In the story of Cinderella, the Prince declares he will marry the woman whose foot fits inside the glass slipper Cinderella left at the ball. Cinderella’s step-sisters try all kinds of tricks to fit their feet in the glass slipper but to no avail. It is immediately evident to all observers that no matter how she contorts herself, the shoe will not fit.
This Syndrome rears its head when you try to make your project sound like something it isn’t in order to fit in a donor’s application guidelines. One of the most common reasons why proposals fail is because they do not fit the donor’s application guidelines. Even worse, some proposal writers may try to contort their project to fit inside the guideline, but this runs a greater risk of ruining the name or your organization.
Never try to “trick” a donor in a proposal. Good use of marketing techniques can build your appeal, but deliberately misleading a donor degrades trust and questions the legitimacy of your organization. Especially in the case of requests for proposals, donors have very specific criteria in mind as to what types of projects they want to fund, and it will be immediately obvious that yours is not a good fit.
However, this does not mean that you can only apply to donors who are a 100% perfect fit. What it means is that you need to be transparent about your strengths and weaknesses. Similar to a job application, sometimes donors include criteria that are wants, not needs. In these cases, it is perfectly acceptable to contact the donor with your question. A generic example may look something like this:
Hello. I was excited to see your recent RfP announcement. We have a strong project which matches your priorities, however, there is one particular area where we do not quite fit your eligibility criteria. I was hoping you could clarify a little more, and tell us honestly if you would still encourage us to apply or caution us away to save both your time and ours. Thanks in advance for your help.
Being open and clear about your project from the beginning will impress the donor, regardless of whether or not you fit all their criteria perfectly.
Alta Alonzi is a writer and researcher focusing on international development funding and grassroots NGOs. She works with the fundraising consulting company Philantropia conducting research for clients ranging from small NGOs to UN organizations. She also works closely with FundsforNGOs running training webinars, contributing resource guides, and updating the Premium donor database.
