You've spent hours researching possible funding sources for your program, and you've found a few that seem to be a match.  You look up the deadlines and find one of these situations: either the due date has passed, is a week away, or is six months from now.   Should  you jam and go for the short deadline or take your time and wait for six months?

If you've taken the time to develop your goals and objectives, need statements, organizational history statement, and budget, you might just be able to turn the grant application around in a week.  Otherwise you may have to wait until the next funding cycle.

How can you determine the foundation's funding cycle?  You may have to do a bit of investigation to find out what a foundation's cycle is--look at their IRS Form 990, annual reports, and past grants awarded.  You can call the foundation and ask for its funding cycle.  It's a great question to get a conversation started and begin developing a relationship. 

It's pretty obvious why deadlines are important.  Deadlines mitigate procrastination. They motivate us to get something done.  They promote focus and  productivity. Deadlines and funding cycles are your friend.  They help you stay on task and plan for the future.  

 It does not make sense to develop and submit 100 grant applications asking for $10 each to fund a program that costs $100, just as it doesn't make sense to submit a grant application to a foundation for $100 when the published grant award range is between $25,000 and $50,000. You may think that you are being nice and "saving the funding" for other applicants but you would be better served by being strategic about the amount you request in your grant applications.


Foundations that are required to give away 5% of their profit by the IRS, often state the amount of money they expect to give away in individual grants. If the grant maker provides a range, make sure your project budget is presented within that range. Your proposal runs the risk of being tossed out if it does not meet those basic criteria. 


If you take the time to conduct research  on the funding agency, especially looking at their IRS 990 Tax Forms,  you can see what past funding levels were made by the grant maker. If your request is too low, your project may be seen as less deserving;  while too large a request may tell a funder that your organization does not have the capacity to carry out the work. Use the information gathered from your research to frame the application and budget for specifically to each funding agency, based on its past awards and published grant award amounts.