In Part 2, I gave you some options for approaching a foundation when you have no history with them and don’t know anyone there. This article is about building the relationship between your organization and the foundation once you have made contact, told your story, and received your first grant.

Might as well make that relationship a beautiful friendship!

First, remember that foundation fundraising is not just grant-writing and reporting. It involves real people and follows the classic fundraising cycle: Inform, engage, cultivate, solicit, thank, steward, and then inform, engage, etc. Your listening skills and your attention to follow up and follow through are critically important.

However, while developing cordial, respectful, and open-minded relationships with foundation staff members and board members is important, the most strategic relationship you are building is between the two organizations – your nonprofit and the foundation. This happens more powerfully when there are more connections between your group and the foundation than just you and one person from the foundation.

Besides funding, there can be other benefits flowing from the relationship.

Foundations can be helpful to your group by sharing insights they’ve gleaned from studying your issues and working with other groups in your sector. Once you establish ongoing conversations with them and they understand what your group is trying to do, they can often help your team learn what others are doing and share the lessons of impact they’ve seen. Of course, doing this takes trust on everyone’s part. The foundation staff will need to avoid implying that if your group does what another group is doing, you will get funded by the foundation. And while your team can share this information internally, understand that it may not be possible or timely to use what you learned.

The foundation team will definitely be learning from you, as well. That's one of the reasons they funded you - to understand what makes your group so successful. Again, trust is needed, but most foundation team members understand the value of what you tell them and will keep it confidential if you ask them to do so.

You can amplify the impact of your relationship with the foundation by expanding the number of points of contact over time.

The most powerful relationships between nonprofits and foundations usually involve more people than just you and a program officer. It may start out that way, but you are well-advised to bring members of your leadership team and board into the conversations as quickly as you can. This can lead to other members of the foundation team getting involved with your team, and a real partnership can result over time. Also, it ensures that the relationship is not dependent on two people, either one of whom might change jobs or leave the organization. It builds more ties and longer-lasting ones.

Don’t take them for granted once you’re funded. Steward your foundation partners!

At a minimum, you need to provide formal grant reports on the schedule required. Also, however, contact your foundation representative on at least the following occasions:

1) Thank them when you get their grant check

2) Let them know when their funding has helped you achieve some important programmatic or strategic milestone (whether it was in your original proposal to them or not)

3) Let them know when another funder or donor tells you that the foundation’s funding influenced THEM to give to your organization.

How often should you be in touch? Here's my advice: Phone calls or personalized email messages to your program officer (or other foundation rep) might total 3 or 4 per year. The foundation should also receive your email newsletters and invitations to any fundraising or program events during the year. You should also suggest at least one in-person or virtual meeting per year, including your ED, Board Chair, or another Board member in the meeting if possible.

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In summary, approaching foundations for funding requires thorough research, skilled networking, and the capacity to establish strong relationships between organizations, not just people. It’s quite possible that you may be able to build mutual learning between your organization and the foundation, which can go far beyond the value of funds granted and received.

Your work to understand the goals of the foundation, find the right person(s) to tell your story, get that first grant and follow it up is critically important and takes skill and patience. But it may just be the beginning of a beautiful friendship!

Visit my website at diannasmileyllc.com for more articles on these topics in nonprofit fundraising: