FIND FUNDING FASTER: Fundraising Playbook (Part 2 of 4): ANALYZE & PRIORITIZE (with a dash of SERENDIPITY)
Steal the step-by-step fundraising playbook typically reserved for our clients. Are you a FUNDER? Share with your favorite impact leaders so they can raise money without raising their blood pressure.
Dear Green Innovators,
In this edition of Find Funding Faster, let’s plunge into Part 2 of our Fundraising Playbook: Analyze to Prioritize (with a dash of SERENDIPITY)!
Woke up with a sore throat at 5 am and a fever—what a week! Seems like we're all in the same leaky boat. I hope you’re keeping well…
Now, onto the juicy stuff – why "analyze to prioritize"?
Searching for funds is overwhelming. So many options, it's like herding cats.
Some clients tackle it by focusing on one funder at a time, ignoring others until they have a clear YES/NO.
We suggest a middle path – start with a funding 'Kitchen Sink' of opportunities, then analyze to prioritize the few you want to pursue.
How it works:
Appoint a Fundraising Quarterback as we discussed in Part 1 of the Fundraising Playbook (maybe you or the Impact Stars crew).
Score each opportunity using a spicy Scoville Scale. Anything over a Carolina Reaper, we move to the priority bucket.
Present to the team, get feedback.
Decide which opportunities make the final cut, and move into Execution Mode.
And what about this “dash of serendipity” that I speak of?
If a perfect opportunity falls from the sky, grab it. Many grants, prizes, and funding competitions are announced without warning with a few weeks to a few months to apply.
We scrape the web daily for our clients to surface these opportunities from Discord groups, Slack, Google searches, funding databases and directories, and our own network. We even assign a quick HEAT SCORE to prioritize and triage them. But it is still requires time and effort to submit each application. I wish it wasn’t so, but it is — and these can often be the best fit for your needs. So it’s best to leave a little wiggle room on your calendar for them.
Case-in-Point:
Yesterday, we saw an investment prize worth $500,000, and immediately sent it to two founders it was right for.
Here’s the problem: The deadline - December 15, 2023.
It was already mid-morning on December 13, 2023.
That’s less than 48 hours to respond.
For one of them, it was a Carolina Reaper on the Scoville Scale. Really hot. For the other one, it was more of a Poblano pepper.
As an aside, I wish funders would understand the stress these bespoke application processes put on my clients. I have a win-win solution… but changing the system is beyond the scope of this humble newsletter.
Create your own weighted scoring method:
Timing: Funding opportunities vary – some evergreen, others time-bound. Prioritize based on timing.
For instance, SBIR grants have specific open and close dates. I've assisted clients in winning these grants for operations, R&D, and salaries, but these aren't a cakewalk. Blocking time in advance is key, and the biggest mistake I’ve seen is not leaving enough time to do the many administrative tasks you need to do for a federal grant.
Fit: Assess the chance of getting funded. Is it a match made in heaven or a mismatch? If uncertain, tag a team member for a second opinion.
We use Notion or Monday.com for our Fundraising Management System (based on our clients’ preferences), allowing seamless collaboration. Want access to our tool? Let me know; we might consider releasing it as a DIY product if there's interest.
Effort: Funding efforts range from easy wins to Herculean tasks. Quickly review and determine the workload, assigning an Effort Score.
For example, contacting a philanthropist might be an email away, while a prize competition could involve extensive paperwork, financials, and recommendations.
Relationship: Gauge how warm the lead is – a subjective measure. We calculate based on our familiarity with the potential funder, their needs, and the strength of the relationship.
One of our clients mentioned that their advisor is connected to a certain association of family offices that is focused on regenerative agriculture. So we focused on that opportunity first, since we can get a warm introduction to the exact individuals looking for exactly what my client offers.
Cut Ruthlessly
Some opportunities don't quite cut it after the Scoville Score is applied. They lack enough heat. We tailor a unique weighted scoring method for each organization. It's dynamic, evolving with organizational changes. I invite you to do the same for yours. Keep it simple to begin with, then finesse it as you go along.
