April 1st, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Karen Eber Davis 941-924-4860

SARASOTA – About 40 percent of local area nonprofit organizations found the grant seeking process more difficult in 2002, according to a study released today by Karen Eber Davis Consulting. Almost half the respondents reported getting grants in 2002 was “about the same.” Thirteen percent of the organizations reported that getting grants was easier in 2002.

Those citing increased challenges mentioned more competition, greater demands from funders including additional paperwork and increasing sophistication in the request process. “We found that in most cases funding agencies required a more intensive process and that the awards were smaller, said Betty Lou Burton, President of Pines of Sarasota Foundation, Inc., whose mission is to raise funds for Pines of Sarasota Nursing Center in Sarasota. Some stated that they received funds from the same funders, but less than the request or less than provided in the past. “We had a good year, because of one larger grant, however, four funders awarded less than we asked making us work a lot harder to fund one project,” reported Denise Candea with Children’s First in Sarasota.

Others explained changes by citing an increase in their grant seeking experience or special circumstances like opportunities related to capital campaigns or national recognition. Several groups intentionally sat the year out. In two cases, the organizations received other large gifts. Other organizations decided to focus on individual gifts in response to the economy or because they lacked good grant-type projects. Overall, staff or organizational changes frequently were cited as part of the reasons for the different grant seeking experiences in 2002.

After eliminating three groups from the calculations who applied for more than forty grants by year end most organizations completed about 8 grant request. Of the 8 grants submitted an average of 6.75 of these applications received funding. Therefore, grant seekers received funding for about 83 percent of their efforts. Successful grant-getting organizations received a low of $2,000 to a high of over $3 million dollars in grant funds. Reporting group’s annual budgets ranged from $30,000 to over $20 million, with an average size of just over $2 million. The funds received totaled over $9 million or an average $223,878 per organization

Grants included any funding source that required the submittal of a competitive application including foundations and government agencies. The survey did not include fees received for services, noncompetitive contract for services or funds from individuals. The survey was provided to over 500 nonprofit organizations. Responses came from 50 nonprofits in or serving Charlotte, Hillsborough, Manatee, Lee, Pinellas or Sarasota Counties. The survey is the first in a series of information gathering from nonprofit organizations to collect data on this very important segment of the community.

For more information: call 941-924-4860 or email kedconsulting@att.net. Since 1993, Karen Eber Davis Consulting provides a number of nonprofit services and workshops related to grants, strategic and other planning and new program development.