they fail to secure funding in the first place. That reality highlights a crucial obligation that your nonprofit has: make sure your organization is a suitable match for the grant you seek. 

Before even reaching out to a foundation, you need to review your mission and goals. Remind yourself and your team why your nonprofit exists, the social causes or ills it wants to address, and why. Answer questions such as:

• What is our primary mission?
• What programs or initiatives require funding?
• How much funding do we need, and for what objective?
• What outcomes do we want to accomplish with this funding?

Once you have clearly re-established your purpose, then you can turn your attention back towards seeking a grant. 

Ensure There’s an Alignment Between Your Initiatives and the Funder’s Priorities

When looking for a grant, remember that not all opportunities will suit your organization, even if the funds are significant. What you want is to find a provider whose priorities align with your mission. 

For example, if you’re a smaller NPO with a focus on promoting the arts among youth, you would want to seek a foundation that has worked in the art space, perhaps, with NPOs of your size. It wouldn’t benefit you to seek funding from a foundation that works with large environmental or animal ethics groups. This is just one consideration, but an example of how a “good fit” is essential. Furthermore, you can make some additional assessments by:

• Reading a funder’s mission statement and their guidelines to seek funding.
• Look through their list of past grantees and projects they have funded.
• Observe their language, and watch for phrasing that mirrors the values your organization prioritizes.

Watch for Eligibility Criteria, Geographic Areas, and Funding History

All grants come with their own prerequisites for an NPO to qualify for the opportunity—familiarize yourself with them. Some foundations are relatively lenient, as long as your organization meets some basic requirements. However, you will find many that target specific organizations, such as those limited to specific geographic areas, certain focuses, and ones with specific designation. But also look at their:

• Funding history to see whether they’ve worked with NPOs like yours before.
• Their priorities and whether your initiatives fall within those parameters or not.

By reviewing these requirements and considerations, you’ll see rather quickly if you’re a good match for particular foundation grants or not. It goes without saying that if you meet the requirements, you should continue forward with an application. If you don’t, look elsewhere.

Where to Search for Grants

Sometimes the difference between securing grant funding and remaining empty-handed comes down to where you look. Many nonprofits limit their search to a narrow selection of grantmakers, many of which may not suit their organization’s value or mission. If that describes your nonprofit, then it’s important to expand your search, but above all, look in the right areas and segments to find a suitable match.

Grant Funding Databases and Platforms

Start by searching through grant databases. These sites function as a search engine, allowing you to look up and discover private, government, and international grants. Such a database may provide tens of thousands (if not more) founders who are offering grants to nonprofits of various sizes and focuses.

You can also apply filters that pull results tailored to your specific needs, such as their status (i.e. actively providing grants), priorities, and preferred NPO size. Databases eliminate the “needle in the haystack” scenario of using traditional search engines like Google which may provide too many irrelevant options. 

At GrantStation, we offer such a database. You can find thousands of foundations offering grant opportunities to nonprofit organizations, many of which cater even to the smallest NPOs. A dedicated team of researchers curates these opportunities, ensuring they’re suitable for a wide range of nonprofits, and generally active in offering grants.

Local Community and Regional Funders

National grants tend to attract more attention, but local and regional funders are often better fits for small nonprofits. Local and regional foundations are usually more accessible, and much more likely to give small NPOs opportunities.

These grantmakers tend to fall in one of three categories. First, there are local community foundations, which are local outfits, handle donor funds and distribute grants to nearby nonprofit organizations. Second, there are also local businesses and corporate-giving programs, which provide small grants or sponsorships to support nonprofit organizations fulfilling community initiatives. Third, you can access city and state government agencies that provide grant programs, a common source of funding for arts, youth, healthcare, and community-development programs.

Cause-Specific Networks

Many organizations find grant opportunities within networks focused on particular causes. For example, there are faith-based networks that offer grant programs to NPOs that deliver religious-driven initiatives. You also have environmental grant networks that share funding opportunities for nonprofit organizations focused on animal conservation and climate work. Yet still, there are sports and recreation networks that offer grants to nonprofits dedicated to sporting and healthy living causes. 

You can leverage social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn to find a network that serves your cause. Browsing through these networks can yield a grant opportunity you would miss otherwise.

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs)

One of the funding sources NPOs overlook are donor-advised funds (DAFs). Managed by individuals, families, or organizations, these charitable giving accounts distribute billions in grants annually, even though they don’t have open application processes.

That said, you can access DAF funding in a few ways. For starters, you can build  relationships with local foundations and financial advisors who work with nonprofits. You can also attend community events to network with potential donors. Lastly, you can reach out to your board members to see if they have connections to DAF account holders—you may be surprised to find out they do. 

Newsletters and Listservs

Opening your inbox could lead to the grant opportunity of a lifetime. Yes, funders often share grant openings via newsletters, funding sources you may not find in traditional online searches. That’s why it’s a good idea to subscribe to local nonprofit associations’ and funders’ newsletters where possible.

