The Strategic "No"
Why chasing every possible opportunity is a recipe for burnout—and how to stop.
There is a specific kind of panic that happens in the nonprofit world.
It usually starts on a Tuesday afternoon. A link gets dropped into Slack. It’s a new Request for Proposals (RFP). It’s huge. It’s vaguely aligned with your priorities. And it’s due in 5 days.
Immediately, the scarcity mindset kicks in. “If we don’t go for this, we’re leaving money on the table.” “What if this is the funding that finally stabilizes the budget?”
So, you scramble. You pull the program team away from their actual work. You work late nights. You contort your mission statement until it fits the funder’s boxes.
And best case scenario? You win… and now you have to deliver on a project that you don’t have the staff for, for a funder who doesn’t really get what you do.
This is the “Grant Treadmill.” And the only way to get off of it is to learn the most powerful word in leadership: No.
The Cost of the “Default Yes”
We often think that saying “yes” to a proposal is free. We think, “Well, we might as well throw our hat in the ring.”
But there is always a cost.
The Opportunity Cost: Every hour your team spends writing a “Hail Mary” proposal is an hour they aren’t spending on donor stewardship, program evaluation, or rest.
The Morale Cost: Nothing burns out a development team faster than chasing grants they know they can’t win (or shouldn’t manage).
The Mission Cost: When you chase funding that doesn’t fit, your organization starts to look like a Swiss Army Knife—trying to be everything to everyone, and eventually becoming dull at everything.
Going “Back to Basics” means realizing that strategy isn’t just about what you do. It’s about what you refuse to do.
Stop Guessing. Start Filtering.
You don’t need a crystal ball to know if a grant is worth it. You just need a process.
If you are relying on a gut feeling in the hallway to make these decisions, you are setting yourself up for stress. You need a standardized Go/No-Go Framework.
This doesn’t have to be a complex algorithm. It can be as simple as a “Traffic Light” system:
Red (Stop): The deadline is too tight, the eligibility is murky, or the funding doesn’t cover the full cost of the work. (The answer is a hard no).
Yellow (Caution): The alignment is good, but we are missing a key partner or staff member. (We need to answer specific questions before we proceed).
Green (Go): We know the funder, we have the capacity, and this pays for work we are already planning to do. (Full steam ahead).
Creating Your “No” Committee
The other key is to stop making these decisions alone.
The Executive Director sees the dollar signs. The Program Director sees the workload. The Grant Writer sees the deadline.
You need all those perspectives in the room before you start writing. When you make the Go/No-Go decision a team process, you remove the blame. If you decide to go for it, you are all in. If you decide to pass, you can all exhale and get back to work without the FOMO.
A Tool to Stop the Scramble
If your organization lacks a formal way to filter these opportunities, I created a cheat sheet for you.
It’s called Quick Facts: Go/No-Go Decision Making. It’s a simple 2-page guide that outlines:
Who needs to be in the room.
The essential questions to ask regarding capacity vs. strategy.
How to use the Traffic Light system to make faster decisions.
Stop letting the scarcity mindset run your calendar. Protect your team, protect your mission, and start making decisions you can stand behind.