Purpose
Produce a structured, defensible due diligence assessment of a nonprofit or NGO — scoring it across six weighted dimensions, flagging risks, and issuing a clear funding recommendation — so program officers can move from a stack of application materials to a board-ready memo without inventing a rubric each time.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Evaluate or score a grant applicant against due diligence criteria
- Draft a due diligence memo or grant recommendation for review committee
- Compare two or more shortlisted grantees on a common rubric
- Assess a nonprofit's financial health, capacity, or scalability before funding
- Identify red flags or open questions before a site visit or reference check
- Build a repeatable grantee scoring framework for a giving portfolio
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Organization name & focus: The nonprofit/NGO and the issue area it works in
- Grant purpose: What this grant would fund (general operating, project, capacity-building) and the amount/range
- Funder priorities: The foundation's mission, strategy, or funding thesis to test alignment against
- Program materials: Proposal, theory of change, logic model, or program descriptions
- Financials: Recent Form 990, audited statements, budget, or key figures (revenue, expenses, reserves, funding mix)
- Leadership & governance info: Executive team bios, board list, tenure, staff size
- Impact evidence: Outcome data, evaluations, third-party assessments, or testimonials provided
If financials or impact data are incomplete, score the available dimensions, mark the gaps explicitly, and convert each gap into an open question rather than penalizing silently.
Instructions
Step 1: Score the Six Due Diligence Dimensions
Score each dimension 1–5 (1 = serious concern, 3 = adequate, 5 = strong), with a 2–3 sentence rationale citing specifics from the materials. Do not award a 5 without concrete evidence.
Dimension 1 — Mission Alignment (weight: 20%) How well the org's work maps to the funder's stated strategy.
- Assess overlap of populations served, geography, and intended outcomes with the funder's thesis
- Distinguish genuine strategic fit from surface-level keyword match
- Flag "strategy drift" — orgs that reshape their pitch to chase the funder rather than fit it
Dimension 2 — Organizational Capacity (weight: 15%) Whether the org can absorb and deploy the grant effectively.
- Staff-to-program ratio, systems maturity, prior grant management track record
- Ability to execute at the proposed scope without overextending
- Signs of key-person dependency or thin operational infrastructure
Dimension 3 — Leadership & Governance (weight: 15%) Strength and stability of the executive team and board.
- ED/CEO tenure, relevant experience, succession readiness
- Board size, engagement, independence, and financial oversight role
- Any governance red flags: unusually small/inactive board, founder-only control, high leadership turnover
Dimension 4 — Financial Health (weight: 25%) The heaviest-weighted dimension — sustainability and stewardship.
- Reserves: Months of operating cash on hand (target 3+ months; under 1 month is a flag)
- Funding concentration: Share of revenue from the single largest funder (over 40% signals dependency risk)
- Program expense ratio: Program spend as a share of total (65–85% is healthy; extremes in either direction warrant a question)
- Trend: Revenue and net-asset direction over the last 2–3 years — growth, stability, or erosion
- Deficit pattern: Recurring operating deficits vs. a one-time planned draw-down
Dimension 5 — Evidence of Impact (weight: 15%) The quality of the evidence, not just the claims.
- Distinguish outputs (activities delivered) from outcomes (change created)
- Assess whether measurement is credible: baselines, comparison, third-party evaluation, or self-reported anecdote
- Note whether the theory of change is testable and whether results are reported honestly, including shortfalls
Dimension 6 — Scalability (weight: 10%) Potential to grow reach or deepen impact with additional investment.
- Whether the model is replicable, or bound to a specific person/place
- Unit economics: does cost-per-outcome hold or improve at larger scale?
- Absorptive capacity: can this grant meaningfully move the org, or is it too large/small relative to its size?
Step 2: Calculate the Weighted Composite Score
Multiply each dimension score by its weight, sum to a composite on a 5-point scale, and convert to a band:
- 4.2–5.0 — Strong candidate: Fund
- 3.4–4.1 — Solid with caveats: Fund, likely with conditions
- 2.6–3.3 — Mixed: Conditional or defer pending answers
- Below 2.6 — Not ready: Decline or refer to capacity-building support
Show the arithmetic in a scorecard so the reader can audit the composite.
Step 3: Compile the Red-Flag List
Surface concrete risks tied to specific evidence. Categorize each as:
- Critical — would materially threaten the grant's success or the funder's reputation
- Moderate — manageable with conditions or monitoring
- Watch — worth noting but not disqualifying If there are no material flags, say so explicitly rather than manufacturing concern.
Step 4: Draft Open Questions for the Site Visit / Reference Check
Turn every information gap and moderate flag into a specific, answerable question a program officer can ask the ED, board chair, or references. Prioritize the 5–8 questions most likely to change the decision.
Step 5: Issue the Recommendation
State a clear verdict — Fund / Fund with Conditions / Defer / Decline — with a 3–4 sentence rationale tying the composite score, red flags, and grant purpose together. If recommending conditions, list them concretely (e.g., "reserves reported quarterly," "budget-to-actuals at 6 months"). Be decisive; do not hedge into a non-answer.
Output Format
- Structure: Scorecard table → dimension-by-dimension write-ups → composite score with band → red-flag list → open questions → recommendation
- Length: 1,000–1,400 words
- Format: Structured memo — a scorecard table for the six dimensions and composite, bulleted red flags and questions, short prose for rationales and recommendation
- Sections: Summary Scorecard → Dimension Assessments (6) → Weighted Composite Score → Red-Flag List → Open Questions → Funding Recommendation
- Tone: Program officer voice — evidence-based, balanced, decisive; skeptical without being cynical, and always citing the source of a judgment
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] All six dimensions are scored 1–5 with a rationale citing specific evidence from the materials
- [ ] Weights are applied correctly (20/15/15/25/15/10) and the composite arithmetic is shown
- [ ] Financial health assessment references concrete figures — reserves, concentration, or program ratio — not just "seems stable"
- [ ] Every information gap is converted into an open question rather than an unstated assumption
- [ ] Red flags are categorized (Critical / Moderate / Watch) and tied to evidence
- [ ] A single clear recommendation (Fund / Conditions / Defer / Decline) is issued without hedging
Notes
- Financial health carries the most weight because a strong program at a fragile organization is the most common way a grant fails — scrutinize reserves and funder concentration first
- Impact scoring should reward honest reporting of mixed results over polished claims with no measurement; be wary of outputs dressed up as outcomes
- For portfolio comparison, run each grantee through the same rubric and present composites side by side, but preserve the individual red-flag lists — a lower composite with no critical flags can beat a higher one with a reputational risk
- When materials are thin, a low score should reflect unverifiable rather than bad — make that distinction explicit so the org isn't penalized for a paperwork gap that a site visit could resolve
How to use this skill
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