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Is this grant worth applying for?

How do I decide whether a grant is worth applying for?

Answer four questions before you write. Are you eligible? Does the funder's purpose match work you already do or plan to do? Is the award large enough to justify the work the application takes? Can you meet the conditions that come with the money, such as match, reporting or an audit? A clear no on any one is a reason to move on. Agree the questions with your leadership once, and every decision after that is quick.

Last reviewed October 2, 2026.

The four questions

Are you eligible?
Check this first. Entity type, location, size and required registrations usually sit together in one section of the announcement, and a single mismatch there ends the question before any of the others matter.
Does it fit your work?
Funders pay for their own purpose, and the best applications describe work the organization was going to do anyway. A project bent to fit is hard to deliver.
Is the award worth the effort?
Compare the award with the application. A two-page form for $10,000 and a thirty-page narrative for $100,000 can both be good uses of a week, while a long federal application for a small award rarely is.
Can you meet the conditions?
Match, reporting, audits and spending rules arrive with the money. Here is how match works.

Answering them in minutes

Ask "Am I qualified?" on any opportunity and Quillify reads the full announcement and tells you where you stand. Its requirements checklist lists everything the application asks for, with what your team must produce, the risk of missing each item and its deadline, so you can see the size of the job before you start.

Who asks this most

The answer above is the same whoever you are. What Quillify does about it is not.

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