Blog Series – An In-Depth Look at Common Segments of Grant Proposals Part 3: Need Statements – Making the Case for Your Organization
Ellen Stone
Most grant proposals are divided into sections. Each section serves a specific purpose in convincing funders that your organization is a strong match for their funding priorities, a good steward of their dollars, and is meeting a critical need in your community. This blog series will break down the grant proposal and look at each piece individually – its purpose, the message that piece conveys to the funder, and the best practices for sharing that information. We’ll look at:
- Cover Letters – What to Include and What to Leave Out
- Organization History and Background – Developing a Narrative that Appeals to Funders
- Need Statements – Making the Case for Your Organization (this post ?)
- Measurement, Evaluation, and Outcomes – Are Numbers Set in Stone?
- Presentation of Budgets for Grant Applications
- Preparing Your Grant Proposal Packet for Submission
The third section of a grant proposal is the Statement of Need. The purpose of the Statement of Need is to clearly define the problem your organization or program is trying to solve and substantiate the presence of that problem with data.
What are the components of a Statement of Need?
- The Problem – Nonprofit organizations and their programs exist because there are unmet needs in our communities. Your organization’s community may be as small as a neighborhood or as large as the globe. The problem you are trying to solve will exist on the same scale. In two to three sentences, briefly describe the problem your community faces – a workforce that hasn’t recovered from the recession, families in Africa struggling to survive on $3-$5 per day with no money left over for healthcare, a neighborhood trying to rebuild years after the last hurricane while the homes around them continue to sink into the ground on cracked foundations. The first few sentences of your Statement of Need should help the reader visualize the specific challenges of the community you serve.
- Recent Relevant Data – Once you’ve defined the problem, you need to provide confirmation from sources outside your organization that the problem exists and that the issue is significant in nature. When searching for data for a Statement of Need, I recommend combining at least two of these options:
- Data from government sources – Most local, state, and national agencies report data at regular intervals. This makes it easier to compare statistics over time, compare one region to another, and update statistics as new grant applications are developed. Data from government sources is also considered reasonably trustworthy, especially if it is supported by a secondary source.
- Data from universities/colleges in your region – Local universities can be a rich source of data specific to the challenges in your community or region. For example, research done by the College of Business at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg on the economic impact of domestic violence in Pinellas County is ideally suited to grants written for domestic violence programs working to reduce the generational cycle of family violence in most counties in South Florida.
- Data from peer reviewed journals – Research printed in peer reviewed journals has the benefit of validation from other experts within the field. If you don’t have access to an academic research database, OMICS International has an extensive library of over 700 Open Access peer reviewed journals. In addition to peer reviewed journals, you can also look for articles with titles including the words “meta-analysis” or “research survey.” These terms mean a researcher has reviewed multiple research studies to compare the outcomes. For grant writing purposes, these studies are sometimes more helpful. If your Statement of Need includes a statement such as, “in an analysis of 11 research studies about the long-term impacts of crisis counseling for survivors of domestic/sexual violence,” you add substantial weight to your argument while only citing a single source.
- Data from recognized sources – In the eyes of a foundation, data from the Pew Research Center carries more weight than a survey conducted by John Smith from DataSource, Inc. Recognized sources might include major regional nonprofits such as the United Way or Area Agency on Aging, national foundations such Annie E. Casey or W.K. Kellogg, local or national media organizations, etc.
All of the data used in the Statement of Need should be as recent as possible and no more than five years old. In most nonprofit fields, a lot can change in five years. If you cannot find data from within this timeframe to support the need for your organization or program, it may be time to re-evaluate if the need exists.
- Demographics – Provide specific information about the population your organization/program serves. A no-kill animal shelter statement of need should include the number of unhomed pets in the community, the number of feral animals in the community, and the number of surrendered pets dropped off at shelters and the pound each year. A disability advocacy organization would provide statistics for the number of people in the community who have the type of disability served by the organization. Other demographics for the disability advocacy organization may include an age breakdown, income/poverty levels, healthcare needs, or any other population statistics relevant to the community they serve. The Census Bureau is an excellent source for most demographics data related to people in the United States.
- A Connection to Your Mission/Vision – Wrap up the Statement of Need by connecting it back to your organization’s mission/vision. There must be a constant thread throughout your proposal that ties all of the pieces together. If I were writing a Statement of Need for an employment organization, I could wrap up a series of statistics about local unemployment, underemployment, and families who are food insecure and/or at risk of homelessness by stating:
FloridaWorks! employment coaches stand ready to work with local job seekers to secure employment that will meet the financial needs of their household. Each job sets one more family on the path to food security and housing stability.
