How to Find Emergency Grants during the Pandemic
- Author: Kelly Cooke
- Posted: 2024-09-25
When facing a pandemic such as Covid-19, nonprofits should liaise with their current grant providers as soon as possible. However, it may be possible that your organization has received grant funding in the past but doesn't have any current funder. Also, your establishment may not have received any such funding before.
If your foundation does not have any current funders to contact, you will still need to find a way to deal with the emergency. That is because you need funds to continue working on your various projects. Below, find the guidelines you should follow to increase your entity's chances of getting grant funding:
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1. Look for Emergency Nonprofit Funding
During the Covid-19 crisis, different organizations in the United States set aside billions of dollars as emergency funds to help nonprofits that had been affected by the pandemic. And although most of them have so far exhausted the emergency grants, you may find others that continue to finance organizations this year.
If you are interested in applying for such grants, find out the requirements and details for the emergency financing provided in your locality. You may also reach out to your area community foundation and ask whether they give out emergency grants. If you find that the application period is still on and you have all the requirements needed, don't hesitate to apply for the emergency fund. However, ensure you have all the funders need before applying for the funding.
2. Only Apply for Grants that Your Organization Has High Chances of Qualifying
Each organization has specific requirements that grant applicants should meet to increase their winning chances. Some funding organizations' needs will match your entity better than others. Therefore, you should evaluate different funding organizations and only apply for grants from those you are highly likely to win.
Check whether the granter's mission relates to that of your organization. Also, find out if the grant foundation you are interested in finances organizations in your area. It will also help to inquire if the granting organization finances a project in mind. If you find a funding entity that matches most of your organization's qualities, go ahead and send out grant applications.
You must prove that your projects will benefit the community and apply for an amount of money that the granters are likely to give you. Funders grant different amounts to different foundations.
3. Prepare a Winning Application
The only thing that can show that you are ready to apply for grant funding is through having a grant application that meets all requirements. Your proposal must show that your projects are essential, different, help certain needs, and worth investing in. You should also ensure that it explains how your vision matches that of the funder.
You should hire a professional grant writer if you are a first-time applicant. That is because you don't want to make a single mistake that might disqualify you from winning the grant funding. An expert has all the skills required to write a winning grant application, and hence they will boost your chances of getting the much-needed project financing.
Ensure to have all the requirements before filling out the forms. Also, don't leave out any details required by the funding organization. Be sure of the application deadline to avoid sending out the application when it is over.
4. Have Proper Skills and Confidence to Follow the Right Steps
Covid-19 has brought several changes in most of our lives; one of them is forcing us to stay home. You can use that opportunity to acquire more knowledge and develop your skills. Spare some time to read helpful information and professional development blogs. You may also spend time reading about applying for grant funding if you are interested in the same.
You could also learn how you can use grants to finance your projects. It may provide you with extensive knowledge about the different grants you can apply for and the requirements for each of them. Then use the information acquired to apply for grants from different organizations. That can help you have better chances of resuming business operations when the pandemic is over.
Conclusion
The last few months have been challenging for most organizations, especially those used to getting finances from grant funders. The good thing to note is that you can follow guidelines to make a difference in the coming months. And since grant seeking can be challenging during the pandemic, the above pointers will help you know what you should do if you need financing during the crisis.
