questions to ask before submitting a proposal

Foundation guidelines can be helpful, but they rarely tell the whole story. A website may say a foundation supports education, the arts, health, civic life, or community organizations. Part XIV of the Form 990-PF shows what the foundation actually funded, how much it gave, whether it renewed grantees, how concentrated its giving was, and whether new applicants appear to have a meaningful path in.

That can be a lot to analyze on your own. aysra helps you use public filing evidence before you commit staff time to a proposal. Then, once you have a draft, AskGrant helps you pressure-test it against what the foundation has previously supported.

1. Do they fund organizations like ours?

Start with the grants list. Look at the foundation's recent recipients and ask whether your organization resembles the nonprofits they already support. Similarity does not have to mean identical mission. It might mean a shared geography, population served, program area, institutional type, budget size, or role in the community.

A foundation that funds large universities, hospitals, and museums may technically support education or culture, but that does not make it a good fit for a small community arts organization. A foundation that funds neighborhood-based nonprofits year after year may be a stronger fit even if its guidelines are less polished.

In aysra, use the foundation's grant history to look for patterns:

• Do the recipients look like peer organizations?
• Are grants concentrated in your city, state, or region?
• Are funded organizations similar in scale to yours?
• Do the grants support direct service, advocacy, research, scholarships, arts programming, capital projects, general operations, or something else?

The goal is not to find a perfect match. The goal is to avoid writing a proposal when the foundation's actual grantmaking points somewhere else.

2. What grant amount is realistic?

Many proposals are weakened before they are submitted because the request amount is based on hope, not evidence.

A foundation's 990-PF can show the range of grants it has actually made. aysra makes that pattern easier to see by surfacing grant size, median grant amount, and recent giving behavior.

Before choosing an ask amount, look at:

• The foundation's median grant size
• The range between small and large grants
• Whether large grants are common or rare
• Whether first-time grantees receive smaller awards
• Whether larger awards appear to be reserved for long-term relationships

A $100,000 proposal may be reasonable to one foundation and unrealistic for another. A $15,000 proposal may be too small for a foundation that mostly makes six-figure institutional grants. The filings will not tell you exactly what to ask for, but they can help you avoid an ask that ignores the foundation's normal behavior.

Ask aysra, the question box on each organization's profile, can help turn this into a practical question:

Based on this foundation's recent grantmaking, what request amount would be realistic for a first-time applicant like us?

The answer should not replace judgment, but it can give you a better starting point than guessing.

3. Do they make grants to new organizations?

This may be the most important question before submitting a proposal.

Some foundations add new grantees regularly, while others mostly renew the same organizations. Both approaches can be valid, but they create very different opportunities for grantseekers.

If a foundation has a high share of repeat grantees, a cold proposal may be a long shot unless you have an invitation, relationship, or unusually strong fit. If a foundation regularly funds new organizations, the opportunity may be more open.

In aysra, look for signals such as:

• How many recipients are new in recent years
• What share of giving goes to returning grantees
• Whether the same organizations appear year after year
• Whether new grantees receive meaningful grants or only small exploratory awards

Then use Ask aysra to investigate the pattern:

Does this foundation appear open to new grantees?What evidence argues for or against submitting as a first-time applicant?

That second question is especially useful because it forces the analysis to include negative evidence. Good research should not only confirm your interest. It should help you decide when not to proceed.

4. Is this a one-time funder or a relationship funder?

A foundation may be valuable even if it only makes one-time grants. But you should know what kind of opportunity you are pursuing.

If a foundation tends to renew grantees, a first grant may be the beginning of a longer relationship. If a foundation rarely renews, the opportunity may still be worthwhile, but you should treat it as more limited.

Look at renewal behavior, repeat-recipient share, and giving cadence:

• Do grantees receive support across multiple years?
• Are renewals roughly the same size, larger, or smaller?
• Does the foundation give annually, occasionally, or irregularly?
• Are there signs that funding follows a cycle?

This matters because proposal strategy is not only about getting a yes. It is about deciding whether the potential relationship justifies the time required to pursue it. Ask aysra can help clarify the pattern:

Does this foundation tend to renew grantees?Does its grantmaking suggest relationship-based support or mostly one-time awards?How should we think about the long-term opportunity here?

5. What does the foundation's giving say that its guidelines do not?

Guidelines describe intent. Filings show actual behavior. Sometimes they match. Sometimes they do not.

A foundation might describe broad interest in community well-being but concentrate most of its giving in a few institutions. Or it might say it funds statewide work but mostly support organizations in a single city. Guidelines might list several program areas, while the grants show that one area receives most of the dollars.

Before submitting, compare the foundation's public language with its actual grantmaking:

• Are the guidelines broad, but the giving narrow?
• Are stated priorities reflected in recent grants?
• Are there areas mentioned on the website that do not appear often in the filings?
• Does the foundation fund the kind of work we want supported, or only adjacent work?

This is where aysra can help you move from they say they fund this to their filings show they have funded this. Try asking Ask aysra:

Where do this foundation's stated interests appear to match or differ from its recent grantmaking behavior?

6. What would make us decide not to apply?

This question should come before the proposal, not after the rejection. A strong prospect review should include disqualifying evidence. That might include:

• Very few new grantees
• No recent grants in your geography
• Grant sizes far below your need
• A pattern of funding much larger or much smaller organizations
• Giving concentrated among a small group of long-term recipients
• No evidence of support for your type of work
• Irregular or declining grantmaking

None of these signals automatically means do not apply. But they should change how you proceed.

A poor-fit foundation might still be worth pursuing if you have a direct invitation, a board connection, a strong relationship, or a program that clearly matches a current priority. Without that context, the evidence may suggest your time is better spent elsewhere. Try asking Ask aysra:

What evidence suggests we should not submit a proposal to this foundation?

That may be the most valuable question in the process.

7. Once you have a draft, what should you strengthen?

The questions above help you decide whether a proposal is worth writing. AskGrant helps once you have something to review.

Instead of treating AI as a grant writer, AskGrant works more like a careful reviewer. You can enter your proposal and receive Socratic-style feedback based on the foundation's prior grantmaking behavior. The goal is not to rewrite your proposal for you. The goal is to help you see where your argument may be unclear, unsupported, misaligned, or missing an opportunity to connect with what the foundation has actually funded.

AskGrant can help you think through questions like:

• Does this proposal clearly match the foundation's recent giving patterns?
• Are we asking for an amount that makes sense given the foundation's past grants?
• Are we overemphasizing a program area the foundation rarely funds?
• Are we missing evidence that would make the proposal stronger?
• Are there claims that need to be sharper, more specific, or better supported?
• Does the proposal explain why this work is a fit for this funder, not just why the work matters?

That last question is important. A strong proposal does more than describe a worthy project. It helps the funder understand why this project belongs in its grantmaking pattern.

AskGrant is most useful when you already have a real draft, even if it is rough. The better the proposal you provide, the more useful the feedback can be.

aysra does not save proposals submitted to AskGrant or use them to train models. Your proposal belongs to you.