By Laura Chynoweth, CEO of Granted Fundraising Consultants™

“Can you find some grants for us?”

I hear this question often from nonprofit leaders. And I understand it. You have important work to do, you need money to do it, and somewhere out there must be a foundation that wants to help.

But before we start looking, I have a few questions of my own. What community need are you addressing? How does your program respond to it? What will it cost to deliver? What results can you reasonably expect?

If your answers are still taking shape, you have some work to do before prospect research will be particularly useful. Otherwise, you may end up with a very long list of foundations and a very short understanding of which ones actually fit.

For years, our 5-Step Process has helped clients work through the preparation behind strong grant applications. As Granted Fundraising Consultants™ has grown, we’ve recognized that the value of this process extends well beyond the application itself. Clients are learning how to plan, communicate, and manage their grant fundraising.

We wanted a clearer way to express that progression and the education that happens along the way. Enter: The GRANTED Method™.

(Yes, we found a way to fit our name into it. We are writers, after all.)

G: Ground the Need

What problem are you trying to solve, and why does it matter?

“We need funding” is an understandable answer, but it describes your organization’s financial situation. A funder also needs to understand the community need your organization exists to address.

Who is affected? What barriers do they face? What services already exist, and where are the gaps? What data, research, and community perspectives support your understanding of the problem?

This step helps you establish a clear, credible explanation of the need and your organization’s role in addressing it. Take the time to get specific. Your staff may understand the issue so well that it seems obvious, but a prospective funder doesn’t spend every day doing your work.

R: Refine the Program

What are you going to do, and what difference will it make?

Now that you’ve identified the need, explain your response. Who will participate? What activities will you deliver? Where and when will they happen? Who will carry them out? What changes do you expect to see, and how will you measure them?

“We’ll offer workshops” is a start. It leaves a few things to the imagination, though. Workshops for whom? About what? And what should participants be able to do afterward?

Working through these details helps you develop a program your team can implement and a funder can understand. It also helps you catch gaps while there’s still time to address them. Discovering that no one has planned an evaluation is considerably more convenient now than the night before an application is due.

A: Assemble the Resources

What will it take to make this happen?

Here comes the budget. Please stay with me!

Your program will require resources, and the budget helps you account for them. Include the staff time, materials, equipment, space, and other costs necessary to deliver the work. Identify what you already have, what partners or other supporters can contribute, and what remains to be funded. Consider matching requirements and how the program will continue over time.

Remember: paid staff are resources your program needs. Their salaries belong in your planning, with the appropriate allocation to the program and attention to each funder’s rules.

This step helps you arrive at a funding goal grounded in actual costs. A foundation offering awards of up to $50,000 does not, by itself, establish that your program needs $50,000.

N: Narrate the Impact

How will you explain your work in a way that makes someone want to invest in it?

You’ve established the need, defined the response, and determined the resources required. Now bring those pieces together into a compelling case for support.

Help readers understand who will benefit, why your approach makes sense, what qualifies your organization to carry it out, and what their investment can help accomplish. Use relevant data and meaningful stories. Be clear about results you’ve already achieved and those you expect to achieve.

You don’t need to fill every sentence with impressive vocabulary. You need to make your work understandable. If a prospective funder finishes reading and still can’t explain what your program does, a few extra adjectives won’t rescue it.

Strong foundational language also gives your team something useful to adapt for individual applications. Create it thoughtfully, keep it current, and tailor it when you use it.

T: Target the Right Funders

Who is most likely to invest in the work you’re prepared to do?

NOW we look for grants.

By this point, you know what you’re seeking funding for, whom it serves, what it costs, and how it fits your mission. That information gives your prospect research direction.

Look at funding priorities, geography, eligibility, award amounts, allowable expenses, deadlines, application requirements, and relationship opportunities. Prioritize funders whose interests align with your work and whose requirements your organization can meet.

If a grant requires you to substantially reshape your program just to become eligible, pause. Are you responding to a genuine community need within your mission, or responding to the sight of available money?

That’s why targeting funders comes last in the core sequence. Preparation helps you recognize a good fit and gives you the confidence to pass on a poor one. A smaller, appropriate opportunity may serve your organization much better than a large award attached to work you aren’t equipped to deliver.

ED: Educate & Develop

And what about the last two letters?

Education and development happen throughout The GRANTED Method™. You don’t have to finish the other steps before you’re allowed to learn something. (That would be a rather inconvenient teaching policy.)

As we work with clients, we help them understand the decisions behind the documents: how to articulate need, plan programs, develop budgets, communicate impact, evaluate prospects, and maintain useful systems. Ongoing support and coaching help staff apply those skills to their own work.

When a staff member understands why a budget includes certain costs, they’re better prepared to update it. When a team understands how to evaluate funder fit, it can make more informed decisions about the next opportunity.

That growing knowledge belongs to the organization. It should stay useful long after an individual application has been submitted.

A familiar foundation, with room to grow.

Our original 5-Step Process laid the groundwork for this approach. The GRANTED Method™ gives us a clearer way to explain it and apply it across our consulting, training, educational resources, and Granted Guide™ subscription. It also provides a foundation for the AI-powered tools we’re developing to help nonprofits put the method into practice.

Whatever tools you use, the underlying questions deserve your attention. Understand the need. Plan the response. Account for the resources. Tell the story. Then find the funders whose interests align with the work.

And keep learning along the way.

The next time someone sends you a grant opportunity with “Should we apply?” in the subject line, you’ll have a useful place to begin: Are we prepared to do this work, and is this funder a good fit?

That’s a much better starting point than checking how many days remain until the deadline.

The GRANTED Method™ is a proprietary methodology of Granted Fundraising Consultants™.