Grant Success Rate Calculator

Benchmarking your grant-seeking strategy

Grant success rates vary enormously depending on funder type, field, and how competitive a given funding pool is - tracking this rate over time helps an organization judge whether its grant strategy is well-targeted or spread too thin across poorly matched opportunities.

Worked example

For an organization that applied to 20 grants and was awarded 6:

Success Rate = 6 / 20 x 100 = 30.0%

Frequently asked questions

What is considered a good grant success rate? Many experienced grant writers consider 20-30% a reasonably healthy benchmark for a well-targeted portfolio of applications, though highly competitive federal or major foundation grants often see much lower success rates even for strong applicants.

What does a very high success rate suggest? A success rate well above typical benchmarks might mean an organization is only applying to "safe" grants it is nearly certain to win - which could indicate room to pursue larger or more competitive funding opportunities as well.