One of our favorite spots to eat in Las Vegas is a restaurant called Trevi which is located in the heart of The Forum Shops at Caesars. It is perfect for us. There is no casino in sight and no cigarette smoke in the air. It is next to the fountain pictured above. The sky above is always set to twilight which is our favorite time of day. It is, in a word, ideal.
To blow away your funder, your charity needs to be something of an ideal too. The funders, after all, may have a stereotyped understanding of what an ideal charity looks like and then use this image to judge your strengths or weaknesses.
The solution? Understand what an ideal charity looks like and become one. I am not suggesting that you should lie to the funder. In fact, I think that is counterproductive. The people that run these foundations or government agencies are not stupid. They have their own sources of information including insight from your competitors. Accordingly, I do not think you can get away with saying things that are untruthful.
Nevertheless, you may get away with looking better than your competition by having a clearer understanding of what an ideal charity looks like and making sure you point out the ideal features of your charity whenever you get a chance.
Basically, an ideal charity is a glamorous selfless problem-solving machine that makes its community — broadly defined — a much better place.
For example, an ideal charity should show well on GuideStar and Charity Navigator. Your charity should have an up-to-date profile on both sites. Even if your charity is not highly rated, it looks good for you if you keep it current. After all, it is too easy for the staff at the funder to research your charity and see where you stand. If you are not up to date your charity will look too old-fashion. Even worse, it will look like you are not paying sufficient attention to how your charity is seen by the outside world. Remember, these funders are going to be embarrassed if they get you money and then one of their board members looks up your profile and finds it to be lacking.
Next, an ideal charity should have a strong board of directors. Ideally, it should be filled with some of the savviest and wealthiest people in the community. You may already have a board like that but you have been neglecting to highlight exactly how you benefit from some incredible board members. In your grant application, you can show off your board members by carefully writing up their biographical information to show off their non-profit and business chops. It is wise as well to include full-color photos with the same background so that the display of your board members’ images looks organized and professional.
It is also good to let people know that you have an audited financial statement. These are important even for smaller charities. If you do not have one, I think you should start paying for one. I know with all my heart that the extra money to have an audited financial statement will quickly come back to you by improving your ability to win grants.
In addition, it is important to let the funder know that you have a strategic planning process and that the charity just is not moving from crisis to crisis. You need to let grant reviewers know that your charity leadership has considered the charity’s strengths and weaknesses, and scanned its environment for opportunities and threats. The charity should be following an easy-to-explain strategic plan, a plan that looks forward at least five years and has been approved by your board of directors. (The funder does not need to know that your strategic plan is a two-page document that was approved by the board of directors the day before you turned in your grant proposal.)
Given the times we are one, it is useful to add an equity, diversity, and inclusion (DEI) statement. Your charity may not be interested in actually implementing such a policy, but the funders will be pleased to see one exists. It will give them one less excuse to toss your application out of consideration.
Finally, it is important that everything lines up. Your charity, despite its flaws, should demonstrate powerful internal coherence. This means that the charity should have the right mission statement, the correct vision, a crack team of staff members, and the best possible solution, all lined up perfectly to address the greatest possible need in the community.
This might strike you as simple common sense. However, what you may not realize is that all these variables can be adjusted in your charity’s favor. There is nothing wrong with changing your mission statement so it reflects what you really do. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with identifying the greatest need in the community and then adjusting all the elements of your charity to address that need. If you have one solution that your charity is really good at, there is nothing wrong with shopping around and applying it to an appropriate, higher visibility need. All that really matters, in the end, is the coherence of your charity. In an ideal charity, all five of the qualities mentioned above need to line up so that your charity looks like a smart, well-organized machine.