One evening, while making dinner, I received an unexpected phone call that significantly influenced my approach to submitting grant proposals. It was Therese Ogle, a respected program officer for several foundations in the Seattle area. She had just reviewed a grant proposal I had submitted for a capital campaign to renovate a building and transform it into a play space for parent support.
Therese had a few questions about the details of the proposal. As I answered her questions earnestly, I jotted down notes. When the conversation ended, she suggested I revise the proposal based on our discussion and resubmit it before the deadline. I carefully made revisions to the unclear points and added more details to the sections she had asked about. The grant was resubmitted in a couple of days, still ahead of the deadline. The grant was fully funded.
This experience underscores a crucial strategy in grant writing: the advantage of submitting your proposal well before the deadline. Here’s why early submission can make a significant difference:
Opportunity for Feedback: Early submission may open the door to invaluable feedback from the funding agency. Foundations often review submissions if they are submitted weeks before the deadline and provide feedback, just as I experienced. This feedback can be invaluable in refining your proposal to make sure all aspects of the project are clear. Learn more about crafting a stellar proposal in our Certificate in Grant Writing Course.
Catching Missing or Outdated Attachments: Foundations often require various attachments, such as financial statements, board rosters, and organizational budgets. Submitting early allows the foundation to notify you if any documents are missing or outdated, giving you ample time to provide the most recent information. One commonly outdated attachment is the balance sheet. It should be updated to the most recent quarter when submitting a grant proposal. Ask the financial team or your accountant to send you an updated balance statement at least quarterly. Access templates for grant attachments that are refined and vetted in our template resources.
Avoiding Technical Difficulties: Grant submission platforms can become overloaded as the deadline approaches, which might lead to technical difficulties. I have heard countless tales of organizations working on government grants for weeks and then not being able to submit the final draft on the due date because the system crashed. Misplacing usernames and passwords is also quite common with online applications, so make a habit of documenting these important credentials. Also, note the time of the day and time zone for the grant deadline. No one wants to learn at 5 pm Central that the grant was due at 5 pm Eastern. Early submission helps you avoid the last-minute frenzy and ensures all your hard work at least gets reviewed by the funder.
Postal Requirements: Some grants require physical mailing, with deadlines based on when the application is received, not postmarked. Realizing this requirement too late can be disastrous. One foundation even requires that you send full proposals, including your 990 Tax Return, to each of the board members on the foundation in paper format via the mail. Early submission ensures that your application will not be disqualified for arriving late. Avoid overnighting your grant application if at all possible. It can be seen as a waste of resources.
Internal Review: While it's never fun to have too many cooks in the kitchen, ensuring that your team members are fully on board with every aspect of the proposal is worth the time spent building consensus. By creating a timeline that allows ample time for internal review, you can use this time to refine your arguments, enhance your narrative, and align your proposal more closely with the funder’s priorities, making it more compelling. Check out my blog on creating a 40-day turnaround on grant proposal development to streamline your team's review plan.
Peace of Mind: Submitting early can significantly reduce stress and provide peace of mind, knowing that your proposal is completed and submitted without the pressure of a looming deadline. This mental freedom allows you to focus on other important tasks or start planning your next grant proposal.
How much in advance should I submit grant proposals?
For strategic grant submissions, timing can be everything. If your primary goal is to receive feedback on your proposal before the final deadline, submitting it at least two weeks early is essential. This window of time allows the foundation's staff to thoroughly review your application without the pressure of the impending deadline rush, which typically sees a surge in submissions.
Remember, fewer proposals will be submitted this early, so it will really stand out and allow your proposal to receive more attention. Program officers will be less rushed and can provide more detailed and constructive criticism you can use to strengthen your proposal. Not every foundation will do this, but many will if you submit early enough.
Types of Feedback Grantmakers May Provide Before the Application Deadline
When you submit a grant proposal early, grantmakers may provide feedback that can greatly enhance your application. This feedback usually focuses on refining your proposal to better meet the grant’s objectives and criteria. Understanding the types of feedback you might receive before the application deadline can prepare you to make the most effective updates to your proposal. Here are some common areas where grantmakers might provide feedback:
Work Plan and Timeline:
Planning Details: Reviewers might ask for more information about certain aspects of your work plan that appear underdeveloped or vague. For example, they might notice you’ve skipped over essential planning details necessary for the success of your project.
