The MATCH Game: Screening funders to see if they are a good fit for you

by Janine Vanderburg, Joining Vision and Action

A critical part of successful grantwriting is identifying funders that are a good fit for your organization or programs. We’ve all had the experience of someone saying, “Oh, you should apply to this foundation—we hear that they are funding children, or the environment, etc.” While it might be tempting to shoot off a grant proposal, a little effort up front to screen your fit with the funder prior to applying will save you a lot of time and disappointment.

Is your program a good fit for a funder’s priorities? Use JVA’s MATCH screen to find out.

At [Joining Vision and Action], we use the MATCH acronym to do a quick screen of whether a prospective funder is a good fit for a client’s organization or program.

Mission—Is there a fit between the funder’s mission and priorities and your organization’s purpose, programs and priorities?
Area—Does the funder make grants in your geographic area? No matter how robust the mission match, if the funder only funds in Atlanta and you’re based in Denver or Carbondale, you’re wasting your time.
Type of grant—Not all money is the same. There are program grants, general operating support grants (used to support the overall organization), capital grants (for large equipment and bricks and mortar) and other types as well. If you need capital, and the funder only makes program grants, drop them from your list.
Conservative or progressive—This criteria refers to an organization’s ideological perspective. While this is less likely to be explicit in the application guidelines, reviewing the types of organizations and programs that an organization has previously funded is likely to give you an idea about a funder’s perspective and how that funder might view your approach.
How much? This final element of the screen looks at the amount of funding that you need for your work and compares it to the funder’s average—not unusual—size grants. If the funder typically makes multi-million dollar community development grants and you are seeking $50,000 for a neighborhood-based improvement, it might not be a good match. Conversely, if you are a government agency seeking funding for major infrastructure improvements, a funder who makes $2,500 grants may wonder what kind of impact its award would make.

We use MATCH as a quick screen. If all elements are a go, then we’ll do a deeper dive and fully research the funder’s guidelines, reports, history of prior grant making, 990s and other information. The MATCH game allows you to figure out whether that deeper dive is worth your time and effort.