Winning with Grants: Why a Solution-Focused Approach Matters

Many charities approach funders with an overly simplistic proposition: ‘help us increase our revenue’. While ‘keeping the lights on’ might seem like a logical pitch, it fails to connect to your impact. This leads to highly inefficient grant writing with a frustrating and low success rate. A more effective approach is solution-focused: raise X dollars to solve X problem by X timeframe. Revenue should be framed as the mechanism that ensures program sustainability and ongoing impact, rather than as the primary goal itself.

This article will help you transform passive project narratives into success with grants.

 

Reactive grant writing is a recipe for failure

One of the biggest mistakes organisations make with grants is to chase the latest rounds without a clear idea of their current and future project needs.

This approach is problematic because it can create: 

• Fatigue when funders and supporters can’t see how their past grants have led to tangible outcomes 
• Staff burnout when fundraising teams are unmotivated by funding targets that are superficial and disconnected from meaningful change 
• Mission drift when the organisation tries to fit a square peg into a round hole, retrofitting projects to funder priorities 
• Resource inefficiency when grant writers craft high-quality applications that win funding, for projects that are unachievable or incorrectly budgeted for because of challenges with internal stakeholder buy-in or consideration. 

 

The power of solution-focused grant strategy

A solution-focused grant and funding approach asks these questions: 

1. What specific problem are we trying to solve? 

2. Who will benefit? 

3. How much will it cost to solve or test a solution to this problem? 

4. When can we solve it if we have sufficient resources? 

 

Here’s why a solution-focused approach is important: 

It builds team capacity 

By discussing problem solving, project planning, and budgeting as a team, you can explore and agree on financially viable solutions together.  

Program staff who have and understand funding targets are more motivated to help reach them. 

Fundraisers who are properly briefed on program and service delivery feel more connected to outcomes and their purpose. 

Solution-focused funding creates: 

• Clear metrics for success 
• Momentum when organisations approach targets 
• Cause for celebration when targets are reached 
• Stronger team collaboration because people have shared objectives. 

 

It will ensure your mission drives fundraising (and not the other way around) 

With the right stakeholders on board, you will be able to articulate exactly who will benefit from the proposed solution and how. 

This will make finding relevant grants and other funding opportunities a much more straightforward process, enabling you to invest only in writing grants that you can win, for projects your team can actually deliver. 

 

It enables you to clearly communicate with stakeholders. 

You need a compelling elevator pitch. 

Instead of appealing broadly for “support to help youth at risk” in your grant proposals, by using a solution-focused strategy you can be specific and pointed. For example: “We need to raise $100,000 dollars to provide life education to 50 youth at risk and improve their emotional wellbeing and social inclusion, by 2026.” 

 

It empowers you to build trust with the right funders. 

Outlining the cost of your solution-focused solutions will help your organisation: 

• Develop realistic project budgets 
• Allocate resources more effectively 
• Identify funding gaps early 
• Identify opportunities for co-funding 
• Make strategic decisions about program scaling 

 

How to develop a solution-focused grant strategy

Let’s break down what you need to do to create your strategy: 

1. Audit your current programs and consult with key stakeholders to discuss future objectives. How many people will be impacted? How many instances of support will be provided? What will change? 
2. Define each program’s beneficiaries and how eligibility will be determined. You can use this information to pinpoint your grant and prospect research. 
3. Calculate direct program costs, administrative overheads, evaluation, and ongoing sustainability. Build a budget that you can use to break out elements with alignment to different funders.  
4. Set realistic timeframes for program delivery milestones, taking into consideration implementation, recruitment and training, community consultation, participant recruitment, and evaluation. 

To be ready to demonstrate your capability to funders, consider if you should also develop risk management strategies and communication plans. 

 

Challenges with solution-focused grant strategies

Some programs will always require ongoing funding. This can feel challenging when many funders require project-specific grant applications, often with a maximum 12-month timeframe. 

• Solution: Break ongoing programs into specific, time-bound goals. 
• For example: “Provide 20 youth at risk with life education skills training monthly for the next 12-months”, or “Build capacity for 20 youth at risk who participate in the program for 12-months”. 

Some social issues can’t be “solved” with a set amount of funding or time because of their complexity or reach. 

• Solution: Focus on concrete, measurable components of your vision. 
• For example: your organisation’s vision might be to “end youth homelessness,” but it will be more relatable to funders if you talk about your target to “help 50 youth at risk to achieve financial independence through life education training and support services over the next 2 years”. 
• Rather than “improve housing outcomes,” aim to “increase housing security by 25% for youth at risk of homelessness” in a specific region. 

Some projects will have variable or uncertain costs, especially when you are facing the chicken-and-egg scenario of not having sufficient funding to accurately budget for the project yet. 

• Solution: Use ranges and phases. 
  • For example:  
    • Phase 1: Implementation 
    • Phase 2: Pilot 
    • Phase 3: Evaluation. 

 

Conclusion

Solution-focused grant strategies will transform reactive grant writing processes into a successful approach to grants. 

By clearly defining the solution, who will benefit, how much it will cost, and milestones for project activities, you will create a compelling case for support that will motivate funders – and your staff. 

The key is starting with clear, specific problems you can solve.