When I worked for the U.S. Defense Department, each fall I helped build the defense budget for the next fiscal year. Me and thousands of others. The process we used was identical to writing and submitting grants.

It began with military organizations (like a nonprofit) identifying their unfunded needs. I summarized the unfundeds in issue papers, which had almost the same format as a grant request. I submitted the issue papers to the comptroller organization who considered funding the request (like a foundation would).

After many years, I learned to marry the unfunded needs with current politics and projected Defense Department requirements. In the issue papers, I put in key words the comptroller organization and politicians were looking for and addressed the new priorities of the administration. I altered the unfunded needs only enough to be acceptable to the comptroller organization. Yet, not enough to change the submitting organization’s ability to complete the mission. I use this process today.

The most important thing I learned in the Defense Department, which I apply to writing grants, is that the process is not about numbers and words. It is all about people and relationships. Whenever there is money involved, there are a lot of competition. The perfect issue paper or grant request may not be enough.

A nonprofit should communicate with a foundation with more than some pieces of paper. Like it was for me in the Defense Department, many times personal contact can determine success or not.

Let me know how you, as a grant writer, started your career or livelihood writing grants.

Some nonprofits rely on donations and the occasional fund-raising event to cover their expenses. They maintain the same level of funding each year that is enough to meet their needs. Then, either the need changes or a board or a staff member decides they want additional funding.

I am cautious about submitting a grant for a nonprofit who never submitted one before (or it has been a long time) and their funding has been steady for years. Additional money is not always a good thing. Once they receive the money, the nonprofit must spend it and the process to do so (tracking, reporting, etc.) can be overwhelming.

Increasing a nonprofit’s funding above their normal operating budget should be carefully planned. When submitting a grant request, I usually do not let the funding increase the nonprofit’s budget by more than a third. Past this amount, the expenditure of funding becomes increasingly difficult to manage for a nonprofit. Sometimes more people need to be hired. (A substantial increase is also more difficult to justify in a grant request.)

Besides managing the money, excess funding can lead to personnel conflict among board members, staff, and volunteers. However, a nonprofit can benefit from submitting a grant. The submission process forces them to get organized.

Any major funding changes to an organization, nonprofit or a business, can lead to disaster if not planned carefully. A grant writer should consider the impact additional funding will have on the nonprofit and advise the nonprofit if you have concerns. Sometimes it is better to not increase funding and look at other resources, such as in-kind donations, to satisfy additional needs.