Grant Readiness Self-Assessment™

Before investing time in grant research and applications, it's important to understand whether your organization has the foundational pieces in place to pursue funding effectively.

Use the questions below to assess your current level of readiness.

Organizational Foundation

✓ Do you have a clear mission statement?

✓ Do you have an active board of directors or leadership team?

✓ Do you have the legal and organizational documents required to operate?

✓ Are your financial records organized and accessible?

Program Development

✓ Do you have a clearly defined program or service?

✓ Can you describe the problem your organization addresses?

✓ Do you know who benefits from your work?

✓ Have you identified measurable outcomes for your program?

Funding Readiness

✓ Do you have a funding need that can be clearly explained?

✓ Do you know how requested funds will be used?

✓ Do you have a basic project budget?

✓ Do you have supporting data, statistics, or community information to demonstrate need?

Systems and Capacity

✓ Do you have someone responsible for grants or fundraising?

✓ Do you have a process for tracking deadlines and applications?

✓ Do you have the capacity to manage grant funds if awarded?

✓ Can you collect and report program outcomes?

Scoring Your Results

12–16 checks:
Strong grant readiness. You likely have the foundation needed to begin pursuing funding opportunities.

8–11 checks:
Moderate grant readiness. You may benefit from strengthening a few key areas before applying.

0–7 checks:
Early-stage readiness. Focus on building your organizational infrastructure before investing significant time in grant applications.

What's Next?

Grant readiness is not about perfection. It is about understanding where your organization stands today and identifying the areas that need strengthening before pursuing funding opportunities.

The strongest grant applications are built on strong organizations, clear programs, reliable systems, and measurable impact.