The (Funding)X Effect: The $14 Million Equation

Today we celebrate connecting our clients with over $14 million in funding. This is a monumental accomplishment considering I started Ghost Writer eight years ago with a $250 laptop, zero experience as a business owner, and an invaluable equation of brokenness, a hero complex, and a very large chip on my shoulder.

It took two years to raise our first million. This year, our eighth, we raised over $2.5 million, proving that Ghost Writer’s model doesn’t just work; it works exponentially.

The (Funding)X Effect isn’t complicated or revolutionary. “X” is the result of focused investments—time, strategy, relationships, and infrastructure.

At first, “x” is low and growth feels slow. But with consistent investments, “x” increases, and your efforts start producing much bigger returns. Here are some of the strategies that helped us grow our exponent and raise money for our clients faster than ever. Apply them to your organization, and you can see exponential growth too.

Value yourself. We understand the value of our work and can articulate it to different audiences. For executive directors, we relieve their workload and allow them to do what they do best: their mission. For boards, we produce a tangible return on investment. For funders, we submit solid applications and ensure proper reporting. For legislators, we bring funding to their district.

We work with clients who are passionately focused on their mission yet often don’t know their own worth. One of our biggest strengths is helping clients see their fuller impact and reflect that in their storytelling. 

Marketing and development are key to growth, even (or especially) for nonprofits. Effective marketing and development require long-term strategy, accountability, and coordination. Having a volunteer do social media or an intern write a grant might seem like a solution. But it won’t replace a well-thought-out strategy with a stable, dedicated person caring for the oversight, quality control, and follow through. Choosing the cheaper and quicker option is not effective and may hinder rather than help your mission.  

Invest in relationships.  Funders, donors, mail houses, legislators and their staff, the larger nonprofit community, chambers of commerce, leadership programs, other marketing companies and grant writers…the list goes on and on! When you believe in your work fanatically, as I do, and act in good faith, natural relationships develop. I have found that taking responsibility when things go wrong, sharing credit, being curious, seeking opportunities for learning, respecting what others do, and making referrals to other businesses all create authentic and deep connections that will support you and give you the opportunity to reciprocate that support.  

Understand the long game. There’s going to be short-term losses to get those long-term wins.  There are times I feel the pain of paying for something for which I know I won’t see an immediate return. During those times, I consciously focus on foundation building, success planning, and moving closer toward goals. That means some painful decisions in the moment, but I regret none of them. Your action plan should account for some short-term losses.

Our model for our clients’ success relies on a 12-to-18 month-calendar that charts a solid course to reach their goals. Typically, that calendar includes at least a dozen activities—grants, mailings, sponsorships, database maintenance, and yes, even filling out tedious government paperwork—all to achieve the organization’s priorities. We never rely solely on one grant or funding stream. You shouldn’t either. A grant is not a plan. A 12-month calendar is!

Build a solid foundation. This is the stuff most business owners despise: insurance, registrations, taxes, HR manuals. Rarely do business owners become business owners because they like these boring, redundant, red-tape tasks. But, without them, big breaks can be lost, and funding can be left on the table.

Similarly, we help our clients with SAM numbers, state registrations, database, and other infrastructure.  Having these pieces in place, especially when other organizations do not, has led to millions of those dollars we have raised!

Identify 3-5 priorities and hold to them. Say no or “not yet” to everything that does not support your priorities. And, if all else is equal, do the least appealing priorities first. At Ghost Writer, we work collaboratively to develop our goals and revisit them monthly as a team. What gets written down and measured is what flourishes.  

For our clients, identifying goals and holding to them can be more difficult. New board members or volunteers can bring their personal agendas and viewpoints. In this environment, it is even more important to prioritize goal-sharing and regular tracking. Share your goals with board members before they join, speak your goals out loud at every meeting, revise them annually, and make it part of your culture to measure your resource allocation against those goals. Focus your energy and your resources on what matters most.

Be realistic about your capacity. Understanding my own capacity, that of my team, and that of our bank account is an ever-present challenge. Balancing workload vs resources can be precarious! As the business owner, I experience any pain points in real time and am quick to adjust.   

However, for nonprofits, the board is the ultimate decision-maker and often removed from day-to-day pain points of limited staff time and capacity. (Side note: It is my dream that one day board members will sit down with a staff-hours budget as well as a financial budget when making decisions). Executive Directors, who are most in touch with day-to-day operations, value the expanded capacity that Ghost Writer brings as much as they do the financial return on investment.

Finally, don’t overlook “small” wins. Celebrate those small wins, knowing not all funding is created equal. A large grant may come with resource-consuming restrictions and time-sucking reporting. Smaller grants may allow more flexibility and require less resources to manage. Most of our successes have come from grants under $50,000 and cumulate in a great return on investment.

So, how do you grow your funding stream? There are no shortcuts. Valuing yourself, your story, and your relationships; knowing your goals and capacity; and honoring the small wins are solid investments that will  create the magical (Funding)X Effect, multiplying  your funding—exponentially.