While working with one of my amazing clients recently, I realized that I was forgetting how important it is for me to explain grant lingo in layman’s terms. I’ve been working in the grant field for almost 9 years now, and I acted like they knew all about the terms “grant match“ and “in-kind donations“. This post is for all of you that want to learn more about those terms and how you can be super successful in utilizing what you’ve got to offer.
Grant Match = a required amount of funding that a funder says you need to have secured (or at least have proof of being pledged) towards the project in which you are submitting a grant request for.
Most foundation grants do not require a grant match, however, ALL of them want to see that you have other invested parties. Even if there is no required grant match, you will have a much more competitive application if you can show that you have secured matching funds from other sources. Being able to say “we are able to match your grant with a dollar for dollar match from XYZ in order to double your donation” goes a lot farther than you can imagine.
State and federal grants almost always require a grant match. The most typical grant match requirement for these grants are 1:1 of your request. I’ve even seen some require that your match is 75% of your TOTAL project cost, not just your grant request.
The best way to match grant requests are to secure funds from a grant that doesn’t require a match and then utilize that as your match for another grant request. Make sure that you double check that it can be an eligible matching source. Typically federal grants will not allow a match from another federal source. Foundations usually love to see that a matching amount is coming from another foundation. This information will be listed in the grant guidelines, and if it isn’t, make sure you email the contact person to double check prior to submitting your application.
Next up, “hey, we don’t have any actual funds to match a grant with”. Don’t quit just yet! See if the grant will allow an in-kind donation as your match.
In-kind donations= donations or services provided in place of a cash match. The amount of what the physical donations (think: items that the organization needs to operate such as equipment) and/or the services that are provided (think: an attorney donates time to review and edit your contracts and forms) would cost if you were to pay for them.
Another great in-kind donation can be the salaries of your staff when working on the proposed project! I’ve found thousands of dollars of in-kind matching funds for trail projects from the staff time it takes to develop the trail and manage the project.
Even if a grant doesn’t ask for a match, it’s powerful to mention how much your in-kind match is worth. You may be surprised by how much your organization is actually contributing!
If you have additional questions about matching funds, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m happy to clarify these buzz words further!
Cheers!
Bre