The five documents funders check before they read your narrative

Most Executive Directors assume the narrative is where a grant is won. It is where a grant is lost, certainly. But by the time a reviewer reaches your program description, they have usually already formed a view of whether your organization can be trusted with the money.

That view comes from your attachments.

1. The Form 990

Your most recent 990 tells a reviewer your size, your revenue mix, how much you spend on program versus administration, and whether you filed on time. A late or missing 990 raises a question you will not be in the room to answer.

Check that the 990 on file with the IRS matches the story your proposal tells. If your narrative describes a growing organization and your 990 shows three years of declining revenue, someone will notice.

2. Audited financials, or a review

Funders above a certain award size expect an audit. Below that size, a financial review is usually acceptable, and for small organizations, internally prepared statements with board approval often suffice.

The mistake is not having the wrong level of assurance. The mistake is not knowing which level a given funder requires before you apply.

3. The board-approved operating budget

Two things get checked here: whether the budget was actually approved by the board, and whether the program budget in your proposal is consistent with it. If you request $75,000 for a program your own budget funds at $30,000, explain the difference before a reviewer has to guess at it.

4. Your board roster

Reviewers read board rosters for size, tenure, and relevant expertise. A board of three people, all related, all serving since founding, reads differently than a board of nine with staggered terms.

They are also checking for conflicts of interest, which is why the signed conflict of interest policy usually sits right behind the roster.

5. Outcomes data for the program you are proposing

Not activity counts. Outcomes.

"We served 240 participants" is an output. "Of 240 participants, 71 percent were stably housed twelve months later, compared with a 48 percent baseline" is an outcome, and it is the difference between a proposal that describes work and a proposal that demonstrates results.

If you do not have this data yet, say so plainly and describe how you will collect it. Funders fund organizations that are honest about what they do not yet measure. They rarely fund organizations that appear not to have considered the question.

Where this leaves you

If reading this produced a short list of documents you are not sure about, that list is the actual starting point. Pull all five and read them the way a reviewer would, in that order, before you write another word of narrative.