Grant Writing & Funding · Ep. 212: Why Grants are Start-Up Funding and How Services Can Sustain Programs

Why Grants are Start-Up Funding and How Services Can Sustain Programs

Many nonprofit leaders come to me and believe that it is good for grants to cover all their programs. While grant money is very helpful for nonprofits (I mean, we definitely promote grants as our name is Grant Writing & Funding), grants should be viewed as start-up or expansion funding.

Diversifying your nonprofit organization’s funding portfolio is essential to sustain your programs. Grant funding can be extremely helpful, and should be a revenue stream for your nonprofit, grant funding should not be the only revenue stream.

Other types of funding include:

✔️ Individual donors

✔️ Corporate sponsorships

✔️ Crowdfunding

✔️ Fundraising

✔️ Products

✔️ Services

Watch the Entire Interview Below!

What We Discussed in this Episode:

How Jack found support through LGBTQ nonprofits
Why Jack started TurnOut
Funding and challenges for LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations
TurnOut’s first government grant
Why grants should be start-up or expansion funding
How to build a sustainable funding program
How to utilize services as a revenue generator
Why (and how often) to raise prices of services

About Jack

Jack began his career by working with community-based HIV organizations, and over the past 15 years he has had the privilege of working with grassroots queer groups all over the world. Over time it became obvious that the grassroots organizations leading this work needed much more support than they were getting, and that there were a huge number of queer people and allies who wanted to support but did not know where to start.

So, in 2015, Jack left his job to start TurnOut. TurnOut now supports more than 5,000 volunteers working with over 150 LGBTQ+ nonprofits across California, helping to power organizations addressing LGBTQ+ youth homelessness, LGBTQ+ mental health, LGBTQ+ arts, and much more.