Grants can help nonprofits grow, but they were never meant to keep the whole organization alive. If your funding plan starts and ends with “we’ll get grants,” it’s time for a reality check.

After a decade of writing grants, I've seen some things… For example, I've inherited grant applications that were halfway finished, budgets that made absolutely no mathematical sense, and narratives that somehow answered every question except the one the funder actually asked. When organizations hire us, we're often stepping into applications that are already in progress. Sometimes we're reviewing drafts before submission, but most of the time, we’re reading through old propo