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

Fielding Questions

Once you have made the presentation, there will be time set aside for the committee members or trustees to ask you questions. Typically, any question is fair game, so you need to have done plenty of homework prior to the session. The importance of preserving this question-and-answer (Q&A) period cannot be overstated. Officers and trustees have one job to do in such meetings, and that is to decide whether to fund or decline recommendations. In order to make this decision, they need to have all of their questions answered, and the Q&A period is their only opportunity to get those answers. As mentioned previously, it is wise for you to ensure that they get these opportunities—in fact, that discussion time is maximized.

Once the ...