How to Create a Grant Preparation Timeline
Starting a grant application from the beginning can be daunting, especially if the funder’s guidelines or RFP are many pages long, or if you’re new to an organization and unfamiliar with their processes. Here’s the formula I use for building out a grant timeline in preparation for submitting an application. This timeline planning also works for preparing an LOI (letter of interest or letter of intent) or any required reports.
Keep in mind: the information below assumes you’ve already conducted your due diligence, confirmed your organization’s eligibility for the grant, and (ideally) spoken to a program officer to confirm their interest in receiving your application. Or, if it is an invitation-only grant, you’ve received an invitation to submit a full application.
Start from the application due date
Locate the funder’s guidelines to determine the due date of their next application cycle. Some funders only open applications on an annual basis, while others might have quarterly or semiannual deadlines. Some accept applications on a rolling basis, meaning there’s no specific date by which you must submit your application.
If a funder has more than one annual deadline (or no deadline at all), you and your grant team will need to decide which date to apply. Make sure to read the guidelines carefully around specific deadlines. Even if a funder has four deadlines each year, they might only offer certain categories of funding at each deadline (health in Q1, arts and culture in Q2, etc.).
If it appears that each deadline is open to you, it can help to ask the program officer if they recommend you apply in a certain period. Is there a deadline that sees fewer applications? Or perhaps sees fewer applications from your type of organization? Does the funder typically have more funding to give away in the first quarter of their fiscal year, with less available as the year progresses? Essentially, you’re looking for the period in which your application will be the most competitive.
Or, the period in which you apply might have more to do with your own fiscal year, program/project timeline, and fundraising and cash flow needs. How long will the funder deliberate before notifying you of an award? For example, if your program starts with the school year in the fall, you might need to submit an application in March so the notification in July aligns with your fiscal year (July 1) and program start (August 15).
Set your submission date as at least two business days before the due date
This should always be rule number one in the grant world: never submit on the due date!! There are so many things that could go wrong, internally and externally, that could prevent your application from being submitted. If your child is sick or the funder’s portal crashes or your town has a freak snowstorm in April… You get the idea. Giving yourself enough time means you can avoid big mistakes.
Funders usually aren’t lenient on the due date of an application, and most will tell you the precise time (November 30 at 5:00 PM Central) by which your application must be submitted to be considered in that cycle. If you do miss the deadline, you can request consideration. But don’t count on it. (Funders sometimes will open an application again if you’ve submitted it prior to the deadline, but found you need to make a change before the deadline has passed. But again, don’t count on this.)
Review the guidelines in detail
You’ve already read the guidelines to confirm your organization’s eligibility and the grant application due date. Now, it’s time to read the guidelines again in detail to make sure you understand all the requirements and how long it will take to prepare the application. You should read the guidelines at least once more yourself and again with your grant team.
What to look for in the guidelines:
Is the application you’re preparing similar to one you’ve already submitted? In other words, can you pull language and/or support materials from another grant application or your institutional language to start? If so, you might need less time than if you’re starting from scratch.
How complex are the support material requirements? Will your finance team need to manually compile reports to fit the funder’s budget templates?
Will the application require any external input, like a letter of support from an organizational partner or a client? Do you want to send a full copy of the application to an outside reviewer?
Is there an opportunity to send a draft to the funder to review ahead of time? This can be a valuable step, especially if you have been denied by the funder in the past or if you’ve never applied to them before.
How much time do you have?
Ideally, you have plenty of warning before a grant application is due – say, a standard annual application deadline with a funder your organization has applied to before, with the full application available six months in advance. But that doesn’t always happen! Sometimes you’ll get an invitation to apply from a funder who gives you a month to put together a complex application with a brand-new narrative to write and lots of manual financial attachments (speaking from experience here).
How much time do you need?
If you have internal records from past applications, how long has it taken you to complete this application (or a similar one) in the past? I’ve found that I need at least 6-8 weeks to complete any government grant and 5-6 weeks for foundation grants. I track all my time using a free system called Clockify, and I can go back to each grant application to determine how long it took me to prepare (both in total hours and in the number of weeks from start to finish).
What other projects do you have concurrent with preparing the application? In other words, how much time do you (and your colleagues) have to devote to preparation each day or week before the grant deadline?
To prevent burnout, plan only on work days and during normal work hours. Don’t put it in the plan to review grant drafts at night and on the weekends! Also, give yourself a cushion for unforeseen obstacles. Maybe the partner you intended to ask for a letter of support is out on leave for the month. Your CFO has the flu.
Know your colleagues’ work style and workload
Related to how much time you need, it’s helpful to understand your grant team and their work styles. If you have a colleague who always delivers materials way ahead of the deadline, you may be able to give that individual more time to prepare a piece of support material. On the other hand, if you have a colleague who repeatedly blows past internal deadlines, you might back up your grant timeline for their work. Or, you might publicize your goal submission date instead of the due date to help create urgency. (Remember: your goal submission date is two business days before the due date.)
It is also helpful to understand your colleagues’ workload. If your graphic designer will help put together your support material for the grant, but has a huge deadline for your annual season brochure looming, make sure to build more time for her and offer support where you can.
Keep track of the deadlines you give your colleagues and schedule reminders for yourself. And make sure to say please and thank you!
Communicate your grant timeline
Once you have your grant timeline outlined, it’s important that everyone on your grant team has access to it. My process is usually to include a grant timeline at the top of my grant application narrative document, then I review it with my client. Use your project management software, write it on sticky notes in the break room, and put it on your office calendar – whatever works for you and your team.
My sample grant timeline for a complex foundation application
8 weeks to deadline: Confirm eligibility and contact program staff (if you haven’t already). Review guidelines in detail and initiate narrative outline. Send detailed support material requests to your grant team and any external partners. Kick-off meeting with program staff to initiate the first draft of narrative.
7 weeks: Continue first draft of narrative, reviewing carefully against grant guidelines and the funder’s priorities.
6 weeks: First draft of narrative complete and distributed to program staff for review.
5 weeks: Edits back from program staff and second draft of narrative complete.
4 weeks: Support materials back from grant team; review for accuracy and ensure they meet guidelines.
3 weeks: Application package to external reviewers (other non-grant staff members or a trusted outsider).
2 weeks: External reviewers return application with edits; incorporate to narrative and support materials.
7 days: Input narrative and all support materials into the funder’s portal.
3-6 days: Final review of all materials.
2 days: Submit application. Celebrate!
Time to build your own grant timeline!
Now it’s your turn: take an upcoming grant application deadline and work backward to make sure you have plenty of time to prepare it and submit a high-quality application. Ask yourself if there are stumbling blocks you’ve hit before that could compromise your grant timeline, and work ahead of them as you can.
Moreover, be ready to adapt to changes and be flexible. This is part of the reason it’s so important to give yourself plenty of time while preparing a grant application — because even though, at first glance, it might not take long to collect the materials and write the narrative, there will always be obstacles. Those obstacles could be internal (your organization, your own time) or external (the funder).
I believe in you! And when you submit your next application a week before the deadline, don’t forget to celebrate and thank your grant team. Grant management is not a solo sport, and that’s never more apparent than when you’re bringing together documents and information from multiple parts of your organization.
Constantly struggling to get grant applications in on time? We’re looking for nonprofit pilot clients for our new service, Increase Your Mileage, which creates custom grant program SOPs so nonprofits can streamline their processes. Email us at erin @ nonprofitnomad.com to find out more.
Cover photo by Kate Korsak on Dupe