Walk Away from a Grant? Maybe
It may seem odd to talk about abandoning a potential funding opportunity but knowing when to walk away from a grant opportunity could save your organization time, money and frustration.
When does it make sense to redirect your time and energy? Here are six reminders to keep your grant search focused:
If you start to sense a mission drift, listen to that intuition. If after reading about the funder’s priorities you rate alignment at 6/10 or less, you are stretching your mission for a match.
When there is little to no evidence of past giving to similar organizations, don’t pursue the opportunity.
If an opportunity with a higher ROI emerges within the same timeframe, go for the more competitive fit — which is why it is helpful to have a grant strategy.
Staff time and resource investment for preparing the proposal may exceed your organization’s capacity. Likewise, move on if the reporting and compliance requirements will stretch your present abilities and resources.
If the proposal deadline does not give you enough time to develop a competitive application, schedule it for the next grant cycle.
And, finally, if your chance of success is less than 20 percent, you are better off focusing elsewhere.
Document your decision and rationale
Keep notes about why you abandoned it (e.g., “reporting burden too high,” “did not meet eligibility,” “insufficient staff time”)
Save any drafts, research notes, or correspondence that might help later if you revisit the grant.
Set a review or revisit date
If you think there will be a stronger fit during another cycle, set it up in your grant calendar.
Learn from it
Track abandonment reasons across multiple opportunities to see patterns (e.g., “reporting burden too heavy for small orgs,” “deadlines always too tight”)
Use that data to refine your grant qualification criteria, grant strategy and operational needs.
