grant Application strategy for nonprofits

You sit down at the beginning of the month and look at your grant calendar. 

There are 17 opportunities your nonprofit could apply for. 

So how many should you actually pursue? 

Two? 

Five? 

All 17? 

For most nonprofits, the best answer is not a fixed number. 

A nonprofit should apply for as many well-aligned grants as it can realistically research, prepare, submit and manage without sacrificing application quality or ignoring the work that comes after submission. 

For many small and mid-sized nonprofits, that may mean starting with 1 to 4 full grant applications per month and going from there. 

A nonprofit with dedicated grant staff, well-prepared proposal materials and an extensive qualified pipeline can probably do more. 

But this range represents a general approach, not a strict industry standard. 

A complicated federal proposal and a two-page application to a private foundation are both “grant applications,” but they often require very different levels of effort. 

Grants.gov notes that developing a federal grant application may take weeks and encourages applicants to evaluate their capabilities in relation to opportunity eligibility and technical requirements. 

Rather than asking just: 

How many grants should we apply for every month? 

You should ask: 

How many strong applications can we realistically submit to funders that are a good fit for us? 

This number is much easier to control. 

And if private foundation outreach is part of your strategy, see our article on how many Letters of Inquiry a nonprofit should send each month. 

How Many Grants Should a Nonprofit Apply for Each Month? 

There is no fixed monthly grant application target. 

But a practical framework could look like this: 

These numbers do not guarantee success or industry standards. 

They are simply a way to think about capacity. 

A nonprofit submitting one complicated proposal could end up putting in more work during that month than another nonprofit that submits four shorter private foundation applications. 

What matters is not whether you reach a certain arbitrary number. 

It is whether your applications are: 

• Eligible 
• Well aligned 
• Complete 
• Competitive 
• Submitted on time 
• Worth the staff effort 
• Supported by a realistic follow-up and grant management process

A good grant search engine can help you find the foundations that support your cause, in your area and for the amount you need.

Quick Answer: Is There an Ideal Number of Grant Applications Per Month? 

No. There is no ideal number of grant applications every nonprofit should submit each month. 

Your monthly target should depend on: 

• The number of actual qualified opportunities 
• The complexity of the applications 
• Your team’s capacity 
• Research needs 
• Funding objectives 
• Deadlines 
• Relationships with the funders 
• Number of submitted and awarded grants you are currently managing 

What you need is consistent, qualified grant activity, not maximum number. 

Why Applying for More Grants Does Not Automatically Mean More Funding 

It is easy to turn grant seeking into a numbers game. 

If applying for three grants creates three opportunities, applying for 30 must create ten times as many. 

Right? 

Wrong. 

Only if all those 30 applications are solid. 

Imagine two nonprofits. 

Nonprofit A submits 20 applications this month. 

But half of the funders have little mission alignment. Some usually fund organizations in other regions. Some applications are rushed in the final 48 hours. Some applications lack one required attachment. 

Nonprofit B submits four. 

All funders support the mission of the nonprofit. 

All four make grants in the region of the nonprofit. 

Grant amounts are consistent with previous awards. 

Applications are customized. 

Whose strategy would you prefer? 

Volume can help increase the number of qualified opportunities, but volume for its own sake produces more work. 

Grant Applications Can Require Very Different Levels of Effort 

Application Type Example	Effort Level
Short online application	Low
LOI or preliminary inquiry	Low to moderate
Standard foundation proposal	Moderate
Detailed corporate/community application	Moderate to high
Government application	Potentially high
Major collaborative or capital proposal	Potentially very high

There is no one ideal number of applications a month because “grant application” encompasses a wide variety of work. 

A simple foundation application could include: 

• Organization information 
• Project description (500 words) 
• Requested amount 
• Program budget 
• Another opportunity might require: 
• Full narrative 
• Detailed project plan 
• Logic model 
• Organizational budget 
• Project budget 
• Financial statements 
• Information about the board of directors 
• Letters of support 
• Evaluation plan 
• Data 
• Policies 
• Supporting documents 
• Internal approvals 

Counting applications without taking into account the complexity of the task is misleading. 

A better monthly planning approach includes both quantity and workload. 

LOIs and Full Grant Applications Are Not the Same Thing 

This distinction is relevant if your nonprofit applies to private foundations. 

