Grant readiness scorecard

The spreadsheet behind Grant strategy: which grants to skip. Score a prospective grant, rank what is already in the pipeline, and write down the rules that skip a grant before anyone opens the application.

What is in it

Tab one is Scorecard. Twenty questions in four groups of five: organizational readiness, program readiness, financial readiness, and capacity readiness. Each question takes a 1 for yes or a 0 for no in the column beside it. A Total cell sums the twenty answers, and a Verdict cell reads the total against three bands and returns Apply at 15 or above, Wait from 9 to 14, and Skip at 8 or below. Score one grant per copy of the tab, or duplicate the tab per prospect if you are scoring several at once.

Tab two is Pipeline. One row per prospective grant, with columns for Funder, Amount, Fit score (1 to 5), Win probability, Hours to apply, Expected value per hour, and Decision. Expected value per hour is a formula, amount times win probability divided by hours, and it recalculates as you edit the three inputs beside it. Sort the sheet on that column before you decide what to write next.

Tab three is Skip rules. Four rows, one per rule: the size floor, the first-time funder rule, the reporting burden rule, and the full cost rule. Each row has a blank for your organization’s threshold, the reason the rule exists, and the exception your organization has agreed to allow. Fill in the blanks once, with the executive director and the finance lead in the room, and treat the tab as the record of that decision.

How to use it

Fill it in this order.

1. Tab three first. Set your four thresholds before you score a single grant, so the scorecard is not doing work the rules already do.
2. For each new prospect that survives the skip rules, copy the Scorecard tab and answer all twenty questions without rounding up. A guess recorded as a yes is a decision made twice, once now and once again when the proposal fails.
3. Read the Verdict cell, and read which questions came back no before you accept it. A skip from organizational or program readiness usually means the mismatch is structural. A skip from financial or capacity readiness often means the fix is inside your control before the next deadline.
4. Add every grant that scores apply or wait to the Pipeline tab, with your best estimate of amount, fit score, win probability, and hours to apply.
5. Sort the Pipeline tab by expected value per hour when two or more deadlines compete for the same writer’s time. Write the highest number first.
6. Review the Pipeline tab monthly. Move anything awarded, declined, or withdrawn out of the active rows, and keep a closed copy for the year’s total.

When not to use it

Do not score a grant you were invited to apply for by name. The relationship and the fit are already established, and the scorecard exists to screen prospects you have not yet earned, not ones a funder already chose you for.

Do not use it if your organization pursues fewer than five grants a year. Read the twenty questions once as a checklist, keep the skip rules tab, and skip the scoring ritual.

Do not use the Pipeline tab as a board report. It is the executive director’s working document, reviewed monthly. The board’s fundraising role belongs in the annual fundraising plan, where foundation grants already carry a target and an owner.

Do not treat the Verdict cell as final on a grant that unlocks a larger relationship, such as a first small award from a funder that typically grows its gifts over time. Override it in writing, and say why, so the next person to use the sheet understands the exception.