Fund What Works: The May Grants Mindset Shift

🌱May has a way of making everything feel like it should be growing—plants, plans, programs…proposal pressure included. But in grantland, “bigger” isn’t always better. In fact, one of the most strategic moves a nonprofit can make is resisting the urge to chase growth for growth’s sake.

This month, we’re leaning into a more fundable (and sustainable) idea: depth over hype. The organizations that win consistently aren’t always the ones doing the flashiest expansion—they’re the ones proving that what they do works, documenting outcomes, and strengthening the systems that make impact repeatable.

If you’ve ever felt like you need to “scale” to be taken seriously, this issue is for you.

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🏆 Grant Win Spotlight: Proof Beats Hype

One of my favorite wins from recent work wasn’t about “going bigger” overnight—it was about making what already worked more credible, more measurable, and more fundable.

A client came to us with a strong program and a clear community need, but their early drafts were leaning heavily on aspirational language: expand, scale, grow. Instead, we helped them shift the narrative to a “fund what works” case:

1. We tightened the scope to a right-sized next step (a pilot expansion rather than a major leap).

2. We led with outcomes they could already demonstrate—participation, persistence, completion, and early indicators of impact.

3. We strengthened their plan for quality assurance and evaluation, showing funders how the program would remain effective as it grows.

The result? A funded award that didn’t just support “more”—it supported better: stronger systems, clearer outcomes, and a model built to last.

Why this matters: Funders don’t just invest in ideas—they invest in organizations that can deliver. When you can show what’s working and how you’ll protect quality as you grow, you become much harder to say no to.

Lessons Learned:

🧠 Not Everything Needs to Scale—But Everything Needs a Strategy

There’s a quiet pressure in the nonprofit world to “scale” in order to be fundable. But a big lesson from sector thinking (including the SSIR conversation about whether everything needs to scale) is this:
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Impact is not the same as size.

And some of the most fundable work isn’t about growing bigger—it’s about getting better, stronger, and more repeatable.
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Here are a few “fund what works” alternatives to traditional scaling that funders increasingly respond to:

1) Deepen outcomes (not footprint).

Instead of serving more people, improve results for the people you already serve.

• stronger retention
• higher completion
• better long-term outcomes
• improved service quality

2) Replicate selectively.

Expansion can be powerful when it’s right-sized: one new site, one partner, one region—then learn, adjust, and repeat.

3) Build systems that make impact repeatable.

Funders often underestimate how much the “boring stuff” matters:

• staffing structures
• data systems
• evaluation design
• process documentation
• training and quality assurance

This is the foundation of sustainable funding—and sustainable impact.

4) Grow through partnerships, not just internal expansion.

Sometimes the smartest way to reach more stakeholders is by strengthening a network: training others, collaborating, sharing tools, or serving as a backbone partner.

5) Tell the truth about tradeoffs.

One of the most compelling signals of maturity is when an organization can say: “We could expand faster—but we’re choosing the approach that protects quality and outcomes.”

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​That’s not playing small. That’s being strategic.

Want help shaping a funder-ready “what works” story?

Reply to this email with “FUND WHAT WORKS” and tell me what program you’re trying to sustain or strengthen. I’ll respond with one quick suggestion for framing your next proposal—or you can book a 30-minute strategy chat via Calendly.

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