Rejection as a Resource: What Funders and Fundraisers Can Learn From Each Other

Topic: Leadership & Governance

Brief Summary

Every year, funders decline far more proposals than they fund. Most rejected applicants never learn why. That silence has a cost: for nonprofits who can’t improve without feedback, and for funders whose next round looks identical to the last.  Unfunded List has spent over a decade at the intersection of this problem working with both sides. In 2025 alone, we engaged over 400 volunteer evaluators from our learning community to deliver more than 1,600 structured reviews to proposal authors. The data from last year’s review reveals patterns that matter to everyone in this room: where proposals consistently fall short, where funder processes create unnecessary barriers, and how a single candid conversation can transform a rejected proposal into a funded one.  In this session, Unfunded List Founder Dave Moss and Board Chair Margaret Chapman will share what a decade of structured proposal feedback looks like in practice. They will share preliminary insights from 2026 (we reviewed 96 grant proposals this Spring, including 1 from West Virginia). Attendees will leave with concrete recommendations tailored to their role: funders who want to make their declinations more useful, and nonprofits who want to turn rejection into a roadmap.  This session is designed equally for both audiences. Because the funding relationship works better when both sides understand what the other is seeing.