Attitude is very important in the development world. No matter how much success the organization has achieved or how meaningful its work, it should be taking regular doses of “humble pie”. Unfortunately most nonprofits are in the position of having to rationalize their work – to foundations, donors or taxpayers – on a nearly continuous basis. Those organizations with a sense of entitlement tend to have less success in fundraising. Look at the funding cycle from the perspective of donors – they don’t HAVE to give their money to YOU! There are many other noble causes. Someone had to work hard to earn that money and it only makes sense that they want to invest it wisely with organizations that will yield a “return” on their investment. In this case, the ROI is: significant benefit to the community. Also keep in mind that most grant-makers will support an entity for several years if they like its work.

How does this attitude of entitlement manifest itself and what are the implications? One of my clients, a newly formed nonprofit, won a large grant last year. The grant was written by another grant writer. My client asked me to write the mandatory final report so the first thing I did was read the original grant proposal and was surprised to see that the organization did not do what they said they were doing to do. In fact it wasn’t even close. Turns out my client never really paid much attention to what was submitted and just assumed that since the organization’s work was so important they deserve that money anyway.

This can be a problem for another reason. And I am speaking in general terms now. If your plans deviate protocol dictates that you contact the funder and alert them and seek authorization to re-direct funds. Otherwise at best you risk alienating them and severely diminishing your chance of ever receiving their funding again. Worst, you could be forced to return the previous grant.

Remember, the goal is to do whatever it takes to maintain a good relationship with your funding partners – both out of respect and appreciation for their support as well as to improve the likelihood of future grant awards.