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Many people think of the proposal narrative and the budget as two separate things: the narrative explains the program; the budget shows the numbers. But funders do not read them that way. A proposal budget is not just a spreadsheet. It is part of the story. The clearest answer is this: the budget should confirm the narrative, not compete with it.

A grant opportunity can create a sense of urgency. The deadline is coming up. The amount looks promising. The funder’s priorities sound close enough. Someone forwards the link and asks, “Can we go for this?” Maybe the answer is yes. But before your organization invests time in a proposal, it is worth pausing long enough to ask a different question: Are we actually ready for this opportunity?

When funders ask about sustainability, it can feel like they’re asking you to predict the future. How will this program continue after the grant period ends? Who will support the work next year, and the year after that? The clearest answer is this: funders want to know whether your organization has thought realistically about what it will take to continue, adapt, and support the work beyond one grant period.

With less than a week to go (July 13, 2026) before the comment period closes on the proposed changes to several portions of 2 CFR concerning grants, especially the proposed changes to the existing Uniform Guidance, what are the key arguments and positions that the nonprofit community should be taking?

Most nonprofit professionals spend the majority of their proposal writing time on the narrative. The budget gets assembled at the end, often quickly, often by a different person, and often treated as a formality once the program description is done. Funders don't see it that way.

July arrives quietly for a lot of nonprofit professionals. The spring grant season has wound down, summer schedules are fragmented, and the urgency that drives the first half of the year tends to dissipate. Mid-year is the right moment to assess where your grant development calendar stands and make deliberate decisions about the second half of the year before the window to do that closes.

If you've spent any time researching foundation funders, you've probably encountered the letter of inquiry (LOI). Some foundations require one before they'll accept a full proposal. Others use them as the primary application. A few treat them as optional. And many nonprofit professionals, especially those newer to grant development, aren't entirely sure what distinguishes a letter of inquiry from a short proposal, or why the distinction matters.

The Needs or Problem statement might be the most misunderstood section in a grant proposal. It's often the first substantive section a reviewer reads, which means it's doing a lot of work. And yet it's also one of the sections where organizations most consistently undermine themselves — making one persistent, fixable mistake: They write about what their organization needs instead of what the community needs. That distinction sounds small. It isn't.

Federal Grant Alert: on Friday, May 29, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a set of proposed rule changes to several parts of Title 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) concerning grants. Comments on the proposed changes are due on or before July 13, 2026, with a projected effective date of October 1, 2026.

If you've been in the nonprofit sector for more than a few years, you've probably heard someone mention a logic model. You may have built one, or been asked to include one in a grant application. But a lot of organizations treat logic models as a compliance checkbox — something to attach to the proposal because the funder asked for it, rather than something that actually improves the work.