Letter of Inquiry is typically shorter than a full grant proposal. 

This means your nonprofit might reasonably send: 

10 LOIs per month 

while completing: 

3 full grant applications 

in that same period of time. 

These numbers are not contradicting each other. 

They describe different stages of the funding pipeline. 

A healthy private foundation pipeline could look something like this: 

Research → Qualify → LOI → Conversation → Full Proposal → Decision → Award 

Not every private foundation will go through every stage. 

This is why the number of LOIs your nonprofit sends can be greater than the number of full grant applications your nonprofit submits. 

If you are working on this particular aspect of your funding strategy, see our article on how to write a Letter of Inquiry for grant funding. 

The 6 Factors That Should Determine Your Monthly Grant Target 

1. How Many Qualified Opportunities Do You Actually Have? 

This should be your first consideration. 

Your team decides to submit five grant applications this month. 

But after researching the prospect list, you discover that only two opportunities show good alignment. 

Do not apply for three suboptimal opportunities just because your spreadsheet says 5. 

Consider: 

• Mission alignment 
• Funding interests 
• Geography 
• Eligibility 
• Grant amount 
• Type of funding 
• Previous recipients 
• Previous grants amount 
• Application requirements 

When researching private foundations, previous giving is especially helpful. 

Private foundations in the U.S. are required by law to file Form 990-PF annually, and the IRS instructions call for reporting of grants made, including the recipients and purposes of those grants. 

This gives your nonprofit another method of determining whether a foundation’s actual giving aligns with your organization’s work. 

More details in Grant Advance’s guide on qualifying foundations before applying. 

2. How Complex Are the Applications? 

Two applications are not necessarily two equally difficult tasks. 

Before setting your monthly target, evaluate the workload. 

A simple planning scale could look like this: 

This is not about creating an exact workload estimate. 

It is about acknowledging that the workload matters. 

If one application takes a week of coordination effort, it may replace several smaller submissions during that month. 

Also, you may want to research what grant funding can be used for, before sending out applications.

3. How Much Staff Capacity Do You Have? 

Find out who is actually doing the work. 

Is the grant seeking done by: 

The executive director? 

One development professional? 

A dedicated grant writer? 

A development team? 

Multiple departments? 

An external consultant? 

And what else is that person responsible for? 

Finding opportunities, writing narratives, preparing budgets, collecting supporting documents, getting approvals and submitting applications takes time. 

As well as work that follows after application submission. 

As Grants.gov explains, a federal grant lifecycle consists of pre-award, award and post-award stages. Winning the grant creates new obligations rather than concluding the process. 

Your capacity should include: 

applications + follow-ups + existing grants + reports + relationship management 

and not just writing. 

4. How Much of the Application Can Be Reused? 

Grant writing does not mean rewriting your organization’s history from scratch every week. 

Your team should have good source material for commonly requested information such as: 

• Mission 
• History of the organization 
• Programs 
• Community need 
• Populations served 
• Impact and outcomes 
• Evaluation 
• Leadership 
• Financial information 
• Standard attachments 

Use Grant Advance’s Document Generator to prepare and organize foundation funding documents. 

But even with the reusable information, some customization is needed. 

Each proposal should reflect the specific: 

• Funder 
• Opportunity 
• Priorities 
• Funding request 
• Program 
• Grant amount 

Efficiency should simplify personalization, not eliminate it. 

5. How Many Applications Are Already in Your Pipeline? 

Your monthly submission number should not be considered in isolation. 

Suppose your team has: 

• 5 proposals awaiting decisions 
• 3 LOIs awaiting response 
• 2 full proposals due this month 
• 4 follow-ups to funders 
• 2 active grants with upcoming reports 

Trying to add ten more applications to this workload may not be sensible. 

Your pipeline should tell you what is already in motion. 

Find out how to manage your pipeline in Grant Advance’s guide to managing your grant pipeline. 

6. Can You Manage the Grant If You Win? 

This issue is often ignored. 

Everyone is prepared for rejection. 

Prepare for acceptance too. 

What happens if three funders accept your grant application? 

Does your nonprofit have the capacity to: 

• Carry out the funded project? 
• Track the funds? 
• Prepare reports? 
• Monitor outcomes? 
• Meet the requirements of the grant? 
• Communicate with the funder? 
• Manage multiple funding periods? 