Milestone Completion: Feedback may include questions about the completion of important milestones and how they contribute to moving the project forward. If there are not enough clear milestones in the project plan, it may not be immediately clear if the project gets off track. Putting milestones in place helps the organization and the funder ensure that the project is moving forward successfully.
Project Timeline: If submitting a multi-year project timeline within a single year-long grant application, grantmakers might request a breakdown of what will be accomplished specifically during the grant period to ensure the timelines are realistic and well thought out. Always make a note of how long the grant timeframe is and ensure that your timeline matches. It’s also okay to talk about other phases of the project for perspective, but make sure the grant year is prioritized.
Key Staff:
Reviewers often scrutinize who is responsible for carrying out the project and how they are qualified. Feedback may include questions about the qualifications, experiences, and roles of key staff members to ensure they are capable of executing the project successfully. If not enough information was provided, they may even suggest that you submit resumes of key staff.
Outputs, Outcomes, and Impact:
Deliverables: Grantmakers might ask for more precise metrics about deliverables, ensuring that what you propose aligns with their expectations. Also known as outputs, these are the widgets that your project will produce, such as the number of people served, the number of meals provided, the number of bed nights, or the number of acres protected.
Short, Medium, and Long-term Outcomes: Describing outputs is usually not enough. Reviewers will want to know what changes are expected over different periods. Outcomes should focus on the changes in behavior, awareness, attitude, knowledge, or skill resulting from participation in the project.
Connection to Funder’s Priorities:
A common feedback area is how well your proposal aligns with the funder’s priorities. If the connection isn’t clear, the funder might ask you to revise your proposal to reflect their goals better. Also, remember to address any eligibility issues. For example, I worked with an organization with “Academy” in its name. Whenever applying to funders that do not make grants to individual schools, I immediately stated that the organization was a six-month program for students at risk of dropping out - not a school.
Evaluation Plan:
Funders might flag proposals with disproportionate evaluation plans—either too extensive or insufficient for the project’s scale. They may suggest resizing the evaluation to appropriately match the project's scope and expected impact.
Budget:
Hands down, the most highly scrutinized aspect of a grant proposal is the project budget. Reviewers will notice if you put together a budget hastily and may believe you have padded the budget, adding extra unnecessary expenses. To prevent this, take the time to carefully research each line item expense so it is as accurate as possible. Also, always include a detailed budget narrative that explains how each line item was calculated.
Feedback Areas Typically Not Pointed Out by Reviewers
When you can get feedback before the actual deadline, you have an edge over the competition, but there are certain areas that reviewers typically do not comment on:
Project Fit: If a project is a bad fit for the grant, reviewers generally do not provide detailed feedback and may simply send a rejection letter.
Grammar and Spelling: Reviewers are typically trained to overlook grammar and spelling in favor of focusing on the content of the proposal. But you should still edit your work carefully. Poor grammar and spelling are distracting, and apps like Grammarly and even Chatbots make it easy to check your work before submitting it.
Community-Based Reviewers
After the actual deadline, the formal review will take place. Increasingly, funders are hiring community-based reviewers who are more closely connected with community-based organizations. These reviewers are often provided with anti-bias training and recuse themselves from reviewing any proposal with a conflict of interest. This approach helps ensure the review process is fair, culturally sensitive, and aligned with community needs.
Reviewers typically use a rubric to score each proposal, which may or may not be made available to applicants. I enjoy volunteering to review grants for foundations and government entities and am asked to comment on each proposal that can be shared with the applicant once the awards are made. However, this information is typically only shared when the applicant requests it. So, if you don’t get a chance to receive feedback before the due date, plan to ask for it once the process is complete. This will help you become a stronger writer over time. Plus, look for opportunities to review grants and get the perspective of wearing the funder’s hat for a change.
A Good Grant Strategy
Submitting your grant proposal early is not just a precaution; it’s a strategy that can lead to better-prepared, more compelling proposals and, ultimately, a higher success rate. By understanding the types of feedback that may be provided—and those that typically are not—you can better prepare your grant proposals to meet the expectations of funders while avoiding common pitfalls. Always consider requesting feedback if your proposal is not funded, as this can provide valuable insights for future applications.
Have you ever benefited from submitting a grant early or learned a hard lesson by waiting until the last minute? Share your experiences in the comments below, and let’s discuss how we can all improve our grant writing practices for better outcomes.