Approaching the Unapproachable

There are over 100,000 foundations in the U.S. (PDF). But even though the vast majority of those foundations make grants, only a fairly tiny fraction openly accept applications for those grants.

Who are these closed-door funders? Many exist to fund specific entities, such as a hospital foundation that supports its namesake hospital. Others fund the same handful of organizations year after year. And still others like to investigate potential grantees on their own, reaching out to the organizations they choose to invite a grant application.

GrantStation's databases are limited to funders that have some sort of open aspect to their application process, whether that's a full application, a letter of interest or inquiry, or even an introductory email. If they provide a method for you to get your foot in the door, so to speak, GrantStation will consider the funder for inclusion. Our philosophy is that your grantseeking time and effort is best spent on funders that indicate that they want to hear from you.

This policy works well for organizations with limited staff and limited time. But we sometimes hear from organizations that want to know about a closed-door funder. There is a bit of an appeal to trying to get in touch with these entities where you won't be competing with as many other active grantseekers. But the process of reaching out to these organizations may result in a lot of work with potentially minimal, or no, return. We'd like to offer some thoughts and best practices for organizations that choose to go down that path.

These funders are often a bit of a mystery, so you should approach the task like other mysteries. Your first step is to do some research.

To begin, determine if the funder has a website. If you can track down a website, look to see if they explain their grantmaking philosophy anywhere on the site. Key places to look are the grants section, if available, or the programs or FAQs sections. Some may even put their grant policy on their contact page. Some funders will be very explicit, saying that their grantmaking is "by invite only" or that they "do not accept unsolicited requests."

In the absence of any clear statements about the grantmaker's policy, you need to think about why any information may not be listed. In many cases, if the funder wanted to hear from you, they would say so. Read their site thoroughly to get a feel for how accepting they might be toward unsolicited outreach.

Figuring out funders that don't have a website is a somewhat murkier process. In these cases, your main source of information will be the IRS Form 990. (The GrantStation website offers an explainer on the Form 990.)

For a Form 990-PF (the standard form for a private foundation), the most useful information will be on page ten in Part XIV.

Take a look at the top of section 2, with that little box: "Check here if the foundation only makes contributions to preselected charitable organizations and does not accept unsolicited requests for funds." In general, funders with this box checked will not be open to outreach. But keep in mind that the Form 990 is usually filled out by the accountant or bookkeeper, not program staff, so the information there is not always 100% reliable.

Funders that accept applications will generally include application information in this section (as in the example above), including an address and occasionally a phone number or email. However, in these instances, you still want to dig a little deeper before firing off an application. Take a look at several of the recent Forms 990 and compare the grantees. Are they all the same entities from year to year, or does the funder seem to fund a variety of different organizations each year? If the former, your chances of receiving funding are going to be less likely than if they seem to change their recipients from year to year.

Before you decide to send a request to a funder that doesn't explicitly accept applications, there are several factors to consider.

The first, and perhaps most important, concern is time and resources. You could put together dozens of letters and receive no grants, or even responses. Sometimes this process can be fairly demoralizing. GrantStation's State of Grantseeking Report has found over the years that, in general, an organization that applies for at least three grants is likely to get at least one of them. However, that math goes completely out the window if you are reaching out to closed-door funders. Initial outreach is not equal to an actual application. Your results will be fairly unpredictable.

You need to prepare yourself mentally to be able to deal with silence. Even if somehow you get on a funder's radar, it's possible that the pathways of communication could be cut at any time. The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently looked at MacKenzie Scott's grantmaking and detailed the experiences of an organization that started communications but then hit a wall of silence. The author stated the weight of such a process: "I still think about the hope and possibility I felt when I opened that email . . . and the angst, frustration, and sadness for what could have been that soon followed."

While reaching out to funders without open processes, keep in mind that they didn't ask you to send them information. While a followup may seem like the polite thing to do, the funder is under no obligation to do so. You need to set your expectations accordingly.

Closed-door funders can react to unsolicited communications in a variety of ways. Some may take a quick glance at the materials. Many others will put unsolicited information straight into the waste bin. And a select handful of funders will react much more antagonistically. While not common, we have seen a few funders explicitly state that organizations submitting unsolicited materials will be blacklisted; that is, they will be removed from any future discussions of grantmaking. So make sure you are weighing the potential risks and rewards before sending out your materials.

If you do choose to proceed, there are a few best practices to follow. The most important factor is to keep your outreach short. The funder did not ask for a full application, so anything that looks like an application may just get tossed aside. Try to keep your introductory materials to a single page; if the funder is interested in more information, they will request it.

Be very clear about what your organization is, and what your programs do. Try to include concrete information: "We serve this number of people and have achieved these specific outcomes." Also be clear about what any grant money could help your organization accomplish: "With this number of dollars, we can serve this many additional individuals or expand our reach to an equal number of individuals in this neighboring community."

Lastly, you should design your outreach with a degree of personalization. You don't want your materials to look like they've been mass-produced for submittal to every funder you can find. Why specifically are you reaching out to this funder, and how will support of your organization help the funder achieve their own mission? It's not just a question of how the funder can help you; the relationship must be mutually beneficial.

Reaching out to closed-door funders isn't easy, and the process won't make sense for many organizations. If you do choose to make that effort for your organization, be prepared for some silence and frustration. But with some careful preparation of your introductory materials and a bit of luck, you may potentially find a diamond in the rough.