The secret to your next grant win

I saw a post in my course community this week that made me grin from ear to ear.

John Wilson, Director of Cultural Arts at the Jewish Community Center of Saint Louis, had just received word that his recent grant application had been fully funded.

But what got me excited wasn't the money itself. It was how he got it:

"In the last grant I wrote, I consistently paired our organization's financial need with a multiplicity of benefits for the community to which we would present our work.

Very little beyond the basic facts were mentioned about the organization itself. Instead, at every opportunity, I used the grant question prompt to turn the camera outward."

Turn the camera outward. This is everything.

Most grant applications follow the same tired formula: Here's who we are, here's what we do, here's why we're great, here's why you should fund us.

The camera is firmly pointed inward, focused on the organization's needs, achievements, and worthiness.

John went customer-first instead.

Instead of leading with "we need," he led with "the community will benefit." Instead of highlighting organizational credentials, he highlighted community impact. Instead of making it about them, he made it about the people they serve.

The result? Full funding on his first attempt with this approach. And what John said next really caught my attention:

"I have found a new energy in tackling grants from this customer-centric paradigm, and realize I have A LOT of science, data, and language to use while doing so."

New energy. That's what happens when you stop trying to justify your existence and start articulating your impact. When you move from "please fund us" to "look what we can create together."

This approach works beyond grants, of course. It works in donor conversations, board presentations, marketing copy, and strategic planning sessions.

• What if your next funding conversation started not with your budget gap, but with the transformation you're creating?

• What if your donor thank-you letters focused less on your gratitude and more on their impact?

• What if your marketing highlighted not your programs, but the lives they change?

A successful grant is great news. A customer-first mindset is transformative.

Ready to rewire your messaging from the ground up?

Shift from product-first to audience-first with Audience Alchemy, a self-paced course + private community.