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Grant strategies: Planning, execution and compliance | Baker Tilly

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Grant strategies: Planning, execution and compliance

Nov. 15, 2025 · Authored by Brooke Opel, Jonathan McGee

In today’s rapidly evolving economic landscape, communities and organizations across the United States are seeking innovative ways to fund critical public infrastructure and economic development projects. With inflationary pressures, supply chain issues, regulatory and permitting delays, inflation, and economic challenges, and high interest rates, local governments and organizations are increasingly turning to grants — federal, state and local — as vital sources of capital.

Grants have long served as a cornerstone of public sector funding, enabling organizations to undertake projects that might otherwise be out of reach financially. Whether it’s upgrading water infrastructure, modernizing the electrical grid or revitalizing downtown corridors, grants can provide the financial boost needed to achieve the goals in your capital or financial plans.

Successfully securing and managing a diverse grant portfolio; however, requires more than just filling out applications. It necessitates strategic planning, community engagement, assessing internal capacity, meeting compliance requirements, and sometimes a need for matching funds. It also requires a clear understanding of the rules and responsibilities that come with public dollars as well as an understanding of current federal and state priorities.

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Local governments and public sector organizations can increase their chances of securing and successfully managing grants by

Understanding current grant priorities
Preparing for grants before writing applications
Learning how to find and identify eligible grants
Implementing strategic grant pursuits and
Establishing compliance processes

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Setting the foundation for effective grant pursuit

Before actively seeking grants, organizations must prepare themselves for successful grant pursuits by analyzing potential projects, developing a funding strategy and establishing administrative procedures. Several best practices can help communities navigate this process effectively, including: 

Engage the community first, not last. Successful grant applications begin with robust community engagement before you initiate your grant pursuit. By involving residents, businesses and local organizations in the planning process, communities can build public support, understand local needs and develop a prioritized project list. Two-way communication (e.g., town halls, virtual meetings, canvassing and social media) ensures diverse voices are heard and projects reflect genuine community priorities.
Leverage your capital infrastructure or economic development project list. Once your community has established a list of infrastructure or economic development projects, use it as a foundation to identify community grant priorities. Remember, this list should remain flexible so it can be adjusted to meet popular funding areas and priorities once your organization begins looking for specific funding opportunities. At this point, it’s helpful to have an idea of general project scope and budget for every priority project identified because it will help you find the right funding program.
Developing a funding strategy. Grants should be seen as a valuable funding source — but not the sole solution. Funding programs reserve the right to eliminate, pause or delay funding, which can delay projects or lead to unexpected costs. A diverse capital stack might include:
General revenue and reserves
Loans, tax credits and bonds
Federal, state, county, philanthropic and corporate grants

This variety allows communities to leverage multiple funding sources, manage cost increases and keep projects moving forward even when delays in one funding area occur.

Developing grant pursuit and compliance processes. Grant programs only accept applications for a short amount of time, usually giving organizations 30 to 90 days from the first date the program is announced to submit applications. As a result, it’s important to plan ahead and develop strong administrative grant pursuit and compliance standard operating procedures (SOPs) before writing applications. Some processes to establish include:
Go/no-go decision-making processes to assess grant fit
Grant pursuit and compliance roles, responsibilities and workflow
Budget development and approval processes
Process for monitoring grant requirements like reporting deadlines

Identifying and assessing grant opportunities

One of the most common challenges for communities is knowing where to source grants and how to determine project eligibility and competitiveness. Most federal grants can be found on grants.gov, the Federal Register, and individual agency websites or portals.

Nonfederal grants can be found on local government websites, state government grant portals to aid state-level searches, and private funding websites, all of which typically offer emailed newsletters. Some resources and technologies aim to consolidate federal, state, local and private funding announcements in one place, and some organizations provide similar tracking services.

Another strategy to identify grant opportunities includes building relationships with funding agencies. These agencies often provide webinars, FAQ and technical assistance to help communities access resources. Proactively building relationships with agency staff can provide early insights into funding cycles, eligibility requirements and strategies for submitting competitive proposals. It should also be noted that while some grants are only announced once, most grants are announced at regular intervals, often annually or bi-annually, so many programs can be anticipated based on when the last round was announced.

When a potential grant program has been identified, your organization should ask the following critical questions to help guide you through a go/no-go decision-making process:

Is your organization eligible for funding, or will you need to partner with an eligible applicant to achieve your project?
Do the grant objectives align with your organization’s strategic goals and objectives?
Can you adapt your project to better align with program priorities and requirements?
How much project planning have you completed, and is it sufficient to pursue the grant opportunity?
Does the grant program require a cost share or match, and will operating costs need to be covered with organizational (non-grant) revenue?
What plans are in place to sustain the project after grant funding expires?

As you work through the go/no-go decision, keep in mind that no grant program is a perfect match for any project. Projects often need to be adjusted, modified or combined with similar projects to make them eligible and competitive for grant funding. Grant programs always have their own priorities and typically want to see projects that will deliver tangible results such as planning documents, feasibility studies or construction.

Strategies for writing successful grant proposals

A grant proposal typically includes a persuasive written narrative section, project budget and supporting documents. All program and application requirements are outlined in guidance documents — often called a notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), funding opportunity announcement (FOA) or request for proposal (RFP) — that must be followed to the letter. As you work though the required application documents, there are good grant-writing strategies you should implement to make your proposal stand out:

Compile and communicate organizational accomplishments. A compelling grant application should highlight your organization or community’s track record of successful grant management, financial stability and the ability to deliver results. Funders want to invest in communities that demonstrate readiness and capacity. Strong applications typically include:
Detailed budgets, staffing plans, timelines and performance metrics
Clear identification of project locations, demographics and impacted communities
Engagement with labor and community stakeholders
A diverse capital stack and/or matching funds
Commitments to workforce and community benefit agreements
Job creation and quality metrics
Alignment with federal, state and local policy goals
Prioritization of local contractors, especially in disadvantaged areas
Letters of support from community partners
Include risk mitigation planning. Applications should also include strategies to address potential risks, such as delays, inflation or supply chain disruptions, to demonstrate project resilience. All projects have risks, and funding agencies expect to see detailed mitigation plans.
Apply equity lens. Grant applications should reflect an equity lens, deliberately including all populations affected by the project. Using census data and organizational records, communities can demonstrate how projects will benefit underserved or unserved populations, if that is a program priority.
Leverage qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data from federal and state agencies combined with qualitative insights from community outreach and surveys, strengthens the case for funding. Funders want to see evidence of need, impact and community support.
Build an ecosystem model. Successful projects bring together a diverse coalition, including community organizations, elected officials, business leaders and other stakeholders. This ecosystem approach demonstrates broad commitment and increases the likelihood of grant success.