With open-ended funding opportunities, it can be difficult to understand just how much to ask for.
Too much could disqualify you—while too little could leave your project underfunded. But never fear!
In this week’s edition, we’ll share tips, insights, and resources to help you request the amount that’s just right.
Settle in like Goldilocks. Welcome to The Impact.
Pitfalls and Pointers
⚠️ Pitfall: Asking for a Random Grant Amount Without Research
When submitting proposals, many nonprofits take a shot in the dark when it comes to their funding requests.
They may look at their program needs to inform their request without researching the funder’s history to understand if that amount is feasible. They risk their applications being immediately thrown out, leaving their organization scrambling to close the funding gap.
💡 Pointer: Research Funders' Past Giving History to Determine Grant Amount
Most funders are creatures of habit. They award similar grant sizes in similar focus areas year after year—but you’d never know that if you didn’t know where to look.
That’s where their Form 990s come in. These annual tax documents can provide a treasure trove of information to help inform your strategy.
Here’s what to look out for:
- Grant Amounts: Look for patterns in giving, including grant sizes they’ve awarded to nonprofits similar to yours. If there is a range of grant sizes, you can request the average amount to be safe.
- Past Grantees. Analyze their giving history. Do they invest in your focus area? Have they given to nonprofits similar to yours in size? Do you have connections that can give you a leg up? You want to understand how you stack up against their past grantees to understand your odds of success.
- Openness to New Grantees. Explore if the funder has given to the same nonprofits year over year. If they have given to new organizations, is there a size disparity in gifts? They may reserve their largest gifts for long-standing partners, but you could use a smaller gift to help build relationships over time.
You can review these insights manually, but it would take hours to crunch the numbers while pouring over confusing tax documents. Alternatively, you could use a tool like Instrumentl that breaks down all of these giving trends into easy-to-read snapshots.
⚡ For more tips, check out this guide to making strategic grants asks!
🎁 A Gift for You 🎁
Determining which grants to pursue—let alone how much to ask for—can be challenging.
Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be!
We’ve put together The Ultimate Go vs. No-Go Grant RFP Evaluation Tool to help you effectively and efficiently decide which grants are worth your team’s time and efforts.
Expert Perspectives
🏆 Rhea Wong on Adopting the Right Money Mindset
Grant consultant Rhea Wong understands that talking about money can be uncomfortable—but this mindset could be holding you back. She encourages fundraisers to reframe their relationships with money to increase their odds of grant success.
Here’s her expert advice:
- Ditch the scarcity mindset. If you go into fundraising or grant seeking thinking you won’t receive enough funding, you probably won’t. You need to believe there is more than enough money out there to fund your work, and you’ll start to see more opportunities instead of roadblocks.
- Understand where your relationship with money comes from. A lot of our beliefs about money come from how we were raised. That can influence our approach to fundraising, so try to understand the root of your values.
- Check your biases and limiting beliefs at the door. Now that you know why you think about money and fundraising the way you do, do the work to deconstruct those beliefs. Lean in and do the things that scare you; you may realize they’re not as intimidating as you thought.
💸 Watch the master class on how to evolve your money mindset!
Opportunities Spotlight
💰 Nasdaq Quarterly Grant Program
Who It’s For: Nonprofits empowering financial literacy
Next Deadline: Aug. 9, 2025
Grant Amount: $75,000
The Details:
The Nasdaq Foundation is looking to make a difference and increase financial literacy in our communities. Grants typically focus on programs that empower financial knowledge and confidence or support diverse entrepreneurs to help scale their organizations.
🌎 Grassroots Leadership Fund
Who It’s For: Nonprofits focused on disaster relief programming, including climate-driven urban flooding
Next Deadline: December 13, 2025
Grant Amount: $7,500/year for two years
The Details:
The Grassroots Leadership Fund, in partnership with the Kresge Foundation’s Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) Initiative, seeks to support disaster relief programming, particularly for organizations that focus on equity-based climate resiliency approaches to urban stormwater and wastewater systems. It is intended to be a capacity-building grant to help scale impact.
🔍 This is just the start—explore more grant opportunities now!
Networking Nook
📅 Conference: Raise 2025
September 8-9 | San Antonio, TX
Learn more about event fundraising trends, receive tangible takeaways, and network with peers at this premier fundraising conference. By the end, you’ll feel empowered to evolve your fundraising strategy, innovate your storytelling capabilities, and so much more.
Don’t Miss Out!
To check out more recent and upcoming live events, go here.
In Case You Missed It
📑 Insights Report: Where Is the Most Funding? Grant Funding Across the U.S.
Get insights into the competitive grant landscape, including grant success rates by state and region and trends that can help influence your future grant strategy. This report will help you understand how to best position your nonprofit to win more grants.
📼 Video: How to Secure $1 Million in Private Grants
Join grant expert Julie Starr for a crash course on how you can scale your grant revenue. You’ll learn how to refine your research and build diversified funding streams.
🎙️ Podcast: Can I Use a Grant to Fund My Idea?
Join grant professional Teresa Huff as she explores how to take your ideas and expand upon them to develop meaningful and impactful programming. She’ll help you learn how to build credibility, demonstrate relevance, and so much more in this podcast.
Shoot for the Moon, but Keep Your Feet on the Ground
Knowing how much to request from foundations and other funders can seem intimidating at first. Thankfully, Instrumentl is here to help.
With robust and easy-to-read 990 insights, Instrumentl takes the guesswork out of funding requests.
