My brilliant friend and nonprofit colleague Abigail Jarvis recently took to LinkedIn to tell nonprofits something remarkable: “You probably don’t need to worry about your email unsubscribe rate in 2024.” This isn’t the kind of message nonprofit pros tend to hear. There’s something that isn’t on fire?

Yes! There are plenty of things you don’t need to worry about—especially when it comes to strengthening your organization’s grant funding strategy. In fact, sometimes these things can erode your capacity to do far more meaningful work!

So in 2024, #DontWorry about:

Your straight win-rate. Your ration of awarded grants to total applications only measures the number of funders that said yes. Spend energy on meatier metrics: How much money did it cost you to apply for the grants you won and how much will the reporting cost you**? What’s the ratio of dollars awarded to dollars requested? How many funders returned? (**This isn’t just for organizations with consultants; count your staff’s payroll costs for this!)

Perfecting a template before you apply. Spending valuable time drafting, editing, and polishing one perfect template ahead of your first application won’t buy you time down the line. Every narrative will need tweaks to fit different applications. Plus, your program and how you talk about it will evolve. Skip the full template and craft a comprehensive logic model, a central research document (with citations!) that backs up core points, and a crystal-clear, itemized budget. You’ll start every application knowing you have ample resources at your fingertips.

Sticking to “what you know.” Staying the course on the same handful of funders can return a surprise deficit with no way to address it for months. Funders adjust their giving strategy, rebalance their investments, and close their doors. None of these things are within your nonprofit’s control. Keep your research fresh and regularly add new funders to your grant calendar.

Applying for more grants instead of more money. Applications for smaller awards can take just as much time and care to write (and report on) as larger awards. Plus: funders would prefer to be the last $5k your program needs, not the first $5k. If you need a $25k award just to get something started, don’t apply for less. And keep an eye on the value of the award vs the time it will take to secure and manage it.

Reaching for every star. Bigger isn’t always better. The odds on some high-profile, big-dollar awards make them look more like lottery tickets to most applicants. Others will come with reporting requirements that your organization may not be ready to meet. Just because you’re eligible to apply doesn’t mean you should spend the time writing the application. Nabbing these awards takes a balance of mission-alignment, awareness of your work and its potential impact, and luck. Work your way up to these asks. Limit their role in your strategy to keep the practical, attainable ones front-and-center.

About the Author: Victoria Flynn is the Owner and Principal of Victoria Flynn Consulting. She specializes in strategic grant services that increase nonprofit revenue through four service pillars proven to drive returns on investment. They deliver winning grant applications and compelling narrative reports while engaging long-term funding strategies, integrating mission-critical evaluation plans, and developing staff skills and resilience.