The Most Strategic Fundraising Decision You Will Ever Make Is Knowing When to Walk Away
By Edward Jengo
Every open call for proposals feels like an opportunity. It is not. Applying indiscriminately is one of the most expensive mistakes a nonprofit can make – it burns staff time, dilutes focus, and leads to rejections that damage team morale.
The best fundraisers know when not to apply. Here is how to make that call.
1. The funder’s priorities don’t genuinely align with your work.
If you are rewriting your programme description to fit their language – stop. Surface alignment is not strategic alignment. When your mission needs to be bent, twisted, or repackaged to fit a funder’s checklist, you are not a good fit. You are a desperate applicant. Funders can tell the difference.
2. You have no relationship with them whatsoever.
Cold proposals to funders you have never engaged with return the lowest win rates in the sector. If you have not had a single conversation, email exchange or touchpoint with this funder before the deadline appeared, your chances are significantly lower than those who have. The absence of a relationship is a red flag worth respecting.
3. The grant size doesn’t justify the investment.
Calculate honestly. If a proposal takes forty hours of staff time to write and the grant is $3,000, you may be spending more than you are winning when you factor in salary costs. Small grants from misaligned funders are not stepping stones. They are distractions dressed as opportunities.
4. The reporting and compliance requirements are disproportionate.
Some funders attach reporting obligations, audit requirements, and activity restrictions that cost more to manage than the grant is worth. Read the fine print before you apply – not after you receive the funding. A grant that reshapes your programs, restricts your flexibility, or demands quarterly audits your team cannot sustain is not a grant. It is a liability.
5. The deadline is too close for quality.
A rushed proposal is a weak proposal. If you cannot do the research, write compellingly, gather supporting documents, and review thoroughly – do not submit. A poor proposal to a major funder can damage your reputation with them for future cycles. Waiting for the next round is always better than submitting something half-prepared.
6. You are applying out of panic, not strategy.
If the primary reason you are applying is that your current funding is running out, that is a crisis response, not a fundraising strategy. Panic applications are rarely competitive. Funders sense urgency born from desperation, and it undermines every word of your proposal.
The discipline to say no to the wrong opportunity is what protects your capacity to say yes to the right one.
Not every open door is yours to walk through. Walk through the right ones. Win more. Burn less.
(Edward Jengo is a Ugandan fundraising expert, and Chief Executive Officer of Bright Path Consult)
