The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs

Telephone Calls and Meetings with Applicants

No matter how well worded the foundation's external communications may be, there will still be a never-ending parade of requests from grantseekers to talk with and to meet with you. Grantmakers often feel besieged by this insatiable demand. Some spend too much of their time trying, without success, to meet it. Some throw up their hands and refuse to be disturbed. Both approaches are counterproductive in the long run. There is a happy medium between becoming enthralled by nonstop outside demands and turning into the second coming of Greta Garbo. Achieving this happy balance requires a disciplined approach to grantmaking.

Many new program officers have vowed to pursue an open-door policy: being accessible ...