Grant Writing Made Easy

JUNE 23, 2025

Include goals, activities, target populations, and intended outcomes. Prepare clear, pre-formatted explanations for everyday expenses like staff time, supplies, and indirect costs. Grant writing for small nonprofits can be streamlined with free or low-cost tools that are easy to adopt and quick to implement.

Grant Writing

Allied Grant Writers

DECEMBER 25, 2024

Understanding this purpose can guide the grant writing process, ensuring that proposals align with the funder’s goals. Impact of Grants on Students Grants also play a significant role in education by providing students with financial assistance to pursue their academic goals. Evaluation Plan Methods to measure project success.

Grant Writing

Allied Grant Writers

JUNE 8, 2025

The main goal goes beyond just getting money—it helps organizations turn their ideas into reality. Other mistakes come off the top of my head: unclear goals, not enough preliminary data to prove feasibility, and weak budget justifications. Not following instructions tops the list and signals carelessness right away.

Grant Writing

Candid

JUNE 5, 2025

In alignment with your nonprofits strategic plan , set financial goals (e.g., covering costs of new programs, onboarding, fundraising, plus existing costs), organize expenses by function (e.g., grants and other contributions) and anticipated expenses, including direct costs (e.g., rent, utilities, and marketing).

Budget

Blackbaud

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Make sure everyone knows why you are applying for each grant and what the specific goal is if you get it. Tip 4: Calculate your indirect cost or make an intentional decision to use the de minimis rate. Make these tools available with the Notice of Grant Award and other documentation.

Government

The NonProfit Times

MAY 28, 2024

Nonprofits should pay close attention to any budgetary restrictions, such as allowable expenses, indirect cost rates, matching requirements, and reporting obligations. Nonprofits should create a detailed budget that accurately reflects the costs associated with implementing the proposed project or program.

Budget

Blackbaud

DECEMBER 20, 2023

Calculate Your Indirect Cost Rate Complete and correct cost allocation is key to the financial stability of your organization. If you aren’t including indirect costs—such as salaries or rent—into your funding requests or program planning, you are setting yourself up for stress later in the year.

Indirect Cost

Blackbaud

APRIL 4, 2024

Calculating indirect costs can be challenging. Program-based budgets will allow your organization to make more precise cash flow projections and more appropriate fundraising goals for the year so that your organization can plan to accomplish more, not less.

Finance

RBW Strategy

JUNE 11, 2024

De Minimis Indirect Cost Rate Increase (§200.414): For those recipients (and subrecipients) who do not have a negotiated indirect cost rate agreement in place, this is welcome news. As overhead and administrative costs grow, organizations often scramble to find ways to recoup this funding.

UEI

Candid

FEBRUARY 7, 2023

A brief description of the project, including your goals and objectives. Project goals and objectives When it comes to grant proposals, it is important to understand the difference between goals and objectives. Information about your organization and its experience addressing your proposal’s key need or problem.

Proposal

Candid

JULY 13, 2023

Anticipated expenses: Direct costs, like staff time, consultants, supplies, equipment, and evaluation (such as conducting surveys or collecting feedback). Indirect costs—or the invisible costs, like rent, utilities, office supplies, marketing, and administrative staff. Earned income from events, products, and fees.

Proposal

Blackbaud

APRIL 8, 2024

These grants typically have goals associated with them—the foundation has a specific mission, or the government grant wants to address a specific societal issue. Many don’t cover operating costs or have a small allotment for indirect costs such as salaries, insurance, and utilities.

Funding

Grant Professionals Association

JULY 25, 2023

Or my favorite—when one organization has a NICRA (Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement) of 47% while the other three organizations use the 10% de minimus rate, and this causes a stir. I’ve even negotiated that none of us ask for Indirect Costs so all the money goes directly to the program! Has this worked all the time?

Indirect Cost

GiveSmart

MARCH 12, 2024

Typical costs for in-person events include venue rental, catering, marketing, and staffing. Along with expenses connected directly to the event, there are also indirect costs to account for, such as staff salaries. Ideally, the event ROI for nonprofits will equal more than 70% of the cost of hosting and organizing.

Indirect Cost

Get Fully Funded

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

If you are just starting out, you may have to build up to that goal. But your goal should be to spend appropriately on fundraising so you can bring in the money you need to fully fund your programs. These are also known as indirect costs, expenses that cannot be tied directly to programs.

Fundraising

GrantNews

JANUARY 11, 2024

Reality: Operating costs, such as paying utility bills, rent, salaries, and investing in office equipment are referred to by a variety of names, including “overhead,” “administrative costs,” and “indirect costs.” Also, we hope one of these grants can help a nonprofit achieve their goal!

Indirect Cost

Grant Geek

MARCH 1, 2022

Along with your specific costs associated with your project, sometimes there is also an indirect negotiated cost rate that needs to be factored in. An Indirect Cost Rate is the negotiated rate that you, as the applicant, have negotiated with the funder to cover. Indirect costs may be either fixed or variable.

Budget

Tech Soup

JANUARY 29, 2015

The CEOs of BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Charity Navigator, and GuideStar USA published a second open letter last year with the express goal to "crush" the overhead myth, the idea that overhead ratios should serve as the sole basis for evaluating nonprofit performance. If so, you've fallen victim to the overhead myth.

Indirect Cost

Allied Grant Writers

SEPTEMBER 22, 2024

Goals and Objectives : Specific, measurable outcomes of your project. This section should include: Clear goals and objectives : What specific outcomes do you aim to achieve? Ensure all costs are justifiable and directly related to the project. Include both direct costs (e.g., salaries, materials) and indirect costs (e.g.,

Proposal

Grant Writing Made Easy

MAY 1, 2024

This step is crucial for setting realistic financial goals. Align Budgets with Strategic Goals This step ensures that financial resources are allocated to support your organization’s long-term strategic objectives and immediate programmatic goals. Ensure each cost is justified in terms of the program’s objectives.

Budget

Grant Writing Made Easy

MAY 20, 2024

Grant writing is an invaluable skill that opens doors to funding opportunities, enabling nonprofits, researchers, and various organizations to achieve their goals. Make sure this section aligns closely with the goals and interests of the funding body to increase your chances of success. Why Learn About Grant Writing?

Grant Writing

Peak Proposals

AUGUST 1, 2023

If you read a solicitation and you’re thinking, “Do we need to work in all these places and meet all these goals?” BUDGET A proposal budget is another area where the questions can be very specific to the solicitation at hand, although a few questions are standard fare, including: Are indirect costs allowable?

Funding

Peak Proposals

DECEMBER 22, 2019

Features of Project Proposal vs. a Research Proposal Project Proposal A project proposal is usually structured around a single goal (often named by the funder) and objectives (also often named by the funder), with specific activities listed under each objective. does X cause Y? is Y related to X?)

Funding

Candid

AUGUST 29, 2023

deadlines, fundraising goals, meetings, customer complaints, toxic coworkers) outweigh the resources you have to meet the demands (e.g., Consider increasing resources by providing more funding to cover indirect costs and general operating support. perfectionism, unrealistic goals, negative self-talk).

Burnout