Everyone whom you might approach for a grant lives in the same economic world as you and I. This means that when times are good and the stock market is riding high, foundations have more money to give away, corporations have greater profits from which to support charities, and governments are flush with taxes. Obviously, the opposite is true when times are hard.

If your charity receives a large percentage of its income from foundations and corporations, economic downturns will dramatically affect your funding. Individuals tend to give more to the causes they most believe in during tough times, but they might drop charities in which they have less interest. Government funders generally are affected a bit later, when tax income falls. All this, of course, is a good argument for not relying too heavily on one source of funding.

Foundations are required by law to spend 5 percent of their assets each year on grants and related expenses. Few give more than that, even when their investments are earning three times that amount. After the national tragedy of September 11, 2001, occurred, many foundations did dip into their principle to make large emergency grants—that is, they gave away more than they earned on their investments in 2001, but that was an exceptional time in every regard.

A grant writer should always be aware of how the economy might be affecting those she is soliciting. In lean times, foundations tend to take on fewer new grantees, preferring to maintain their commitments to their current charities. When times are tough, one of the first things corporations eliminate is corporate giving. And because many corporate foundations are funded year by year, there’s not even an endowment to fall back on. Government funding can be particularly capricious, being affected by the political agendas of those in power as well as by the economy. In 2010, states sharply reduced or eliminated support for many sectors, including social services that were already struggling to meet basic human needs.

In a slow economy, the grant writer’s job becomes much more difficult. The grant writer must spend more time getting current funders to renew grants rather than sending out lots of new proposals. Just remember, though, that foundations still have to give money to someone, so it might as well be you.