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

Assessing Organizational Capacity

There is a final test that every proposal must pass: Can the organization submitting the proposal truly pull it off? Do they have the capacity to make their ideas work in the real world? Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to fund the idea and find out, but there are a few clues to look for in the proposal that may foreshadow the answer. The first lies in the tone of the language. Extravagant or grandiose prose is often a fig leaf used to hide an organization's substantive shortcomings. The second clue is found in the match between the narrative and the budget of the proposal. Is the applicant promising boutique outcomes for bargain-basement prices? Conversely, is the grantseeker grossly overestimating ...