Funders commonly ask you to address how you’ll pay for the program after their funding ends. If you don’t know what will happen programmatically in the second and third years, you can’t know how much it will cost, and therefore cannot know how it will be funded. Asking for a three-year budget might throw program staff for a loop, but if they’ve given you a clear direction, you might be able to construct a rough budget with help from the finance staff. Just be sure the program staff have a chance to review what you end up with if you intend to use it in a proposal. (I discuss budgets in detail in Chapter 15, including multiyear budgets.)

A discussion of future funding plans presents a good opportunity to get information from program staff for any outstanding reports. If activities included in the original grant proposals weren’t completed, be certain to find out why and what, if anything, was done instead. You don’t want to reiterate something in a new proposal that didn’t work the first time.

Following is an outline to use as you develop your funding plan, creating a separate page for each program. The plan will contain broad strokes as to the program and budget, but funding sources and deadlines will be detailed. (A plan created by the program staff would contain information in reverse proportions.) The funding plan isn’t intended to be the outline for your proposal, just the facts on which you’ll later base the proposal. If the program is expected to grow in subsequent years, note that here for future reference.

The most important costs to note in a funding plan are the total project costs. Creating a budget is part of the proposal process. You don’t have to come up with one at this point. If, however, one or two activities or items make up the majority of the expenses for this program, include those details in your plan because they’ll influence which funders you can approach. For example, if the main program expense will be making regrants, your funder list should consist of those that allow regranting.

Finally, include important deadlines for all activities associated with the program, beginning with grant deadlines, but also including dates for reports, cultivation activities, and any related public programming. When you’ve completed a funding plan for each program, the deadlines from the funding plan sheets will feed into your grant schedule.

Sample Funding Plan for Evergreen Conservation Society

You might not have all the prospects you need for a program (especially for the second and third years) when developing your plan. That’s fine, but note the number of funding sources you need to approach and a date when you expect to complete the research to find them. The amounts you request from your prospects should add up to much more than the program cost—not all your proposals will be successful, no matter how good a job you do.

Also note which funders have supported each program or another program at your charity in the past. Remember to include funders for every sector: foundation, corporate, government, and individual major gifts.

For each funder on your schedule, you’ll want to compile a prospect worksheet, which summarizes your plan to approach the funder, relevant grants it has made to other organizations, your current and past relationship with the funder, and contact information.

You can download the Funding Plan Worksheet, Grant Schedule Worksheet, and Prospect Worksheet templates at idiotsguides.com under “Book Extras.”