Funding Friday: The Right Grant, Not Every Grant: Building a Pennsylvania Funding Strategy

All week, we've been talking about grants.

For SWAN PA's Commonwealth Funding Week, we've examined Pennsylvania's changing creative-sector funding landscape, looked at which Pennsylvania Creative Industries opportunities are designed for different organizations, unpacked reimbursement funding, and discussed why being eligible for a grant doesn't necessarily mean an organization should apply.

For Funding Friday, we're bringing those conversations together because there is a larger point behind everything we've discussed this week: finding grants isn't the same as having a funding strategy.

A grant is a tool. It can help an organization launch a program, strengthen existing work, build capacity, reach new people, purchase equipment, employ staff, or accomplish something that might otherwise be impossible. Grants can be enormously valuable, but an organization that moves from application deadline to application deadline without a larger plan can easily end up letting available funding determine its priorities.

A sustainable funding strategy starts somewhere else. It starts with the organization.

Start With What You're Trying to Accomplish

Before searching for grants, an organization should be able to answer some basic questions about the coming year. What are we trying to accomplish? What will it cost? Which activities are essential to our mission? What do we want to expand? What needs to become more sustainable? Where are the gaps between our ambitions and our existing resources?

Once those questions are answered, fundraising becomes a process of finding the resources necessary to accomplish an established plan rather than building a plan around whatever funding happens to be available.

That distinction matters because grant opportunities can be seductive. A $25,000 or $100,000 opportunity can make almost any organization start imagining a project that might fit the guidelines. Sometimes that leads to innovation. Other times it leads to mission drift, overextended staff, new programs the organization cannot sustain, or projects that disappear as soon as the grant period ends.

The better question isn't simply, "What can we get funded?" It is, "What do we need to fund?"

Grants Should Be Part of the Strategy, Not the Entire Strategy

For many small and midsized nonprofits, grants play an important role in the revenue mix. Commonwealth funding, local and regional foundations, corporate giving, and other institutional funders can provide resources that would be difficult to generate elsewhere.

However, depending entirely or overwhelmingly on grants can leave an organization vulnerable. Priorities change. Programs disappear. Government budgets change. Foundation leadership changes. A longtime funder may decide to focus on another issue or geographic area. An organization can submit an excellent proposal and still be rejected because the funder received more strong applications than it could support.

A healthier development strategy generally draws from multiple sources. Depending on the organization, that may include government and foundation grants, individual donors, corporate contributions, sponsorships, giving days, special campaigns, memberships, events, planned giving, and earned revenue.

Not every organization needs every one of those things. In fact, trying to do all of them at once can create exactly the same problem as applying for every available grant.

The goal is diversification with intention.

Think About What Different Dollars Can Do

Not all revenue behaves the same way.

A restricted grant may be excellent for supporting a particular project but useless when the electric bill is due. A reimbursement grant may ultimately cover an expense but require unrestricted cash to carry the organization until reimbursement arrives. A sponsorship may support an event while also building a valuable relationship with a local business. Individual contributions may provide flexible dollars that can be used where they are needed most.

This is why development planning should involve more than creating a list of potential funders. Organizations need to consider the type of money they need, as well as the amount.

An organization could have $100,000 in restricted grant awards and still struggle to pay ordinary operating expenses if those grants cannot be used for the costs of keeping the organization functioning. Another organization with a smaller overall budget but a healthier mix of unrestricted and restricted revenue may actually be in a stronger financial position.

The total number matters, but so does what's inside it.

Build a Funding Calendar Before You Need One

One of the simplest things a small nonprofit can do is stop treating grant deadlines as surprises.

If your organization has recurring funders, Commonwealth programs, local foundations, giving days, annual appeals, sponsorship campaigns, or major events, put them on a development calendar. Include anticipated application periods, reporting deadlines, renewal dates, donor communications, sponsorship outreach, and campaign dates.

Then look at the entire year.

Are six major applications due in the same month? Does a reimbursement grant overlap with a period when cash flow is already tight? Are you asking the same donors for money three times in six weeks? Is your biggest annual appeal competing with your largest event? Are grant reports due during the busiest program period of the year?

A funding calendar doesn't just help an organization remember deadlines. It helps leadership see how fundraising activities interact with operations, programming, communications, and finances.

For a small organization where the same few people may handle several of those areas, that visibility can be invaluable.

Build Relationships, Not Just Applications

A funding strategy should also include what you can't capture on a grant calendar: relationships.

Funders are not simply application portals. Foundations, corporations, government agencies, community partners, and individual donors are made up of people who care about particular issues and communities.

When appropriate, learn about the organizations funding work in your field. Attend informational sessions. Read their priorities. Ask questions when guidelines invite them. Follow their announcements. Learn what they have funded previously. Invite people to see your work when appropriate, and communicate what your organization is accomplishing even when you aren't asking for money.

The first interaction with a potential funder does not always need to be an application.

