Stop Chasing Every Grant: Amy Krigsman on Smarter Nonprofit Grant Research

Finding grants is rarely the hardest part anymore.

There are databases, newsletters, funder websites, search engines and now AI tools capable of producing lists of potential opportunities in seconds. For nonprofit teams already stretched thin, the bigger challenge is figuring out which opportunities are actually worth pursuing.

Because every grant comes with a cost.

Someone has to research the funder, understand the requirements, gather documents, write the application, manage the deadline and, if successful, administer and report on the funding. An opportunity that looks promising at first glance can quickly consume hours of staff capacity.

For Amy Krigsman, Founder and CEO of ark nonprofit consulting, better grant research starts by changing the question. Instead of asking, How many grants can we find?, nonprofits should be asking, Which opportunities are genuinely a good fit for our work?

Key Takeaways

• Start with internal clarity. Know what you are trying to fund and the outcomes you want to create before searching for grants.
• Get grant-ready first. Strong programs, financial systems, organizational documents and measurable outcomes matter as much as strong writing.
• Look beyond broad alignment. A funder supporting “youth” or “the arts” does not automatically mean your organization is a strong fit.
• Prioritize quality over quantity. A smaller pipeline of well-aligned opportunities can protect your team from wasting valuable time.
• Remember the people behind the funding. Relationships with program officers, community foundations and existing funders can help you make better decisions.

Here are five ways nonprofit organizations can put those ideas into practice.

1. Start With Your Organization, Not the Grant Database

It is tempting to begin grant research by opening a database and searching for words like “youth,” “arts,” “health” or “community development.”

Amy recommends starting somewhere else entirely: inside your organization.

Before searching for funding, teams need to understand what they are actually trying to fund, the outcomes they hope to achieve and how that work connects to their mission. Otherwise, it becomes very easy to reshape a program around whatever money happens to be available.

A theory of change can be particularly helpful because it forces an organization to articulate how its work creates the outcomes it wants to see.

As Amy explained:

“If you’re able to approach a funder or a fundraising opportunity with a theory of change, it’s going to make it a lot easier for you to connect a particular opportunity to the work that you’re doing because you know exactly how you get from A to B.”

That clarity gives nonprofits a much stronger filter. Instead of asking whether you could make your work fit a funding opportunity, you can determine whether the opportunity actually supports the work you are already trying to accomplish.

2. Make Sure You Are Grant-Ready Before You Apply

A compelling application cannot compensate for an organization that is not ready to manage grant funding.

Grant readiness includes the less glamorous pieces of nonprofit infrastructure: governance, financial records, organizational documents, program design, outcomes and measurement. Depending on the funder, organizations may also need several years of financial information or specific registrations and documentation before they are even eligible to apply.

But readiness is not simply about having the right paperwork. Your programs need to be strong enough to stand behind the story you are telling a funder.

Amy put it simply:

“You can have the best grant writer in the world, but if your program is lacking, you’re not gonna get funded.”

Before investing significant time in finding opportunities, look at the foundation underneath your grant strategy. Are your programs clearly connected to your mission? Can you explain the outcomes you are working toward? Do you have the financial and operational systems needed to manage the funding if you receive it?

Sometimes improving those pieces will do more for your future grant success than submitting another application. 

Want to know if your organization is actually ready to pursue grants?
Amy has created a Grant Readiness Checklist to help nonprofit teams assess the foundational pieces that should be in place before investing time in grant research and applications.

3. Look for Genuine Fit, Not Just Matching Keywords

One of the easiest traps in grant research is mistaking broad alignment for genuine fit.

A funder might say it supports “the arts,” for example, but that does not necessarily mean every arts organization will be competitive. The same is true for broad areas like workforce development, education, health or youth services.

Amy recommends going deeper than the category itself.

Look at eligibility requirements, geography, funding priorities and, importantly, the funder’s actual giving history. Who have they funded before? What kinds of programs received support? How large were the grants?

When the answer still is not clear, ask.

“The best approach is really, again, to reach out to that funder and clarify what that funding priority language means to them, and describe your organization and the work that you’re doing, and see if you’re a good fit with that funder.”

That may feel like additional work upfront, particularly when you are researching several funders. But it can save considerable time later by preventing your team from writing applications that were never particularly competitive in the first place.

4. Choose Quality Over Quantity

There can be enormous pressure to keep the grant pipeline full. When funding is uncertain, submitting more applications can feel like the safest strategy.

But more is not always better.

Amy sees nonprofits spending significant time pursuing anything that “could potentially, maybe, might fit,” rather than slowing down to assess whether an opportunity truly deserves their capacity.

“When it comes to grants, it’s really quality over quantity.”

In the grant world, Amy says this approach to chasing everything is sometimes called the “spray and pray” method, and she does not recommend it.

One useful filter is to compare the potential award with the actual cost of pursuing it. If an application requires ten pages of writing, extensive supporting documentation and substantial reporting for a relatively small grant, the opportunity may simply not make sense for your organization.

That does not mean smaller grants are never valuable. It means nonprofits should consider the full investment required, including staff time, application complexity, reporting requirements and the capacity needed to manage the funding afterward.

Sometimes the most strategic decision is not to apply.

5. Remember That Grant Funding Is Still About Relationships

For all the databases, portals and AI tools available to nonprofits, grantmaking remains deeply human.

Program officers are not simply gatekeepers sitting on the other side of an application portal. They are people trying to advance a mission too.

Amy offered a helpful reframe:

“Program officers are just people just like we are. They have their lives. They’re trying to do good work. And believe it or not, they’re on the same team as you.”

Relationships can also make grant research easier. A short conversation with a program officer may clarify whether your organization fits their priorities before you spend hours preparing an application. Existing funders and community foundations may be able to introduce you to others. Even asking for application questions ahead of time can become an opportunity to start building a relationship.

The goal is not to manufacture relationships simply to get funding. It is to recognize that funders and nonprofits often care about many of the same outcomes, and a good conversation can help both sides determine whether there is a meaningful fit.

Before You Apply: A Quick Grant Opportunity Check

Before another grant gets added to the pipeline, Amy’s advice points to a handful of questions that can help teams decide where their limited time is best spent.

Ask yourself	Stronger reason to pursue	Reason to pause
Are we eligible?	Requirements clearly match	Eligibility is unclear or stretched
Does it fit our work?	Priorities closely align with existing programs	You need to reshape the program to fit
Who have they funded?	Giving history supports the fit	Similar organizations or programs rarely appear
Is it worth the effort?	Award reasonably justifies application and reporting work	Staff effort may outweigh potential funding
Do we have enough time?	There is enough runway for a thoughtful application	The team would need to scramble
Can we manage the grant?	Systems and capacity are already in place	Winning would create a new capacity problem

The point is not to create another complicated scoring system. It is to give your team permission to stop before every promising-looking opportunity automatically becomes an application.

A Better Grant Pipeline Is Not Necessarily a Bigger One

There will almost always be another grant opportunity.

The harder skill is knowing which ones deserve your organization’s time.

AI and grant databases can certainly make finding opportunities faster. But they cannot replace the judgment required to decide whether an opportunity belongs in your pipeline. As Amy noted when talking about using AI for grant research, the rule is still: “Trust but verify.”

For nonprofit teams already balancing programs, fundraising, communications, operations and everything else that keeps an organization moving, that distinction matters.

Better grant research is not about chasing every possible dollar.

It is about protecting your capacity so you can put your energy behind the opportunities that truly fit.