by Lauren Steiner
A 75% success rate might sound amazing. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t actually tell you whether your grant strategy is working.
Here’s a stat that gets tossed around a lot in our field: the average grant proposal success rate is between 10-30% according to the Grant Professionals Association.
And yet, some organizations continue to judge a grant writer’s performance based solely on whether a particular proposal gets funded – or worse, expect a near perfect win rate. That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how institutional fundraising works.
Let’s set the record straight.
1. A Grant Writer’s “Success” Is Only as Strong as the Organization’s Readiness
A proposal doesn’t stand on its own. Its strength is inextricably tied to the organization behind it: its clarity of mission, strength of programming, demonstrated impact, leadership credibility, and financial stability. A great grant writer can help tell the story – but they can’t create alignment where it doesn’t exist.
2. Grant Proposals Don’t Win Grants- Alignment and Trust Do
At the end of the day, proposals are just vehicles. What truly secures funding is alignment between the organization’s mission and the funder’s goals, and trust– that the nonprofit will deliver, report back, and be a good steward. The strongest proposals reflect a pre-existing fit and relationship- not just great writing.
3. Grant Seeking Is a Long Game
Not every proposal is written to win on the first try – and that’s okay. Submitting a thoughtful proposal can be a strategic move to initiate a relationship, signal seriousness, and put your organization on a funder’s radar. Many of our clients win their largest grants not on the first submission, but after years of intentional relationship building.
4. The Real Metric? Lifetime Funder Value
What matters isn’t just whether you won a single grant. It’s what comes next. A first award might be $25,000. But over five or ten years of mutual trust, shared outcomes, and deepening partnership, that relationship could be worth hundreds of thousands, plus introductions to other funders, co-funding opportunities, and a stronger reputation in your space.
5. Competition is Real – and Rising
Funders are inundated with proposals. Even strong applications are turned away because of limited budgets, internal shifts, or other dynamics that are invisible to the applicant. A “no” doesn’t mean failure – it might mean “not yet”.
So What Should We Be Measuring?
Instead of focusing on a grant writer’s “batting average,” ask:
- Are we targeting funders who are well-aligned to our mission?
- Are we cultivating funder relationships before, during, and after the proposal?
- Are we improving the clarity, coherence, and credibility of our case?
- Are we investing in the long-term, not just chasing the short-term wins?
In grant seeking – as in all fundraising – the best outcomes come from relationships, not transactions. And the smartest organizations don’t just look for grants…they build funder partnerships that last.
The real work in grant seeking isn’t in the writing – it’s in the listening, aligning, and building trust. What might shift if that became your north star?
This blog has been re-purposed from Lauren Steiner’s LinkedIn newsletter. For more insights from Lauren, subscribe to her newsletter, Grant Seeker’s Edge.