The requirements of private foundations vary, but the principle remains the same: 

Do not build an application pipeline your nonprofit cannot manage once the applications become awards. 

A Better Approach to Setting Your Monthly Grant Application Goal 

Instead of saying: 

“We need to submit five applications every month.” 

say: 

“We want to have a consistent pipeline of qualified opportunities and submit every strong application we can realistically support.” 

And use the following steps. 

Step 1: Define Your Funding Needs 

Start with what you actually need. 

For example: 

$50,000 for program expansion 

$20,000 for technology 

$100,000 in general operating support 

$250,000 for a capital project 

This immediately narrows your pool of opportunities. 

Step 2: Build a Qualified Prospects List 

Find funders that: 

• Support your cause 
• Make grants in your region 
• Fund the type of project you are looking for 
• Provide grants of realistic amount 
• Fund organizations similar to yours 

Grant Advance’s grant search engines for nonprofits will help you research private foundations and their past giving patterns. 

Step 3: Rank Opportunities 

Not all eligible opportunities deserve the same attention. 

You can start with a simple ranking system: 

Tier 1: Good alignment — pursue 

Tier 2: Interesting, but more research is needed 

Tier 3: Poor alignment — low priority 

Your goal is to fill the calendar with Tier 1 opportunities first. 

Step 4: Estimate Application Complexity 

Assign each opportunity: 

Light 

Moderate 

Heavy 

It immediately shows your workload for the month. 

Four light applications and one major federal proposal are very different from five light applications. 

Step 5: Assign Owners and Internal Deadlines 

Do not rely on the funder’s deadline for application. 

If your application is due on September 30, your internal schedule could look like this: 

September 3: decision to apply 

September 8: program information complete 

September 12: draft 

September 17: budget complete 

September 21: internal review 

September 25: final approval 

September 27: submission 

It gives you some extra time in case some task takes longer than expected. 

Should a Nonprofit Apply to Every Eligible Grant? 

No. Being eligible is just the first filter. 

Your nonprofit could technically qualify for a grant and still be a poor fit for the funder. 

Before applying, consider the following questions: 

Does this funder support our cause? 

Does it fund organizations like ours? 

Does it give in our region? 

Does the type of funding fit our need? 

Is the grant application worth the effort? 

Can we handle the requirements if funded? 

The goal is not: 

eligible = apply 

It is: 

eligible + aligned + realistic + worthwhile = pursue 

How Many Grant Applications Should a Small Nonprofit Submit? 

Nonprofit Stage	Possible Monthly Starting Target	Primary Focus
New to grants	1–2 applications	Learning, research and building core materials
Building a grant program	2–4 applications	Consistency, qualification and stronger systems
Established grant program	4–6 applications	Managing a bigger pipeline without losing quality
Dedicated grant team	6+ applications	Increasing volume only if capacity and qualified opportunities allow

A small nonprofit could start with approximately 1 to 2 well-qualified full applications per month, if grant seeking is handled by one person alongside other responsibilities. 

Again, it is a planning guideline, not a hard-and-fast industry rule. 

The initial goal should be to establish the process: 

• Prospect research 
• Qualification 
• Reusable organizational information 
• Budget preparation 
• Documents storage 
• Tracking 
• Follow-up 
• Reporting 

Once you get comfortable with this process, you can gradually increase the number of applications. 

How Many Grant Applications Should an Established Nonprofit Submit? 

A nonprofit with: 

• Dedicated fundraising capacity 
• Good source documents 
• Active prospect list 
• Internal review process 
• Organized tracking 
• Relationships with funders 

May be capable of managing 2 to 6 or more applications per month, depending largely on application complexity. 

A better measurement than the number of applications is whether the organization’s qualified pipeline is expanding without deteriorating the quality. 

What Metrics Should You Track besides Number of Applications? 

Do not measure your grant strategy by the number of applications. 

Track: 

• Number of qualified prospects identified 
• LOIs sent 
• Full applications submitted 
• Applications declined 
• Applications awarded 
• Requested amount 
• Awarded amount 
• Proposal invitations 
• Conversations with funders 
• Follow-ups completed 
• Renewals 
• Average request amount 
• Average award amount 
• Time spent on applications 
• Reporting requirements created 

Over time, these metrics will tell you a lot more than: 

“We submitted 47 grants last year.” 

Perhaps 47 was great. 

