What Do Grant Funders Look For? 8 Things Reviewers Check

Grant funders look for eight things: a strong fit with their priorities, a clearly evidenced need, specific measurable outcomes, a credible plan, an organization capable of delivering, a realistic budget that matches the plan, a way to measure results, and a plan for what happens after the grant. Make each one easy to find in your application.

The eight things reviewers check

1. Fit

Does the project match the funder's mission, priorities, geography and grant size? This is the first filter.

2. Need

Is the problem real, local and urgent? Use data and voices. See statement of need.

3. Outcomes

What will change, for whom, by how much, by when? See goals and objectives.

4. A credible plan

Are the activities clear, realistic and likely to produce the outcomes?

5. Capacity

Can your organization deliver? Staff, partners, governance, financial controls and track record.

6. Budget

Is it realistic, clear and aligned with the activities? See grant budget.

7. Evaluation

How will you know it worked? See evaluation plan.

8. Sustainability

What happens when the grant ends?

Use the funder's scoring criteria

If the funder publishes scoring criteria or weights, structure your answers around them and spend the most words where the most points are.

Avoid the common traps

See grant writing mistakes for the errors that undermine otherwise strong applications, and the full process in how to write a grant proposal.