1. For savings
You may have had a rainy day fund. Everything was going as to plan, but it rained here and there, or you also had a flood. Before you know it, your rainy-day savings are no longer there. But, applying for a grant is not the way to go. Most grant funders award them to various organizations to service recipients and have an impact but not to build or create a savings fund. Foundations want to fund operations you put in place to help your community. Creating an emergency fund is not in this category, so avoid looking for funds.
2. For fund replenishment
To replace the money you already spent is not the reason to apply for a grant. If you had to spend your funds for critical or immediate reasons in your organization. It is a good move, but you cannot seek funds to replenish the funds because you fear you are not ready for the next emergency need that may require funds. It is much easier to find other ways to raise money to replenish than going ahead and applying for a grant. Plus, it is a challenge to find a grantor willing to fund money your organization spent.
3. If you have a shaky bookkeeping system
Where you cannot track expenditures to the last coin, do not look for grants. When you apply for grant funding, the funder knows from your application the money is for a specific purpose. Therefore, if you do not track every penny you spend on this purpose, you will use the money on other things. So, before you look into grants, you need a strong accounting system. If you cannot commit to using the grants money for the project needing assistance. Or commit to tracking the spending on the same. It is best to seek another way to raise funds.
4. To start a program
Never go after grant funding for programs you invent to receive grant money. If a program was not already in the plan, do not start it for the sake of receiving a grant. Such cases are common, but it is a bad idea. Also, it is known as a mission drift, and it will fragment the focus of your nonprofit, and you cannot explain to people what your program does for your programs are all over the place. So, even though you can go for various grants and create many programs that have nothing in common, you will lose focus in the long run. If you do not have a real need, don’t look for grants.
5. When you can’t spend it fast enough
Many foundations require grant awardees to spend the money within a certain time frame. Therefore, if you feel you cannot spend the money within the given time frame for your project is not ready, do not look for grants. The time frame is mostly one year to ensure you use the money for what you said you would, but receiving the money and hanging on to it like a savings account. Not only will it mess with your relationship with the foundation, but it will ruin the chances of receiving a grant from them again.
To conclude, the above are various times you should not seek grant funding for they will not be helpful. Grants aim is to help a program start, grow and acquire the needed piece of equipment. But consider if it is time to apply for the grant or not. Plus, there are other ways to seek funding when grants are not an option that you can try out.