5. Any Criteria Required by the Funder – Read the application directions carefully. Some funders will ask for specific content in the Statement of Need section. Commonly requested content includes:
- Organizational Capacity/Qualifications – Does your nonprofit organization have the capacity (sufficient staff/facilities/project management experience/collaborative relationships/room to increase programs) and qualifications (certified staff/appropriate licenses and accreditations/network to increase reach) to respond to the problem? If funders include this requirement, it may be in the Statement of Need, in the Proposal, or in a separate section.
- Similar Organizations/Duplication of Services – Funders may ask you to address if there are other organizations/programs in your community that are already addressing this problem. If similar organizations exist, there are two viable reasons for funding an additional organization/program:
- Your organization is unique – If so, tell the funder what sets you apart from others who are trying to solve this problem.
- The demand for services is too high for the available programs to meet – For example, there is currently a shortage of licensed foster homes in most states. The public and nonprofit system is unable to meet the needs of children who are entering and living in foster care. If a nonprofit organization has the capacity and qualifications to develop or grow a foster parent licensing program, it is a necessary program in most regions. This is a valid justification for duplicating current services.
- Specific Demographics – Some funders are very precise about the demographics that need to be included in the Statement of Need. Common requirements include income, ethnicity, gender, and county/region. Watch for these guidelines.
Areas that can be Tricky:
- Statistics and Other Data in Text Blocks – Do you remember struggling with math word problems in school? From middle school through college, I remember a large portion of my classmates bemoaning math problems presented in paragraph format. It can be hard to keep track of which numbers attach to each label. If you are comparing numbers, it gets even harder. When sharing several numbers, make life easier for the grant committee by using infographics, charts, or tables. They present the data in a way that is easier to understand and provide a visual break in your proposal.
- Cite Your Sources Accurately – It is acceptable to summarize information from a report or paraphrase a quote due to space limitations. If you choose to change the wording or order of information from a source, be sure you do not change the results or implication of the data. For example, the infographic above pulls a few statistics from the United Way ALICE 2017 Report for Florida. The graphic lists only three out of more than a dozen statistics cited in the report for a county in Central Florida. The county was selected because it was more populous than most in the region but the data was still similar to the majority of the other counties.
The Statement of Need section verifies that you are seeking an investment for programs or services that are needed in your community. Funders are looking for a clearly identified problem, independent data that supports the existence of the problem and that validates the method you are using to address it, and a connection between the problem and your organization’s mission.
One of the most controversial “asks” in the nonprofit sector, alongside general operating expenses, is the request for capacity building funds. It can be challenging to find a funder who will financially support capacity building. Unlike a programming request, an organization cannot point to a specific event and report, “The company served an additional 500 people by upgrading its customer relationship management system.” It is more challenging to quantify the impact of purchasing upgraded technology—but it is not impossible. A nonprofit’s superpower is what it already has: the organization’s mission and vision. Capacity-building funding is central to American philanthropy and to a civil society. In order to thrive, nonprofit organizations need to be free to develop their skills and abilities—to get even better at what they do best. The National Council of Nonprofits defines capacity building as “whatever is needed to bring a nonprofit to the next level of operational, programmatic, financial, or organizational maturity.” It is the type of funding that allows a nonprofit to advance its mission and act on its vision. Capacity building funding is central to American philanthropy and to a civil society. In order to thrive, nonprofit organizations need to be free to develop their skills and abilities—to get even better at what they do best. This is why capacity building is vital. A nonprofit can enhance its capacity building requests in three ways: by focusing the lens on the organization’s mission; by expanding the lens to look at the organization’s vision; and by changing the lens to consider succession planning. All these elements can open funding streams that allow an organization to get even better at what it does best. Mission Impossible - Without Full Capacity When considering applying for capacity building grants, focus on the organization’s mission. This can be an effective way to frame a nonprofit’s funding request. Suppose an organization provides adult daycare services for seniors in its community. In that case, the organization’s mission might be to provide quality programming that supports the social and mental wellness of area seniors for improved health outcomes. Perhaps the team is noticing that the demand for its nonprofit’s services is exceeding the staff’s availability. The nonprofit may need to purchase a volunteer management system or recruit and train more volunteers. Collaborate with the team to articulate the request that will help take the nonprofit to the next level of programmatic maturity. To craft a persuasive capacity building request focused on the company’s mission, consider the following: Mission - What is the organization’s mission statement? Need - What does nonprofit need that it currently does not have in order to fulfill its mission? Data that supports this need - How does the team know the business needs this? Request - What is the nonprofit requesting? How much is the cost of each budget item? Include a budget breakdown for the funder. Return on investment - How will these capacity building funds help the nonprofit fulfill its mission? How does the team know? In terms of data, consider what would have the most impact on the potential funder. For example, if the organization is applying to a financial organization, the applicant might refer to the bottom line—the cost of doing business. In April 2024, the Independent Sector, in