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Have a Funding Rationale: Something to Ask For

For Impact Ideas | | Nick Fellers

It’s important to have a great story and then you need something to ask for — a funding rationale.

If the story is the emotion then the funding rationale is the logic behind the ask.

  • $1,200 to cover the gap in one student impacted.
  • $36,000 over three years to underwrite a family counseling program.
  • $1M to be one of three seed funders that will take your program to scale.

Having a strong funding rationale converts the emotion (of the story) to something concrete. It frames the ask. (See How to Create a Funding Rationale Tied to Impact.)

Without a funding rationale a few things usually happen:

  • There is no real ask… because we’re not sure what to ask for.
  • The ask is so general that you receive a sliver of what you really needed.
  • The funder will restrict the giving… only because he or she doesn’t really understand from you what the money will be used for so it was decided for you.