Perhaps it was far too many. 

The results will speak for themselves. 

Signs That You Are Applying for Too Many Grants 

It is time to dial back your number if your applications are becoming generic, your research is being cut out, deadlines are always rushed, required documentation is being forgotten, budgets are being put together haphazardly, your staff is overworked, your follow-up is inconsistent, your existing grants reporting is falling by the wayside, you are applying for grants that do not fit your mission, or if you cannot adequately explain the rationale for each application 

Applying for fewer grants is not a sign of weakness by default. 

Often it is the best thing you can do to improve your funding program. 

Signs That It May Be Time to Apply for More Grants 

It is time to increase your monthly target if you are consistently finding more highly aligned opportunities than you are pursuing, your staff is completing applications without last-minute scrambling, your core documents are organized and up-to-date, your budgets are being put together efficiently, your follow-up is being tracked, you are managing your existing grants effectively, your pipeline is too small to fulfill your fundraising needs, or you have extra capacity on your team 

Increase incrementally. 

Start by going from two applications to three. 

Then from three to four. 

Let your process show that it can handle the increased volume. 

How Grant Advance Can Help Your Team Develop an Efficient Grant Application Pipeline 

Grant Advance helps nonprofit organizations research foundation opportunities based on the actual information provided by the foundations themselves, rather than simply listing as many possible grant programs as possible. 

Nonprofit organizations can research: 

• The interests of foundation giving 
• The grants given in the past 
• Previous recipients 
• Grant amounts 
• Geography 
• Directors/trustees 
• Contact information 
• Giving trends 

This is all done in order to answer the question that should be answered before any application: 

Is this funder worth pursuing? 

After the opportunities are found, Grant Advance’s Project Manager will help your team organize the activities related to those grants, including deadlines and follow up actions. 

This will help build a grant strategy based on qualified opportunities instead of trying to fill a monthly application quota. 

Frequently Asked Questions on How Many Grants to Apply For 

How many grants should a nonprofit apply for every month? 

There is no set number for all nonprofit organizations. Small or developing grant programs could start with 1-4 highly qualified applications, while organizations with specialized grant staff and better systems could submit more. It all depends on the opportunity quality, application difficulty and staff capacity. 

Is it better to apply for more grants? 

Absolutely – but only if those additional grants are actually good opportunities. Applying to more funders that are poor matches creates more work without improving your funding pipeline. 

How many grants should a small nonprofit apply for? 

Small nonprofits should start by applying for one or two good-quality grants per month while building their research and application processes. 

Should nonprofits apply for every grant they are eligible for? 

No. Being eligible does not mean the grant is a good opportunity. Nonprofit organizations should consider mission alignment, geography, funding type, grant amount, previous recipients, application difficulty, and the ability to manage the grant award. 

How many grants should a nonprofit apply for annually? 

There is no ideal annual number. An organization applying 2 grants per month would apply about 24 annually, but other organizations would have a lower number of highly difficult proposals. Quality and fit are more important than filling an annual quota. 

How many LOIs should a nonprofit send every month? 

Letters of Inquiry volume is higher than full proposal volume since Letters of Inquiry are generally shorter and take place in the early stages of foundation funding process. Check out our complete article on how many LOIs a nonprofit should send every month [INSERT PARENT ARTICLE LINK]. 

What is a good grant application strategy? 

A good grant application strategy involves defining funding needs, identifying qualified funders, prioritizing opportunities, building realistic internal deadlines, submitting tailored applications and tracking results over time. 

The Right Number of Applications Depends On the Rest of Your Strategy 

So how many grants should your nonprofit organization apply for every month? 

Not every grant you can find. 

And certainly not just an arbitrary number you found online somewhere. 

Set a target around: 

Alignment 

Staff capacity 

Application difficulty 

Funding goals 

Pipeline health 

And your ability to manage the grants you win. 

If it means applying for two excellent grants this month, then apply for two. 

If your team has five highly aligned opportunities and the capacity to apply for all five, then go for five. 

The point is not maximizing application activity. 

It is building a healthy pipeline of opportunities that make sense for your organization. 

If private foundations are part of your strategy, you should learn how to find foundations for grants and evaluate whether those foundations are worth pursuing. 

And if you want to see how Grant Advance can help your nonprofit organization research foundations and organize its grant application strategy, book a free consultation.