The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs

Chapter Five

Declining Proposals

I'm just a gal what cain't say no

I'm in a terrible fix

I always say “c'mon, let's go”

just when I oughta say “nix”

So sang the acutely self-aware Ado Annie in the musical Oklahoma! Whatever Annie's subsequent career path may have been, it is a safe bet that she did not become a program officer, for one skill indispensable to that position is the ability to say no, both often and well. It is an inescapable fact of life that foundations receive many more proposals than they can possibly fund. Although the proportion varies from institution to institution, it is not unusual for the decline-to-fund ratio to stand at five to one. At some larger foundations, it exceeds ten to one.

When asked what they do for a living, ...