cooperation with the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland, reported that the estimated value of one volunteer hour in 2023 was $33.49, a 5.3% increase over 2022 (independentsector.org). How does that $33.49 contribute to the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission? Capacity building starts and ends with a nonprofit’s mission. The mission is what the organization does best. Make it clear why funding this capacity building request will help the organization do its best for the target population. Show, don’t tell, a potential funder how it is impossible for the business to fulfill its mission without being at full capacity in a given area of the organization, such as volunteer management. Vision Screening - Seeing up close and far away Mission is seeing up close. It is what the nonprofit team does on a day-to-day basis. Vision is far-sighted; it is stepping back and looking at what the organization wants to accomplish over a period of years. Suppose a company is a nonprofit that provides after-school mentoring for at-risk youth. The organization is receiving feedback that the needs of the students the team serves—and the needs of the mentors who serve them—are changing. Students need access to technology, and mentors need training on new tools and resources to best meet those demands. The company has been getting by with what is available, but it is time to step back and look at the bigger picture, to evaluate what could be possible for the organization and the people the team serves. It is time to review—or create—the organization’s strategic plan to identify and order the company’s needs. The strategic plan is a nonprofit’s roadmap to success. It helps a company prioritize its needs by outlining its goals and identifying how the team plans to meet that vision. A strategic plan outlines an organization’s identified needs over time. But how does a nonprofit balance the needs outlined in a strategic plan alongside the needs that arise from day-to-day interactions with the people the organization serves? When using a strategic plan to identify a vision-aligned capacity building funding request, consider the following: Vision - What is the nonprofit’s vision statement? Need - What are the organization’s immediate needs? How do these needs align with the nonprofit’s identified needs over the next 2-5 years? Data that supports this need - How does the team know these are the organization’s short-term and long-term needs? What are the data points? What is the nonprofit currently [not] able to do? Where are the gaps? How does the team know? Request - What does the nonprofit need to guide the organizational development? Can the organization do this work internally, or does the leadership team need to hire a consultant? Return on Investment - How will these capacity building funds help the nonprofit fulfill its vision? How does the team know? In terms of data points, how does the organization evaluate current services? Does the team use qualitative tools (narrative feedback), quantitative tools (surveys with closed-ended questions), or mixed methods (a combination of the two)? In terms of the request, what does the company want and need this request to include? If the organization has a lot of competing needs, it can be helpful to hire a consultant to guide the team through the prioritizing process. Include that cost in the capacity building request. Capacity building allows an organization to grow and meet the next level of operational maturity. Having—and using--a strategic plan is essential to a thriving and responsive nonprofit. Succession Planning - What you don't know can hurt you According to BoardSource’s latest Leading with Intent Report (2021), only 29% of nonprofits surveyed reported having a written succession plan in place (councilofnonprofits.org). While succession planning involves deliberate consideration of who will take over in the event of a retirement or other transition at the leadership level, succession planning is not an event (naming a successor); it is a process. If a nonprofit does not already have a succession plan in place or needs to update its plan, consider requesting capacity building funds to financially support this process. The National Council of Nonprofits (councilofnonprofits.org) identifies ten planning tips for leadership transition, from engaging the board and the staff in meaningful conversation about managing intentional transitions in leadership to dedicating time and money to deliberate on-boarding. This planning incurs costs, and securing capacity building funds can make this process easier. Leadership - What are the organization’s current leadership roles? Need - Why does the nonprofit want to develop a succession plan? What would be the impact on the organization and its programming if the nonprofit does not have a succession plan? How would such chaos impact the company’s mission and vision? Data that supports this need - What is the organizational structure? How does the team decide who serves in each capacity? How many Board members does the organization have? Staff members? Volunteers? How many people does the nonprofit serve? How many team members serve in multiple roles? Request - How would the organization use capacity building funds? Break down the component costs, from creating an Emergency Leadership Transition Plan to developing new leaders to onboarding leaders. Return on Investment - How will these capacity building funds allow the nonprofit to fulfill its mission and vision? How will it save the company time and money in the long run? Capacity building funds are necessary for securing the long-term health and survival of an organization. Data tells us that 71% of nonprofits are ill-prepared for a change in leadership, whether that change is planned or unexpected. Investing in purposeful succession planning using capacity building funds can help safeguard an organization, allowing the team to take the nonprofit to the next level of financial and organizational maturity. Be intentional The key to requesting capacity building funds is to be intentional. Know who the nonprofit is, who the nonprofit serves, and how the nonprofit serves (mission). Know where the organization is today and where it wants to be in 5-10 years (vision). Know who the leaders are today—and in five years (succession planning). All of these are part of capacity building. A contender is hard-pressed to complete a grant application or draft an LOI without addressing sustainability—how a team plans to stay afloat as an organization. Capacity building makes sustainability possible. By staying focused on the nonprofit’s mission and vision, an organization can craft a capacity building request that allows the team to get even better at what it does best. Now that’s a superpower!
