October 21, 2025
The Impact Issue #83: Keeping Funders’ Attention
How to concisely and effectively communicate your impact.
Hi there!
We know that funders see a lot of applications, and sparking their interest and keeping their attention isn’t always easy.
This week, we’ll share tips on how to effectively communicate your impact, including conducting nonprofit impact measurements, reducing wordiness, and resources to help you collect data. We also have learning opportunities, potential grants, and so much more.
This issue is going to be a good one, so cozy up and settle in.
Welcome to The Impact.
Don’t Miss Out!
92% of nonprofits are adapting their fundraising strategies amid federal funding instability.
On Wednesday, October 22nd, join federal grant experts Fielding Jezreel, MSW, GPC, and Rachel Werner, MPA, GPC, PMP, to unpack findings from Instrumentl’s 2025 nonprofit survey (informed by 300+ organizations) and explore what this evolving landscape means for the future of your grants program.
You’ll learn:
- The top 5 fundraising strategies nonprofits are turning to
- Tips to prepare for federal grant opportunities in 2026
- Key insights to stay competitive and compliant in today’s landscape
- How to identify better-fit grants with Instrumentl’s new & improved discovery algorithm
Pitfalls and Pointers
⚠️ Pitfall: Using Data That Doesn’t Accurately Reflect Your Impact
Sometimes we think that any data is good data, and that’s simply not the case.
Using data for data’s sake won’t accurately reflect your nonprofit’s impact and may paint an incomplete picture of your organization’s success. It can also be confusing for funders, leaving them with more questions than answers.
💡 Pointer: Target Your Program KPIs Based on Your Mission and Goals
Your program’s key performance indicators (KPIs) should be clearly defined, quantifiable, and informed by your organization’s mission to ensure the data you’re gathering is meaningful.
Here’s how:
- Understand what success looks like to you. Success measures can vary from project to project, so you have to have a clear understanding of what success means and define it from the start.
- Collect relevant data. Let your idea of success guide what kind of data you collect. It’s not worth collecting data that’s not relevant to the impact you’re trying to achieve.
- Don’t get overly focused on the numbers. Personal stories and testimonials can often complement numbers to tell a comprehensive story. Don’t become so concerned about the numbers that you forget to listen to your constituents about how your programming is actually working in practice.
📘 Keep reading for more insights on nonprofit impact measurement!
Tech You Should Know
What:
Survey Monkey allows you to collect feedback through custom forms or one of the many free templates available.
How Grant Writers Can Use It:
- Solicit feedback. Use it to survey your constituents, staff, community partners, and more. You can quickly collect quantitative and qualitative data online.
- Create reports and graphics. You can export data in various ways, including using pre-made charts and other visual elements to incorporate into your reports for funders.
- Conduct research. You can solicit outside perspectives using their robust network of respondents if you need data in a pinch.
Keep in Mind:
- While there is a free plan available, you may need to pay to take advantage of the full features.
👀 Check out what SurveyMonkey can offer your nonprofit!
Expert Perspectives
🏆 Joanne Toller and Shoshana Grossman-Criston on Increasing Your Skimmability
Joanne Toller, Nonprofit Coach at The Cause Specialist, and Shoshana Grossman-Criston, Social Impact Compass, understand that funders are tired. Reviewing hundreds of applications a day can be exhausting.
However, there are steps that you can take to help you stand out, and one of the biggest they recommend is making your application skimmable.
Here’s their expert advice:
- Write short paragraphs. The longer the paragraphs, the easier it can be for reviewers to lose their place. Limit yourself to about 2-4 sentences per paragraph.
- Create clear headlines. Your headlines should clearly and concisely represent the main point of the section. Funders can read more if they are interested in the details.
- Integrate tables. Tables allow you to pull out your data so that it is clearly scannable, and your reviewers can quickly see data trends and impact.
- Avoid acronyms. You don’t want to assume that the reviewer understands any industry or organization jargon.
By following these quick tips, you’re going to make things easy for potential funders to see what you’re about and how you fit their needs.
🤯 Watch Joanne and Shoshana share even more tips to help elevate your applications!
🎁 A Gift for You 🎁
Whether you’re not sure where to start measuring your organization’s success or want to freshen your metrics, check out our Free Nonprofit Balanced Scorecard Templates.
This free resource will help you track performance across four categories, including financial, learning and growth, internal processes, and donor perspectives.
Together, these categories will provide a comprehensive look at your organization and help you identify opportunities to take it to the next level.
Opportunities Spotlight
🤖 The Rising Fund: Responsible AI Funding Cycle
Who It’s For: Nonprofits using AI to advance and serve the public interest
Next Deadline: June 13, 2026
Grant Amount: $50,000
The Details:
New Rising Ventures supports organizations working to transform our democracy through innovation. With this grant, they are looking to fund AI-driven solutions that protect communities, advance equity, and improve power imbalances. Priority will be given to projects that strengthen trustworthy media ecosystems, reimagine civic engagement, and enhance civic life and public interest technology.
🏠 RNP Foundation Grant
Who It’s For: Nonprofits focused on empowering community well-being
Next Deadline: Rolling
Grant Amount: $17,000 (median grant amount)
The Details:
The Ravi and Naina Patel Foundation is passionate about helping underserved communities, promoting education, nutrition, housing, and positive environments to empower well-being. They are looking to fund nonprofits focused on five areas: homelessness, education, environment, nutrition, and spirituality.
🔍 Explore thousands of additional grant opportunities in our grants database!
Networking Nook
📅 Conference: Southern Grants Forum 2026: A Honkey Tonkin’ Grant Time
July 13-16 | Nashville, TN
The Southern Grants Forum 2026 will equip you with all the latest developments for grant professionals, including updates on changes in grant management. You’ll get compliance tips, learn best practices, and connect with fellow grants professionals at this can’t-miss event.
Don’t miss out!
To check out more recent and upcoming live events, go here.
In Case You Missed It
📑 Article: Best Grant Management Software for Nonprofits
Effective tools can help you transform your operations, streamlining your end-to-end grant management processes. There are a lot of tools out there, and we’ve recapped the best to help you pick the right one for your organization.
📼 Video: How to Search for Good-fit Grants (Using 990 Data)
Go beyond Google and use 990 data to help you find your best-fit grants. Once you know where to look, you’ll save time and make more informed decisions about your grant strategy - it’s a win-win!
🎙️ Podcast: Measuring What Matters: A Guide to Meaningful Nonprofit Data Metrics
Teresa Huff, Founder of Grant Writing Simplified, shares more about how you can take a proactive approach to data collection, utilizing information you already have to supercharge your metrics and showcase your impact.
Transform Your Nonprofit Impact Measurement
With so much information, it can be hard to keep track of it all and determine what the single source of truth is.
With Instrumentl, this challenge becomes a thing of the past! We can help you:
- Collaborate with your team, providing a comprehensive view of upcoming tasks, grant deadlines, and so much more.
- Consolidate your document repository, offering a document library where you can house all your important information.
- Find new opportunities, matching you with best-fit opportunities to increase your impact.
100% Free Grant Writing Resources Straight to Your Inbox
