A chapter on getting money from individuals might seem out of place in a book on grants. After all, in Chapter 2 I pretty much defined grants as coming from institutions. Although the checks might come from an institution’s bank account, it’s still an individual who reads your proposal and decides whether to make the grant or not. So it’s good to understand the motivations behind an individual’s decision to give away his or her own money, even if you intend only to send proposals to institutions.

Individuals make more charitable donations than any other sector. It might surprise you to know that according to the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy’s Giving USA, 75 percent of all donations in 2009 came from individuals—and that’s not even counting the $23.8 billion individuals left as bequests that year. To ignore individuals in your fundraising would be a major mistake.

So where does the grant writer fit into this? Let’s first look at why people give and then examine a few situations where a formal grant proposal to an individual makes sense.