The same principle applies to individual donors. If someone only hears from an organization when money is needed, that isn't much of a relationship. Share impact, celebrate accomplishments, say thank you, invite participation, and help supporters understand what their investment makes possible.

Fundraising works better when it is built on relationships rather than transactions.

Plan for What Happens After the Grant Ends

One of the most important questions in any funding strategy is also one of the least glamorous: What happens when the grant ends?

A grant-funded project may create new staff positions, subscriptions, equipment, programs, partnerships, or community expectations. If the funding lasts one or two years, organizations need to plan for year three.

Sometimes a grant supports a pilot that becomes self-sustaining. Sometimes another funder can continue the work. Sometimes the organization deliberately uses the grant to build capacity that will generate other revenue. Sometimes the program was always intended to have a defined beginning and end.

The important thing is to think about sustainability before the money disappears.

A successful grant can create a problem if it leaves an organization responsible for expenses it cannot maintain. Sustainability doesn't mean every project must continue forever, but it does mean understanding what obligations the organization is creating and how they fit into the long-term plan.

Remember the SWAN Grant Test

Yesterday we introduced the SWAN Grant Test:

Fit + Capacity + Timing + Return = Go or No-Go

That framework belongs inside a larger funding strategy.

Fit asks whether the opportunity aligns naturally with your mission, work, community, and the funder's priorities. Capacity asks whether your organization has the financial, administrative, and human resources necessary to manage the award. Timing asks whether this is the right moment for your organization to undertake the work. Return asks whether the potential benefit justifies the investment required to pursue and manage the opportunity.

Once an organization has an overall development plan, those decisions become much easier. Instead of evaluating every new grant in isolation, you can evaluate it against something.

Does this opportunity advance the plan we've already established? If it does, investigate further. If it doesn't, you may have found an opportunity that is perfectly good for somebody else.

Pennsylvania Funding Should Be One Piece of the Puzzle

The Commonwealth opportunities we've discussed this week can provide meaningful support to Pennsylvania organizations, particularly within the arts and creative sector. Understanding Spotlight, Creative Asset, Creative Catalyst, Creative Innovation and Impact, and other state programs should absolutely be part of funding research for organizations that may qualify.

But view Commonwealth funding in context.

Look locally as well. Community foundations, family foundations, businesses, corporations, county programs, local government, civic organizations, and individual donors may all have a role in supporting your work. Look regionally and nationally when the organization's mission and capacity make that appropriate.

Most importantly, don't overlook the people already closest to your organization. Board members, volunteers, program participants, audience members, families, alumni, community partners, and existing donors can become some of an organization's strongest advocates when they understand the mission and are given meaningful ways to participate.

A diversified strategy doesn't mean finding fifty different sources of money. It means avoiding unnecessary dependence on any single source while building a funding structure appropriate to your organization's mission, size, community, and capacity.

The Right Money Matters

Throughout Commonwealth Funding Week, we've talked repeatedly about reading beyond the dollar amount. That may be the most important takeaway from the entire series.

The largest grant isn't necessarily the best grant. An unrestricted $5,000 contribution may be more valuable in a particular moment than a restricted $25,000 award. A smaller grant from a funder interested in building a long-term relationship may be more strategically valuable than a larger one-time opportunity. A grant that requires your organization to create a program it doesn't really want may ultimately cost more than it contributes.

Fundraising success shouldn't be measured only by how much money an organization raises. It should also be measured by whether those resources help the organization become more stable, more effective, and better able to accomplish its mission.

The SWAN Takeaway

Commonwealth Funding Week began with a look at Pennsylvania's changing funding landscape, but the larger lesson applies to nonprofits of every type and in every community.

Know what you're trying to accomplish before looking for money. Understand the financial structure behind an award. Be realistic about organizational capacity. Apply where there is genuine alignment. Build relationships before you need them. Diversify thoughtfully, plan beyond individual deadlines, and give yourself permission to pass on opportunities that don't make sense.

A sustainable funding strategy isn't about pursuing every dollar available.

It's about finding the right resources, from the right sources, at the right time, to support the work your organization exists to do.

That is the difference between chasing funding and building sustainability.

Resources

Pennsylvania Creative Industries Grants and Loans:
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/coa/grants-and-loans

Pennsylvania Creative Industries Current Opportunities:
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/coa/current-opportunities

Pennsylvania Creative Industries Grant Management Help:
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/coa/grants-and-loans/grant-management-help

Candid Learning for Fundraisers:
https://learning.candid.org/

Grants.gov:
https://www.grants.gov/

As always, SWAN's information is intended as a starting point. Organizations should review current program guidelines and requirements directly with individual funders before making funding decisions.

Commonwealth Funding Week

Thank you for following along this week. If you missed one of the earlier posts, you can find the entire Commonwealth Funding Week series on the SWAN PA blog.

We'll continue talking about funding, nonprofit strategy, collaboration, accessibility, advocacy, and the practical challenges facing small and midsized organizations throughout Pennsylvania.

Connect. Collaborate. Impact.

Visit us at swanpa.org