Diversify: The Cure-all for Your Funding Woes

  • October 20, 2015

Grant writing is so often seen as a cure-all for non-profits or other organizations. “If we just get some grants. Then we can do….”.  The truth is putting a proposal together and submitting it to a funder will not guarantee that you will be funded. #Grants are not easy to come by. Often, it takes a year or more before any dollars come in because of a #grant.

Our cure? Simple, diversify.  Diversify your funding portfolio for your organization.

Good fundraising organizations work on establishing a diversified stream of income. If you are raising 90% of your funds from one type of fundraising (i.e. you are almost entirely event, grant, or program fee driven) then you are putting yourself in a precarious position should that funding stream dry up. All non-profits should be diversified. There are an almost endless stream of revenue sources you can tap: government funding, individuals, corporations, foundations, large events, small events, direct mail, online… Make an effort to diversify.

Likewise, if any of your funding streams rely almost solely on one or two big donors, now is the time to branch out. If, for example, your corporate giving strategy relies on the same two big companies year in, year out, it’s time to build a farm team of companies that donate at lower levels, and which you can step up to larger gifts over time.


We work with high-growth startups and organizations that support the startup and innovation ecosystem. We build highly specific non-dilutive funding menus, provide proposal preparation services, and measure outcomes of funding through evaluation. Schedule a consult call with us HERE.

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