4 customisable OKR examples for Grant Writer

What are Grant Writer OKRs?

The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.

OKRs are quickly gaining popularity as a goal-setting framework. But, it's not always easy to know how to write your goals, especially if it's your first time using OKRs.

We've tailored a list of OKRs examples for Grant Writer to help you. You can look at any of the templates below to get some inspiration for your own goals.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.

Building your own Grant Writer OKRs with AI

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.

Our customisable Grant Writer OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different Grant Writer Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).

Hope you'll find this helpful!

1. OKRs to boost the success rate of competitive grant applications

Boost the success rate of competitive grant applications
Achieve a 20% increase in submitted high-quality grant applications
Introduce incentives for submitting quality grant applications
Develop specific criteria for distinguishing high-quality applications
Provide staff with targeted grant writing training
Improve grant writing skills of the team by conducting 3 intensive training sessions
Gather materials for training sessions
Hire experienced grant writing trainers
Schedule three intensive grant writing training sessions
Form partnerships with 5 key organizations to strengthen grant proposal narratives
Formulate proposals for partnership and exchange mutual benefits
Identify 5 key organizations relevant to our grant proposal narrative
Establish contact and open dialogue with targeted organizations

Implement this OKR

2. OKRs to establish a proficient grant research volunteer team

Establish a proficient grant research volunteer team
Recruit and onboard 10 proficient grant researching volunteers in the team
Develop a concise volunteer recruitment ad focusing on grant research skills
Hold webinars or interviews to assess applicants' proficiency
Design an effective onboarding program for selected volunteers
Successfully apply and secure a minimum of 5 grants
Research and identify potential grants relevant to your project
Prepare and submit comprehensive, compelling grant applications
Follow up promptly on application status and feedback
Develop and finalize at least 20 complete grant applications
Identify 20 suitable grant opportunities for application
Submit final versions of each grant application
Create, review and edit draft applications for all identified grants

grant-research volunteer-recruitment volunteer-recruiter grant-writer recruitment-team grant-writing-team

Implement this OKR

3. OKRs to broaden funding base for non-profit organization

Broaden funding base for non-profit organization
Submit 15 grant applications to charitable foundations to secure funding
Draft and refine compelling grant applications
Submit applications to targeted foundations
Research foundations offering grants aligned with our cause
Increase monthly online donations by 20% through enhanced social media campaigns
Develop new, engaging social media content to attract donors
Analyze donation patterns to optimize posting times
Promote online giving through targeted social media ads
Secure funding from 5 new corporate sponsors by increasing outreach efforts
Research potential corporate sponsors within relevant industry fields
Schedule meetings to present funding pitches
Draft tailored outreach proposals for each target sponsor

funding-diversification non-profit-organization grant-writer social-media-manager fundraising-team social-media-team

Implement this OKR

4. OKRs to secure 6.5M for nonprofit

Secure 6.5M for nonprofit
Obtain 1.5M in grants from foundations
Prepare compelling, detailed grant proposals
Identify suitable foundations for grant applications
Submit all proposals as per requirements
Raise 2M through online fundraising campaigns
Launch and continuously monitor the campaign's performance
Develop a compelling marketing strategy
Identify key audiences to target during online fundraising
Secure 3M through corporate partnerships
Initiate negotiations and finalize partnership agreements
Identify potential corporate partners based on synergy and financial potential
Develop a compelling partnership proposal showcasing mutual benefits

fundraising partnership-agreements grant-proposal-writer corporate-partnership-manager fundraising-team corporate-partnership-team

Implement this OKR

Grant Writer OKR best practices to boost success

Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.

Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇

Tip #1: Limit the number of key results

The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.

We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.

Tability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRs

Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins

Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.

Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.

Tability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparency

Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row

Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.

As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.

Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.

How to turn your Grant Writer OKRs in a strategy map

OKRs without regular progress updates are just KPIs. You'll need to update progress on your OKRs every week to get the full benefits from the framework. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:

It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
It will highlight poorly set OKRs
It will surface execution risks
It improves transparency and accountability

Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.

Tability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRs

If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.

More Grant Writer OKR templates

We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.

OKRs resources

Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.

To learn: What is the meaning of OKRs
Blog posts: ODT Blog
Success metrics: KPIs examples

What's next? Try Tability's goal-setting AI

You can create an iterate on your OKRs using Tability's unique goal-setting AI.

Watch the demo below, then hop on the platform for a free trial.

Start a free trial →Learn more about Tability