In order to receive a grant from a Christian foundation, the essential element is a clear message.
A clear message means that you have a clear mission, vision and objectives. I like for mission and vision statements to be 20 words or less. The vision statement ideally should have "jazz"--it should elements of transformation. In other words, why will the world be different because of the work of your ministry. There are many complicated versions of what a vision statement should be, but I describe it simply as "what only God can do."
A mission statement on the other hand is about what your ministry is going to do about that vision. It is practical. Yet it is also 20 words or less. The mission statement is what keeps you on task. It keeps you focused. It is what you do every single day--all in light of the vision.
Thus, in our organization, Servant Christian Community Foundation, our vision statement is "To create a culture of generosity." Our mission is "to inspire, teach and facilitate revolutionary biblical generosity." They are short and simple and statements which our people can rally around. The vision is big--far beyond what we can do.
The objectives are those practical steps on what your organization is doing to accomplish the mission. What do you do? Generally, you should have 3-5 key objectives. There may be steps below each of the objectives. For instance, we work with ministries. A key objective for us is "to meet with 10 ministries per week." A sub objective is to see ministries learn basic grantwriting skills so we have a grantwriting training. That is a specific objective and sub objective.
Now here's the key to all this. Get all of this down on one page. The only addition to these elements is the "how." Once you've got your objectives, you need to be able to describe how your organization is funded specifically in relation to these objectives. The funding plan needs to be simple, yet clearly tied to the objectives. More on this in a subsequent article. For now, write away--one page, mission, vision, objectives.
William High is the President of the Servant Christian Community Foundation (www.servantchristian.com). He may be contacted at whigh@servantchristian.com. Christian Foundation Grants (www.christianfoundationgrants.com) is a subscription database of foundations that provide grants to faith based organizations. www.iDonate.com is an online subscription service that allows ministries to receive non cash gifts online