Do not wait for the grant announcement to become grant-ready

[Viable Food]

A strong funding opportunity can move quickly.

Organizations often lose valuable time after an announcement trying to assemble things they could have prepared long before the deadline.

Grant readiness may include:

• basic organizational documents,
• current financial statements,
• project budgets,
• ownership or site-control information,
• letters of support,
• community-need data,
• vendor estimates,
• project timelines,
• board approvals,
• operating assumptions,
• and a clear explanation of what the project will accomplish.

For grocery projects, it also helps to have the underlying business case ready.

A grant can close a financing gap.

It should not be the first time anyone asks whether the project itself makes sense.

What document or piece of information has been hardest for your organization to assemble quickly when a funding opportunity opens?