Bridging the Gap: How to Recover from a Lost Grant with Individual Giving Strategies
Is your organization facing a cash shortage due to a lost grant? You’re not alone—and while knowing you’re not alone is often comforting, right now it may just feel overwhelming.
Here’s what isn’t helpful:
Fundraising experts wagging their fingers and saying, “This is why you should’ve diversified your revenue streams.”
Let’s shut that down right now.
Government grants have long been one of the most stable funding sources in our sector. If you’ve relied on them, you didn’t do anything wrong. You’re not a bad leader for not predicting the unpredictable. Full stop.
Shifting to individual giving is hard.
It takes expertise, experience, and commitment. And while many fundraising consultants can help you optimize a program, few are equipped to help you build one from scratch.
But that’s exactly what we do at From Scratch Fundraising. Starting individual giving programs is our bread and butter (pun fully intended). We help organizations build the strategies, systems, and messaging required to create long-term, sustainable donor support.
So let’s start here. If you’ve not invested in individual giving until a grant ran out, no shame, no blame. You made the decisions that felt right based on what you knew.
But now, things have changed—and it’s time to take action.
Step 1: Reframe the “Problem”
If you're approaching this like something you “have to do,” just to plug a hole, it’s not going to work. Full stop.
Individual giving thrives when you treat it as a transformative opportunity.
It’s not just gap-filling—it’s community building. The most successful programs are built on joy, partnership, and trust between the nonprofit and its donors.
Nonprofits that want to keep donors at arm’s length or treat them like ATMs? They struggle. They never get off the ground.
I’ve seen it too many times. If your team only wants to talk to major donors who can give $5,000+, you may never get the $50 gift that starts a lifelong relationship.
Individual giving is about inviting people to believe in your mission and join your team. People don’t give just because you’re in crisis—they give because they care.
But they only invest where they trust. They can’t learn to trust you if they don’t know you.
Step 2: Define the Gap (and Tie It to Impact)
A friend recently called me in a panic. Her organization had lost a federal grant.
“What’s the gap?” I asked.
She wasn’t sure.
A week later, she texted:
“We need $20,000 this month to retain our key staff, then $15,000 per month after that.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
You have to define your gap. How much do you need, and by when? What will that funding make possible?
Donors don’t give to “keep the staff.”
They give to keep a vital program running. That distinction matters.
Figure out:
Your funding shortfall
Your timeline
The programmatic or mission impact of those funds
You have to know this to message the donors appropriately.
Step 3: Set Up a CRM
Before you fundraise, get a place to track your donor information.
If you’re just getting started and have nothing, I recommend Donorbox — their base platform is free and you can start fundraising today. No up-front investment, and your information will be in one central location.
Step 4: Start with Your Board
Now’s the time to remind your board: Their role includes ensuring your organization has sufficient revenue.
As Jean Block writes in The Invisible Yellow Line:
“While the development plan is usually created by the staff, it is the board's responsibility to ensure that revenue projections are realistic and attainable.... Board members give and get. Staff members support board members in giving and getting.... Without effective resource development, your mission is at risk, so both teams have to work together and meet in the middle.”
Avoid the trap of focusing only on big gifts—it can make board members freeze.
Instead, say:
“We’re not asking for anyone’s biggest gift, just their first gift—so they can get to know us.”
Encourage board members to think of the five people most likely to say “yes” to a request—not necessarily the five wealthiest people they know.
Start small, build confidence, then expand outreach. Here again, if your philosophy is go big or go home…you’re headed home. Start small and grow is the order of the day when starting an individual giving program. It can be quick sometimes, but you have to start where you are with the people you have access to before you branch out and find the big donors.
Step 5: Launch a Peer-to-Peer Campaign
The fastest way to bring in new donors?
Activate your current community.
Ask your:
Board
Staff
Volunteers
Clients and families (if appropriate)
...to run their own mini-campaigns using a peer-to-peer platform (again, Donorbox can be the platform).
Make it easy with a fundraising toolkit:
Sample emails and social posts
Messaging guidelines
Simple instructions
Example message:
“We need to raise $20,000 this month to keep our women’s healthcare program running through the summer.”
Clear. Focused. Hopeful. Don’t make people do the work for you, give them clear guidelines so all they have to do is copy and paste.
Step 6: Craft Your Message with Care
Never say, “We need $20,000 or we’ll have to shut our doors!”
That creates panic—and worse, it creates doubt in your ability to survive.
Emergency fundraising can work, but it only works once. If you play the emergency card too often, donors will stop believing in your stability.
Instead:
Focus on what donors can make possible
Be calm and confident
Show how their gift has immediate, meaningful impact
If you’re unsure how to frame the message, check out this post for more guidance.
Step 7: Be Ready to Steward
In a crisis, stewardship often slips through the cracks. Don’t let it.
You’ll need these donors next year—and the year after that. The work of getting the next gift starts as soon as you receive the first gift.
And stewardship is a really fancy word, but what we mean by it is that you let the donor know that you got the gift, that you appreciate the gift, and then you let them know what their gift did a little while later.
Stewardship = Thank You Process + Gratitude Program
Thank You Process:
Send an auto-responder
Follow up with a personal call or email
Set aside 30 minutes at the end of each day (or 90 minutes weekly) to thank donors—most will get a voicemail, but it matters. The impact is long-lasting. Donors remember when you say thanks personally. They’ll give again when you ask. It’s worth the time you invest.
Gratitude Program:
Plan 12 monthly touchpoints before you launch the campaign. Rotate:
Short video messages
Zoom calls where donors can ask questions and get to know you
Impact stories or program updates
These aren’t donor “perks”—they’re trust builders.
Skip this step, and you’ll be back in the same (or worse) situation next year, with fewer donors who want to help.
And I know people get prickly about donors being “needy” and not wanting to have to do “donor love”. That’s not at all what I mean here. Think about it in normal human behavior terms. Do you have a friend that’s always asking you for help and favors, but never, ever reciprocates? I mean, I hope not! Nobody wants that friend. Donors just want to know that what they gave to you made a difference, and they want to be in a relationship with you to see what happened. That’s not “donor love” and all that nonsense. That’s what we call trust-based philanthropy.
Need Help?
We’ve got two programs to help you build a resilient, donor-powered fundraising engine:
Sustain & Thrive
Our Pay-As-You-Grow group coaching program helps you build an individual giving strategy from scratch, with expert support at every step. It’s a step-by-step implementation course, weekly coaching calls, and 24/7 access to me. Apply here.
Nurture & Grow
Need to move fast? Our team will work inside your nonprofit for six months to build your strategy, systems, messaging, and more. Includes training for staff, board, and volunteers. $9,000 (payable in six $1,500 monthly installments). Request a discovery call.
Final Thoughts
I hope this is just a phase—and that the advocacy efforts of organizations like the National Council of Nonprofits bear fruit soon.
But until then, we find a way. We nonprofits always do.
This is your moment to grow something powerful. Individual giving, when done right, creates a community of support that will carry your organization through the hard times—not just now, but in every challenge to come.
