I spoke to a nonprofit skills development workshop the other day about foundations and grant writing. One remark that met with some quizzical looks was my assertion that for grant makers, and thus grant writers, it was already 2011.

My organization is not unlike many other grant making foundations. Right now the docket for the fall meeting is full, and has been for a few weeks, leaving only one more meeting late in the year. And as a rule, funders don't fund work that has already been done. So a grant request being considered at a November or December board meeting will focus on activities taking place in the coming year. Thus, it is 2011 for many of us on the funding side, which means it's 2011 for you if you are going to write a grant request to us.

This environment is a good time to do some budget planning for your general operating budget. As your organization looks to the new year ask if there are any unusual expenses or other project-oriented ideas out there. For example, perhaps a program wants to increase the number of volunteers it uses. To do so the program director needs to produce some new recruitment materials, a training piece, and perhaps is thinking about some sort of volunteer award that would help retain those volunteers. While the easiest course is just to do these things and pay the cost out of the regular budget, few organizations have the money available to do that without taking the resources away from some other effort.

Yet if you were to craft a volunteer recruitment effort that had a life of more than one year--which isn't all that unusual for materials, training packages, and volunteer awards--you may be able to gain grant monies for the effort. Those grant monies would allow you to preserve your operating dollars for heat, light,  and salary costs that may have less appeal to grant makers.

This planning is good for your organization too. Instead of waiting for a computer to wear out, for example, then scambling to find funds to replace it, a thoughtful approach can pay dividends. Such planning gives you the chance to think about what you might be able to do for your clients if your internal systems worked better.

One place to begin such planning is to look back at the last few years. This reveiw probably begins with the executive director as she or he is often the person who must sign checks. And rather than reveiw general budgets, I'd urge you to reveiw check by check. By looking at each transaction the executive director can recall what expenditures just sort of happened as opposed to those that were planned.

Another presenter at the meeting put it this way. During the year an organization finds itself pulled to do this and that, making small expenditures here and there because they feel right at the time. But if you go back and add up all those little checks you might be surprised just how much was spent.

If you do this reveiw and find that last year you spent $1,000 on printing, for example, then turn it around and start with a question. If we're going to spend $1,000 on printing, what is the best way to spend that? Your answers may be far different from the hit and miss approach of the incidental expenditures. As the old saying goes, "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."

No matter what year it is, 2010 or 2011, funders appreciate proposals from organizations that are actively planning their future rather than just falling into it.