Why Your Grant Proposal May Have Been Denied and What To Do About It

A denial letter from a grantor can be very discouraging, yet it is a common occurrence. When applying for a grant, there are always high hopes for an award. Although, many times the results are not what is wished for. 

When applying for any grant, you must know that an award is never guaranteed!

Rejection is one more step towards acceptance. Just because a grant proposal was denied, does not mean that your organization/company cannot gain funding from another grantor.

There are many reasons donors deny funding:

Capacity to give: Many funding sources have a finite amount of monies they can give each cycle, and most of what is requested from organizations exceed their budget. 

Competitiveness: In addition to this, many grants are competitive, and thus there is not enough funding available for all applicants. When applying for a competitive grant, there is less of a chance that your organization will be awarded the grant.

Priorities Wanted: Grantors have specific priorities and qualifications for the organizations that they want to give their funding to. If your organization technically meets the requirements, but only “touches” upon some priorities, it is less likely to receive the awarded grant.

Quality of the proposal: The biggest and most obvious reason would be the quality of the proposal. Grantors want to ensure that they are giving their funds to organizations that are worthy of it. If an organization fails to abide by the guidelines given (font, page limits, margin,etc.), an automatic red flag is presented. Furthermore, if the grant proposal was not well written, and presents a weak program design, grantors will most probably deny the application. Grant proposals must be clear, concise, and compelling. 

What to do if your grant proposal is denied

Get feedback from the grantor

Knowing the reason behind your denial letter will only improve your chances of being awarded a grant in the future. If your grant proposal was rejected by a grantor, make sure to send them a thank you letter for allowing you to have the opportunity to apply for their grant.

Moreover, contact the program officer and ask why your proposal was denied and for feedback on how you can improve your grant proposal for the future.

Apply for more grants

Accept all feedback and edit your grant proposal accordingly. There are many other grants accepting applications. GrantWatch is a great platform in which you can search for grants that are applicable to your organization’s needs.

As grants are never a guarantee, make sure to apply for several grants, so that if one funding source denies your award, you have the chance of receiving funding from another grantor.

Hire a grant writer

Grant writing is a tedious process, so you may choose to hire a grant writer for future grants. GrantWriterTeam is a great platform to hire a grant writer for your organization. Grant writers are experienced in what they do and they can greatly increase your chances of being awarded the grant. Grant writers can research grants that you qualify for and have a good chance of being awarded. They also have the writing skills to create a high-quality application.

Save the grant proposal written and hand it to your grant writer, so that he/she has a base to start with to apply for new grants.