Tips for Small Nonprofits to Stand Out

Depending on your focus, it’s possible that you’re going head-to-head with other nonprofit organizations when seeking financial support from a funder. In the eyes of a foundation, your organization might look very similar to the dozens or hundreds of other eligible nonprofits vying for their attention. Standing out is essential in these scenarios, because you cut through the clutter options funders have to sift through. 

Here’s how to do it. 

Build Relationships With Funders Early

• Attend community events, webinars, or workshops hosted by funders.
• Send a brief email introduction highlighting your nonprofit’s mission and impact.
• Share updates for new initiatives or success stories with funders, even if you’re not actively applying for a nonprofit grant.

Emphasize Community Impact and Grassroots Connections

• Provide local data to demonstrate why the community needs your work.
• Share testimonials from your program participants, volunteers, or community leaders showing the impact of your initiatives.
• Showcase your organization’s ability to reach underserved populations.

Leverage Partnerships or Coalitions

• Form or join a coalition around shared causes and concerns.
• Partner with larger organizations either as a sub-grantee or collaborator.
• Request letters of support from community leaders or partnering organizations.

Use Storytelling and Testimonials

• Highlight one person or family whose life benefitted (or changed) because of your work.
• Incorporate vivid details and personal quotes (from the person or family members).
• Add photos or short videos to your stories if present or possible

Start With Smaller, Local Grants

• Seek micro-grants ($500-$5000) from local small business or foundation.
• Document your results and share them with potential funders.
• Mention early successes to serve as evidence of your capacity to handle bigger grants.
• Incorporating these actions to the best of your ability will help your organization poke through the field of competitors looking for nonprofit funding.

Organize Your Grant Search

Identifying grant opportunities is just a starting point—the real work begins afterwards. It’s crucial to remember that grants have deadlines, and you have to work to ensure that you draft and submit a grant application that’s timely and accurate.

To do so, staying organized is essential. Organizing your grant search can pose a challenge since it involves cross-department synchronization, but there are tools that can streamline your efforts.

Tools for Organizing Grant Research 

• Google Calendar or Outlook to establish deadline reminders.
• Excel or Google Sheets to track grant opportunities, requirements, and status.
• GrantStation Members can use their dashboard to save searches and opportunities.

Sample Columns for a Grant Tracker Sheet

• Funder name
• Grant name and link
• Deadline
• Amount eligibility
• Notes/next steps

Grouping Nonprofit Funding Opportunities

An added layer to organizing grants is grouping opportunities. This helps you keep tabs on multiple sources, while eliminating confusion. You can group them in terms of:

• Application deadlines (urgent, upcoming, long-term)
• Grant size (micro, small, medium, large)
• Mission alignment (strong, moderate, weak)

Schedule Time Regularly to Search, Review, and Prioritize Leads

As you organize your potential funding sources, it’s important to actively review them. Set time aside every week to check the status of grant’s you’ve applied for, and send follow-up emails (without overdoing it). Treat every grant application as active until you receive a firm rejection or see its status has been closed.

Also, make time to seek new grants. When you discover a potential opportunity, group it with the other sources you’ve founded.

Red Flags to Look Out For

Not every grant opportunity is worth pursuing or even authentic. The unfortunate reality is that some entities operate unethically, perhaps, bordering on illegal activity. Not only can they lead your organization astray and waste your time and effort, they can lead you to legal or reputational compromise.

Warning Flags

• Grants With Unclear Criteria or Extremely High Competition—Beware of grant opportunities that use ambiguous guidelines or claim to cater to everyone. These offerings may bait thousands of nonprofits to apply, making your application even less likely to stand out.
• Pay-to-Apply or Predatory “Grantwriting” Services—Run, if you ever encounter a funder that charges a fee to apply. No legitimate funder asks for an upfront fee or sensitive information.
• Opportunities that Require You to Drastically Change Your Mission—Any funder demanding you to pivot from your mission is a source you want to avoid. You can replace a funder that’s a poor fit, but your mission is etched in stone. 

The Little Nonprofits That Can

The climb from conception to securing a new grant can feel steep, especially for small or new nonprofits. Some sectors are saturated with organizations delivering similar programs to your own, and there are larger ones that might command more attention. Nevertheless, a small nonprofit organization can successfully meet their funding needs by pursuing sensible opportunities, grants that are more likely to be awarded to smaller organizations. By following the methods listed in this post, your organization can find several grant opportunities that make your fundraising goals not only possible, but feasible. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Where should I start if I’ve never applied for a grant before?

A: Start with local foundations, small family foundations, or micro-grants. They’re generally receptive to small nonprofit organizations, and less competitive. On the digital front, you can search through online databases or newsletters for opportunities, but try to find funders that have worked with NPOs similar to yours. 

Q: Should I hire a grant writer?

A: Yes, if you lack time or expertise to write grant proposals. Grant writing is a skill, and hiring a writer with experience writing proposals can free you from this task, giving you the bandwidth to focus on other tasks.