Small development teams rarely lose grants just because of the writing. More often, they spend 15 hours on an application they were never going to win, and run out of time for the ones they could have.
What changed
In the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s State of Nonprofits 2026 report, almost 60% of nonprofit CEOs said it has been harder to secure foundation grants since January 2025. And 88% said they are considering pursuing funding from new funders or donors.
Meanwhile, foundation giving is holding steady, not growing. Candid reports that among 466 foundations that reported for both years, grant distributions totaled $19.4 billion in both 2024 and 2025, and the median payout rate has stayed at 5% for five years running.
Put those together and the picture is simple. Roughly the same amount of foundation money, with more organizations reaching for it. Writing more applications is a losing strategy in that market. Choosing better ones is not.
The 10-minute funder fit worksheet
Score every prospect before anyone opens a blank document. Six questions, zero to two points each. Base every answer on what the funder actually did, not on what its website says it wants.
Swipe the table sideways to see all the columns.
| Question | 0 points | 1 point | 2 points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do their recent grants look like your work? | No grants in your field | A few, loosely related | Several grants to work like yours |
| Do they fund where you work? | Never in your area | Statewide or national, rarely local | Regularly in your city or county |
| Does their typical grant fit your budget? | Far too big or too small to matter | Usable, but a stretch | A meaningful, realistic amount |
| Do they fund organizations your size? | Only large institutions | Mixed | Many grantees close to your size |
| Can you actually apply? | Invitation only, no relationship | Letter of inquiry first | Open application |
| Is the effort worth it right now? | Deadline collides with other work | Tight but doable | Time to do it well |
Then sort by total:
- 10 to 12: apply. Put it on the calendar now.
- 7 to 9: cultivate. Don’t apply yet. Ask for a call, invite them to a program, and build the relationship first.
- Under 7: let it go. Write down why, so nobody spends another afternoon on it next year.
A worked example
This one is made up, to show how the scoring plays out. A family literacy nonprofit with a $600,000 budget is looking at a regional foundation it keeps hearing about.
- Recent grants include two adult literacy programs and a library partnership: 2
- Funds across the state, with a handful of grants in the nonprofit’s county: 1
- Typical grant is $25,000 to $50,000, about 4% to 8% of the budget: 2
- Most grantees have budgets under $2 million: 2
- Letter of inquiry required before a full proposal: 1
- Inquiry deadline lands the same week as a government report: 1
Total: 9. Cultivate. The fit is strong, so the move is a short call with the program officer now and a letter of inquiry next cycle, when it doesn’t collide with the report.
Without the worksheet, this team would likely have rushed a letter of inquiry during report week. With it, they spend 20 minutes on a phone call instead and show up next cycle with a relationship.
Where to find the answers
For private foundations, the best evidence is the list of grants on the foundation’s most recent Form 990-PF. It shows who they actually funded and for how much. You can look up filings for free on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer. Read the last two or three years. One year can be a fluke. Three years is a pattern.
Keep your scores in one shared sheet with a column for the date you scored each funder. A pipeline that lives in one person’s inbox disappears when that person is out sick in February.
Where AI helps, and where it doesn’t
The slow part of this worksheet is the reading: pulling grants lists, totaling award sizes, noting geography, and tracking deadlines across dozens of funders. AI is good at that work. It can read a grants list and summarize the pattern in seconds, and it can draft the first pass of a letter of inquiry from your existing materials.
It shouldn’t decide fit for you, and it can’t build the relationship. The judgment call on whether a funder is worth your team’s time, and the phone call with the program officer, stay with people.
That is the split we built Grant Wizard around: software does the research and scoring, and your team makes the call.
How many of last year’s applications would have scored a 10 or higher?
Sources
- The Center for Effective Philanthropy, State of Nonprofits 2026: What Funders Need to Know, May 2026. Survey of nonprofit CEOs conducted February 2026.
- Candid, Foundation giving is up - but what about the payout rate?, July 6, 2026.
- ProPublica, Nonprofit Explorer (free search of nonprofit tax filings).
