Hi @Shava Lawson - This is a bit of delayed response, but I feel like this is an evergreen challenge, especially for sponsors that focus on a particular issue area or geography (or both, in SPF’s case) — and seems to come up often with government funders (state/city/county agencies) and certain private foundations.
Not sure if I’ve ever heard of a foolproof way to approach this but here are some things I’ve heard from other sponsors in the past (some/all of which you may already be doing):
Look for ways to combine separate grant applications to a single funder into a single application that includes the work of multiple projects
Ensure that projects applying for grants are “ready” and have the capacity to do the necessary reporting, etc. And let those who aren’t yet ready know what they need to do to be ready next time.
If there are funders to have multiple windows throughout the year, perhaps you “schedule” a different project to apply at each window?
None of these feel like slam dunk options but maybe they spark an idea that works for you all?