Frequently Asked Questions

It depends. A comprehensive assessment of your organization’s capacity, opportunities, and goals is usually a good place to start, especially for organizations considering a major development initiative. Some organizations may find it makes the most sense to work on internal systems before launching a new fundraising program, while others may be ready to start applying for grants within a few weeks.

Depending on your situation, it can take three to six months to get truly “grants-ready,” and the first grant request is often the hardest. We can help you make the most of that time, and help you build a strategic runway for longer-term success.

Grants readiness depends on your goals, location, experience, and other factors. At a baseline, it means that you are a designated (or fiscally sponsored) 501(c)(3) organization with a reasonable operating infrastructure, a strong mission, a plan to achieve your goals, and the organizational capacity to be successful in the competitive grant-seeking environment. Even if your organization isn’t quite there yet, we can still start to plant the seeds for an upcoming sequence of proposals.

Short answer? No. But you’re in good company. No organization is successful with 100% of their proposals. Grants success depends on a lot of different things, not all of which are within your control. What we can do is help boost your chances by strategizing about the components you can impact to improve your fundability. When you’re ready to start pursuing grants, we use a combination of quality messaging, a strategic work plan for grant submissions, and ongoing project management to help achieve your fundraising goals.

It’s unlikely you will see results with grants in less than 3-6 months. Any successful grants strategy takes time and intention to cultivate, so it really depends on your organization’s specific circumstances. That said, if you’re working on a rushed timeline, get in touch and we can talk it through.

No. A to Be Partners follows the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Code of Ethical Standards, which prohibits percentage-based compensation.

With so many databases, CRMs, and project management tools, choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. We aren’t loyal to a single platform and understand that sometimes understanding your current tools and how to better use them is the path of least resistance. 

We’re firm believers in matching organizational needs to platform capabilities. Custom solutions also exist for sector-specific needs, like the arts and HIPPA-compliant medical organizations. Through our assessment, we can determine various options with you.

Individual donors and corporate sponsors can be an important part of building a diversified set of funding streams. Much like grants, a targeted and strategic approach is critical. We can help you identify prospects, create compelling communications tailored to their interests, and identify processes to sustain those relationships over the long term so you can focus on advancing your shared goals rather than managing donor churn.

Absolutely! Some of the keys to staying organized are ensuring you have the right tools to track the information you need (and not the information you don’t), establishing clear policies and procedures about using those tools, and ensuring everybody involved is on the same page. A to Be Partners can help with every step of the way, from choosing the right project management or tracking tools to supporting and tracking implementation efforts.

It depends. Fees can be structured on a per-project basis, an hourly rate, or a monthly retainer. We’ve chosen this flexible approach so we can design a plan that fits your budget and your goals. We are proud of the return we offer on your investment.

Our goal is to empower every member of your group to tell your organization’s story in a way that inspires others (ahem, funders) to love it just as much as they do. Hiring A to Be Partners is like hiring a great fund development team without the hiring process or overhead. We bring the whole package, backed by an experienced and knowledgeable team that can navigate every step of the fundraising journey — and empower you to do the same. 

The United States was built on systems of racial and socioeconomic injustice that have disadvantaged and disinvested in Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color (BIPOC) for centuries. Oppressive systems have also affected LGBTQIA2S+ people, disabled people, women, and the working class. We affirm that Black Lives Matter, and we support anti-racist, anti-ableist, anti-patriarchy, anti-heteronormative, and other intersectional efforts led and supported by nonprofits working for community justice and to counter the pervasive harmful effects of inequitable systems.

We are committed to engaging with racial equity internally, although we are in the beginning stages of the process. In 2021, we started a series of structured, internal trainings and conversations to learn about and discuss the history of racism in North America, white privilege, and the ambiguous racial and class ethics of philanthropy, to develop a shared understanding with an eye towards practical, action-oriented ways to integrate racial justice insights into our day-to-day work. 

We are not EDI consultants, nor experts on how every nonprofit should approach this work within their own organizational culture and circumstances. However, we are committed to continuing our work in this area alongside the clients we serve. We will strive to be your partner in discussing what equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice mean within the racial and socioeconomic context of your community and mission. We will also work with you to develop strengths-based language to articulate your unique perspective to funders and external partners, and to communicate and implement your goals internally. This may include:

+Helping your organization articulate your own "why" for prioritizing EDI efforts

+Describing the work you’ve done and its impact.

+Helping you stay strategically focused on organizational goals, priorities, and accountability to the communities at the core of your mission.

Public grants can be an important source of revenue for experienced organizations. Generally speaking, these grants require more time to prepare, take longer to be awarded, and have more labor-intensive compliance requirements. If this type of funding fits your situation, we would be happy to explore the details with you.

You absolutely can. However, don't expect automatically competitive results. While ChatGPT and other AI tools can be valuable in generating ideas, overcoming the pressure of a blank screen, and providing algorithmic feedback, it is not a substitute for real human expertise, contextual knowledge, creativity, and accuracy. ChatGPT‘s filters are imperfect to nonexistent, so it can provide fictional, mistaken, or outdated information. For the best results, it's recommended to use ChatGPT and other similar programs as a tool in the grant writing process, alongside human writers, who can provide editing, context, expertise, and critical thinking to craft compelling grant proposals and supplemental materials.

We focus on strategy and process, rather than specific issue areas. Over the years, we have raised millions of dollars for a range of clients and causes –– affordable housing, arts and culture, school success, food insecurity, environmental justice, social enterprise, creative placemaking, racial justice, health and human services, women's empowerment, animal rights, and many others.

We are headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and our consultants are mostly located on the West Coast — but we work with organizations across the country and around the world.

Fill out our contact form and we'll see if we can help, or try to refer you to someone who can.