Every child has a hero, someone who inspired vision in them, someone they aspired to be like. For me, as a little girl, I had two heroes- Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Seuss. Although from different times and disciplines, they both taught me invaluable lessons I still use today. Despite their different fields of expertise - Franklin in politics, science, and invention, and Dr. Seuss in children's literature - they both left a lasting legacy that continues to shape and inspire generations. Both were unique influential philosophers who found purpose and fulfillment through connections to others. From the wisdom of “Poor Richards Almanac” to the lyrical ingenuity of “Oh The Places You Will Go,” both Franklin and Seuss were storytellers with a voice for change. Their words made me think and encouraged me to dream. At eight years old, I knew I also wanted to write and tell stories that would encourage people and change the world. It's fascinating how childhood aspirations can pave the way for unexpected yet fulfilling careers. Little did I know that this passion would one day lead me to a successful career in grant writing. Inspired by the works of two literary giants, I found myself drawn to a path of advocacy and change. So, after a successful 25-year career in non-profit Executive leadership, I was given the opportunity to join the Pathways to Growth Team as a grant writer. Pathways has been a leader in the non-profit consulting arena for many years so to be able to work with the best of the best has been a privilege! To me, grant writing is a harmonious blend of science and art, where data-driven methodology meets creative expression to produce persuasive and impactful proposals. Sounds impressive, right? So, what did I learn about grant writing from these two? For that, I will start with good ole Ben.
Securing a grant represents a monumental achievement for any entity or individual striving to confront societal challenges or propel constructive transformations forward. It signifies a crucial step toward making a tangible impact and fostering positive change within communities. While obtaining a grant marks a substantial milestone, the true impact transcends mere acquisition; it hinges on the adept execution of the proposed program or project. Effectively implementing the envisioned initiatives is where the transformative potential of the grant truly manifests. Maximizing the impact of a grant necessitates a meticulous approach, characterized by thorough planning, strategic execution, and continuous evaluation. This comprehensive process ensures that resources are allocated judiciously and utilized optimally, ultimately leading to the attainment of desired outcomes. Below are eight fundamental strategies essential for the effective implementation of programs, designed to unlock the full potential and maximize the impact of grants. These strategies serve as guiding principles, shaping the trajectory of grant-funded initiatives toward meaningful and sustainable outcomes.
It is a very competitive grant world out there, so be sure you understand the vital link between board giving and grant success.
As the leader of your nonprofit, your leadership abilities are crucial for the welfare of your staff, volunteers, and the community you serve.
To quote my Aunt Babe (age 93), “It’s a poor dog that won’t wag its own tail.” This gives you permission to share positive observations about yourself.
his article is a continuation of a blog we posted two weeks ago on efficient productivity in grant seeking. Here is a recap of the first five steps: 1) Manage your Energy, Not Your Time, 2) Be Your Own Coach or Find A Trusted Coach, 3) Read About Productivity, 4) Set Goals. Let’s continue with #5…
Some of us are wired to organize and seek out efficient productivity. Some of us are not, but no judgment here! The good news is that regardless of how easy it is for you to stay organized and have efficient productivity on a daily basis, there are some tried and true steps that will help you stay on track and meet your grant goals.
I did not expect to receive lessons in grant seeking while on holiday break this year with my husband.
Writing the narrative takes the bulk of the time you spend preparing a grant proposal, just like mixing the cookie ingredients. However, grant budgets are just as important; they are like recipes when you are baking.
