PhilanTech and GrantStation are pleased to announce the release of The State of Grantseeking Report.
Between August 7 and September 7, 2010, PhilanTech and GrantStation conducted an online survey to take a snapshot of the state of grantseeking in the U.S. The 839 respondents ranged from volunteer-run grassroots organizations to large national nonprofits.
Other surveys and studies published in the last several months have reflected the challenging state of fundraising in the current economy. Donations across the sector, regardless of the source, have been reduced as a result of the economy, and many nonprofits continue to struggle.
Our survey results were consistent with other findings. Nonprofits face challenges in grantseeking: organizations spend a lot of time preparing grant requests, submit many applications, and may only get a few small grant awards as a result:
- 42% of survey respondents said that in comparison with the first six months of 2009 the grants awarded were smaller;
- Small nonprofits seem particularly challenged; 26% of nonprofits with budgets under $50,000 had not submitted a grant request in 2010, while 95% of respondents with budgets over $250,000 had;
- Many of the grants awarded were under $10,000, including 161 under $1,000;
- A “typical” nonprofit in this survey is receiving grants between $7,310 and $50,000;
- The good news is that the majority of the organizations that submitted multiple requests received at least one grant.
While it’s still tough going out there for many grantseekers, we hope the results of this survey will be useful for grantseekers in thinking about how to prioritize their grantseeking activities, and we look forward to following up this research with the next State of Grantseeking survey in early 2011.
Download the full State of Grantseeking Report.