If Your Proposals Keep Getting Rejected, Look Beyond the Proposal
By Dr Michael Kiragu
“I’ve been trying to submit proposals all the time, but I receive rejections.”
“We only get funding for an average of 1 out of 10 applications.”
I hear variations of these questions quite often.
So what do many do? They usually start by looking at the proposal itself. Are we writing well enough? Is our case convincing enough? Do we need to improve our grant writing?
Those are fair questions. But in my experience, improving grant writing alone may only lead you back to the same problem: rejection.
I think you need to look at the programmes you’re asking funders to support. This is where creativity and innovation matter.
Creativity is about generating new ideas. Innovation applies those ideas to solve problems. Done well, innovation can strengthen your programmes and your case for funding.
How nonprofits can leverage innovation
I see innovation helping nonprofits in three important ways.
- Adapt to changing needs – What worked five years ago may not be the most effective response today. Innovation creates room to listen, learn and adapt.
- Improve programme effectiveness – Sometimes you don’t need a completely new programme. A different way of delivering something you already do may produce better results.
- Strengthen your case for funding – An organisation that shows it understands the problem, learns from experience, and improves its approach gives funders more to consider than a list of activities.
For me, this is one of the most important things about innovation. It moves an organisation from asking, “How do we keep doing this?” to asking:
“Is there a better way to achieve the change we are trying to create?”
Innovation becomes much easier when an organisation creates the conditions for people to explore that possibility.
But for that question to work, someone has to create the environment for it.
Who drives innovation in a nonprofit?
Innovation may involve everyone, but I believe leadership plays an important role.
Leaders create the space to question, test and learn.
They also set the tone when something doesn’t work. If every failed experiment is treated as a mistake, people will eventually stop bringing forward new ideas.
I think that starts with three things:
- Set a clear direction – People need to understand what the organisation is trying to achieve and which problems matter most.
- Create space to experiment – Not every idea needs to become a major program. Give people room to test, learn and improve.
- Model the behaviour yourself – Leaders don’t have to have all the answers. They can show that asking questions, trying new approaches and learning from failure are part of good organisational practice.
Leaders don’t need to be the source of every innovative idea. Their role is to create the conditions where good ideas can emerge, be tested and become better.
So, how do you begin? Three pathways to innovation
1. Go Open: Create space for new ideas
Talk to your staff. Listen to the communities you serve. Ask funders whether there is room to test new approaches. Look for opportunities to pilot an idea on a smaller scale before committing resources.
And don’t be afraid to negotiate. If testing a new approach could improve the program, make the case for the resources needed to test it. You don’t have to get everything right the first time. You need room to learn.
2. Go Deeper: Understand the real problem
I often see organisations move quickly from identifying a problem to deciding on a solution.
But how well do they actually understand the problem?
Tools such as Root Cause Analysis, the 5 Whys, or a Fishbone Diagram can help you look beyond the first explanation.
The purpose isn’t to make program design complicated. It is to avoid solving the wrong problem.
When you understand the root causes more clearly, you can develop solutions that address those causes rather than simply treating the symptoms. That can lead to programmes that are more relevant, effective and compelling to funders.
3. Go Wider: Learn from outside your sector
Innovation doesn’t have to come from within the nonprofit sector.
A healthcare organisation may have an interesting approach to community engagement. A technology company may have a useful way of understanding user needs. A university may have research that changes how you think about a problem.
Look beyond your usual circles, and when you find an approach that works elsewhere, don’t simply copy it. Ask:
“Could something like this work in our context?”
What does this have to do with your next grant proposal?
Quite a lot. If your organisation is experiencing repeated grant rejections, I wouldn’t look only at the proposal.
I would look at the programme behind it.
Ask yourself:
- Are we responding to a clearly understood problem?
- Are we learning from the people we serve?
- Are we testing and improving our approach?
- Are we willing to question what we have always done?
- Are we looking for ideas beyond our usual sector?
- And are we creating enough space within the organisation for those ideas to emerge?
Because a strong proposal can explain a good programme, but it cannot create one.
Improving fundraising starts with improving what you are asking funders to fund.
(Dr Michael Kiragu is a Kenyan fundraising expert, and Founder and Principal Consultant at Bell Consultants)
