Plan Your Success in 2026
A new year brings with it new opportunities. A blank slate of possibilities and new (or renewed) priorities. As you review your funding diversification, let these questions help you become more intentional and strategic:
What were the missed opportunities of 2025? Did you fail to meet any grant deadlines, or did you miss opportunities because you lacked the capacity to compile a competitive application? Perhaps 2026 is the time to invest in grant research and a grant calendar.
What were the celebratory moments? Did you get new funding or an increase in funding from a previous funder? Evaluate applications to identify consistent strengths.
What improvements are necessary? Did you discover that you needed to elaborate on your budget narratives or do a better of job of writing objectives that match the funder’s mission? Or, maybe you realized that you need to bring in outside help.
What are you going to stop doing this year? How about not chasing every opportunity for which you are eligible and pursuing only those for which the organization is truly competitive? For everything you omit, delete or stop, you are making space to add a new strategy to pursue funding.
What is your “jam?” Have you found an effective way of engaging with invite-only funders? Are you getting good responses from private foundations? Maybe your success is writing collaborative grant opportunities.
After reviewing your successes and denials, what are you going to do differently to change your grant application outcomes? If you need a set of objective eyes to review those applications, contact us today!
