How to Plan for a Busy Grant Season

Fall is one of the busiest times of year for grants. September through November can bring a lot of deadlines, and once they start coming, they tend to come quickly.

Doing some prep work now can save you a lot of scrambling later. Here are four things I recommend getting organized before fall grant season gets into full swing.

1. Do your research ahead of time

Don't wait until September to start looking for grants. Spend some time researching what opportunities are coming up over the next few months and which ones are a good fit for your organization.

Keep everything in a spreadsheet or whatever project management system works for your team. I use Airtable (ask me about it!). Track the funder, deadline, funding amount, project you plan to apply for and where you're at with the application.

I also recommend putting deadlines in your Google Calendar and setting reminders a few weeks ahead. Your internal deadline should almost never be the funder's actual deadline.

And if you don't have time to constantly research new opportunities, The Grant Circle is my monthly grant database for Canadian nonprofits. I update it every month with upcoming and rolling funding opportunities, deadlines, amounts and eligibility information so you have a starting point for your research.

2. Get your documents together

Grant applications tend to ask for many of the same supporting documents. Having them organized and ready to go can save a surprising amount of time.

Create one folder with your most commonly requested documents, including:

• Audited financial statements

• Annual report

• Organizational and program budgets

• List of your Board of Directors

• Charitable registration information

• Strategic plan

• Letters of support

• Survey or evaluation results

• Impact data and statistics

• Testimonials or participant stories

• Staff or leadership bios

  
  

Take a few minutes to make sure everything is current too. You don't want to find out two days before a deadline that your board list is outdated or no one can find the latest financial statements.

3. Get clear on your funding needs

You can have a great list of grant opportunities, but you still need projects to match them with.

Talk to your program and leadership teams about what your greatest funding needs will be over the next 12 months. For your priority projects, try to have a basic description, budget, timeline, target population and expected outcomes ready.

You should also have some evidence that explains why the project is needed. That might be program data, waitlists, survey results, community research, feedback from participants or other information your team is already collecting.

You don't need to write a full grant application in advance. The goal is to have enough information ready that you're not starting from scratch every time an opportunity comes up.

4. Confirm your review process

Figure out your internal process before you're in the middle of three urgent grant deadlines.

Who needs to review and approve applications? How much time do they need? Who can provide program details, budgets or missing information? And will those people be available when your applications are due?

It's also a good time to confirm practical things like who has access to grant portals, where drafts and supporting documents will live, and your organization's expectations around using AI in the grant writing process.

Clear roles and realistic review timelines can prevent a lot of last-minute back and forth.

Get ahead while you can

You won't be able to prepare for every grant that comes your way. New opportunities will pop up, deadlines will change and sometimes a great-fit grant will appear with very little notice.

But if you've already done your research, organized your documents, identified your funding priorities and figured out your internal process, you'll be in a much better position to act when those opportunities come up.

A few hours of preparation now can make for a much less stressful fall grant season!

Need some extra grant writing support this fall? Book a consultation call and let's chat about how I can support your organization through the busy fall grant season.