On Day 9, we talked about how frequently you might want to schedule time to review and discuss the funding opportunities with your grant team colleagues that you have researched.

For today’s challenge, we want you to look at the way that you document and share the information about potential funding opportunities with your grantmakers. How consistent is the format? Do you know what are the key details that your colleagues are looking for when assessing if a grant funding opportunity is a fit or should be a priority for the team to focus on?

The answers to those questions likely vary slightly from grant team to grant team, but there are a few basic things that most grant teams rely on you providing.

• Grantmaker name
• Funding opportunity direct website (so they can go directly to the source IF they want more information)
• Due date
• Amount of funding available
• Cost share or matching requirements
• Your recommendation of the amount to request 
• What project/program of your organization you think is the best fit AND why
• Questions to ask the grantmaker during outreach

To complete today’s challenge, if you don’t already have one, create a template document containing the critical information that YOUR peers expect so that whenever you go to summarize a new opportunity for discussion, you are starting from the template document. Your colleagues will thank you for making the process consistent and helping them to digest the information instead of having them hunt for the information they need for the discussion.

Don’t forget to share your journey on the 30 Day Grant Readiness Challenge by using the hashtag #grantreadiness on your posts and updates on social media.

Did you miss the launch of the 30 Day Grant Readiness Challenge? It isn’t too late for you to start! You can sign up at any point and it will start you back on Day 1!