For instance, if you can handle only one application and six outreach emails monthly, that's enough to focus on. But as you secure capacity-building funding in six months, amp it up, prioritizing multiple opportunities at the same time.
Action Item: Figure out your capacity—how many can you handle simultaneously?
So to recap where we are and where we’re going next:
PLAY #1: IDENTIFY THE RIGHT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
If you missed last week’s issue, the first step in the Find Funding Faster Fundraising Playbook is to curate the right funding opportunities.
PLAY #2: ANALYZE & PRIORITIZE (with a dash of SERENDIPITY)
In this second issue, you learned how to analyze in order to correctly prioritize. This prevents overwhelm by scoring each funding opportunity based on its weighted composite HEAT score.
PLAY #3: JUST SHIP IT!
In this third issue hitting your inbox next Friday, you will learn to avoid all the pitfalls when you move into Execution Mode. This is where the rubber meets the road, and your project management skills need to be A+.
Subscribe now to receive the next play in the Find Funding Faster Fundraising Playbook and future issues hot off the press.
PLAY #4: ITERATE & RECALIBRATE
In the fourth issue, we will explore how to learn from your fundraising efforts in real time, so you can adapt accordingly. Even when you fail, it’s all grist for the mill:
Didn’t win a grant? No problem. We can repurpose it to win another one in a few weeks.
Got rejected by a grant maker or investor? Let’s do a post-mortem so we can improve the deck for the next pitch meeting.
Seeing traction when you added financials? Let’s see how we can share them with those that said MAYBE and move them to a YES.
If you’re not raising money:
Use this playbook to come up with a list of customers and partners. The process is exactly the same.
Case Study:
This week, we took a client’s Kitchen Sink list of funding opportunities from several hundred down to TWO that are smokin’ hot (Carolina Reaper Pepper Heat Score or higher). This - in addition to a SERENDIPITY grant that landed in our laps that was too good to pass up.
In next week’s issue, I’ll show you how to use AI to speed up the process of applying for grants, contacting funders, and keeping up with ALL. THE. THINGS. without losing your sanity.
Share this newsletter if you feel so moved to do so!
All of you who have replied and reached out to give me feedback and ideas for this newsletter, thank you. It gets better every single week with your incredible insights.
Lorriane shared her low-tech but effective grant management system:
“My system is a grant only calendar —an old fashioned paper one, where I can see a whole month and I write notes and deadlines and estimate of how long it will take. I have the ones I want to consider at the top. I fill in the next months as I find possible ones then research to narrow it down to what the 3 of us can do realistically.”
One little bonus idea that you can implement TODAY to create an asset you can use over and over again in pitch decks, grant proposals, on your website:
Reach out to your customers, existing funding partners, collaborators, and ask them to give you a testimonial.
Here’s what my clients Victoria said about Magnetic Pitch Method pretending to be me (wait for Kenny’s Booyah! at the end):
They are in the toughest part of the process, and to their credit, they’re willing to do the hard work to make their pitch decks irresistible to funders.
If the beneficiaries of your product or service don’t want to bring it into existence, no fancy pants Fundraising Management System can save you. Sophisticated funders see right through fluffy pitch decks and presentations.
Happy users, satisfied customers, and real impact? That's the magic potion. Selling your vision becomes a breeze, sometimes unnecessary.
Your right-fit funding partners don’t want to miss the train—it's leaving the station, and they feel lucky to be on board.
That's Magnetic Pitch in a nutshell. Drop me a note if you want to be be invited to be included in our Founding Member Launch.
Till next time, stay warm and safe!
Green regards,
Neesha Mirchandani
P.S.
We believe the road to impact doesn’t need not be motivated by anxiety-triggering climate doom and gloom news. But please unsubscribe if our memes and gifs are too corny for you!
P.P.S.
Drop your favorite remedies for a sore throat? So far, I’ve tried gallons of tea, but it’s not really working. I’ll try anything (except yogurt — I don’t do yogurt)!
Only Because The Lawyers Made Us:
Impact Stars and its affiliates do not provide tax, legal, or accounting advice. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only, and is not intended to provide, and should not be relied on for, tax, legal, or accounting advice. You should consult your own tax, legal, and accounting advisors before engaging in any transaction.
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