How to Win an Online Grant Contest
Jessica Sidman
Association and Non-Profit BISNOW
Aug 18, 2010
How to Win an Online Grant Contest
Small non-profits consistently beat out organizations with bigger budgets and more established names in online grant contests where the public decides how money is distributed. We talked to four such non-profits about their secrets for success.
Some common themes ran through our interviews, so we compiled the top four general tips:
- Prepare in advance. The successful organizations already have a network and strategy in place before the polls even open. If you can get on the leader board (if there is one) at the start, organic votes will come in and you'll be able to energize your base.
- Go all in in or don't go in at all. Online contests take a lot more time and resources than you might think. Many of the small organizations that win devote the majority, if not all, of their staff time to the contest during the duration of the voting.
- Be persistent. For contests that allow more than one vote, successful groups mobilize their supporters to vote every day. And for contests that don't, make sure people who have already voted in are continuing to recruit others.
- Don't just do it for the prize money. It's also a way to introduce a broader audience to your cause, gain new supporters, and build your social media presence.
Atlas Corps, Washington, DC
Contest winnings: $400,000 from five contests, including America's Giving Challenge, Chase Community Giving, and Pepsi Refresh Project
For every contest, Atlas Corps founder and executive director Scott Beale recruits 100-150 "captains" (donors, board members, alumni of its program, etc.) to lead the voting effort. Each captain is in charge of getting at least 10 people to vote. Some host happy hours on the organization's behalf or set up voting stations in student centers. One such captain pledged that if 100 of his friends donated $10 in America's Giving Challenge, he would ride his bike from downtown DC to Great Falls in his tighty whities. Scott warns against doing too many contests too often. Even though Atlas Corps is on a winning streak, it's taking a six month break so that supporters don't get burnt out.
Arlington Street People's Assistance Network (A-SPAN), Arlington, VA
Contest winnings: $25,000 from Chase Community Giving, didn't win America's Giving Challenge but raised $2,500 overnight.
A-SPAN, a non-profit helping the homeless in Arlington, VA, joined a coalition with other groups (including Atlas Corps) to cross-promote and pool their votes in the Chase Community Giving contest. Director of Development Jan Sacharko (above) tells us each organization set up at bars, restaurants, and universities with laptops and got passers-by to vote on the spot. (A-SPAN lured people in with free t-shirts left over from its walkathon.) The groups learned each other's elevator pitches, so that they could explain to people who they were voting for. In the end, six of the seven groups won. After making it to the second round, A-SPAN organized a press conference where Congressman Jim Moran and other local delegates logged in to vote. The story was covered by the Washington Post and other media outlets, though the press conference was overshadowed by the earthquake in Haiti, which hit two days earlier.
ServeNext.org, Washington, DC
Contest winnings: $50,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project. Combined with other fundraising, it allowed them to meet a challenge grant of $150,000.
Zach Maurin, executive director and founder of ServeNext.org, a grassroots advocacy organization for service programs, hired someone to work on the Pepsi Refresh Project full-time for the month of voting. ServeNext.org also formed a coalition with six other organizations (including Atlas Corps) and recruited over 250 captains and daily pledgers, who were given the option to receive daily e-mail reminders. Despite a fear that people wouldn't want to be bombarded by constant messages, 9 out of 10 opted-in. To connect with some of the captains they didn't already know, they made personal calls and e-mails to check in and get feedback. "Down the road, whether it's asking for $10 or to show up at an event, there's that personal engagement that they hadn't had previously."
Active Minds, Washington, DC
Contest winnings: $50,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project and $5,000 from Ashoka Change Makers
Active Minds, which raises mental health awareness among college students, had long wanted to create a traveling public education display with 1,100 backpacks to represent the 1,100 students who die of suicide each year. Founder and executive director Alison Malmon tells us she had shopped the idea around to foundations and corporations with no success, so it decided to give an online contest a shot. Before the contest even started, Active Minds had written up a memo detailing exactly what it was going to do and what messages it would send out each day of the campaign. In addition to tweets and Facebook messages reminding people to vote daily, the non-profit sent its supporters a reminder e-mail every 10 days. Each reminder carried a different message to help them learn about the organization. For example, one week it was a letter from Alison and another it was the story of a mother who donated a backpack. Active Minds also mobilized its 271 college chapters, who set up computer "voting booths" in student unions and libraries. Thanks to winnings, the number of chapters will soon grow to 300, and Active Minds finally got its backpacks.
Send story ideas to Jessica Sidman, jessica@bisnow.com.