As I review funding applications, an answer I often see for "what would you do if you don't get funded" is: "I'd apply for funding elsewhere".

This is a bad answer. You should just apply to all the places in parallel, rather than asking funders one at a time.

• You'll be able to get funding much faster
• You can always decline additional funding
• Funders generally expect that you're applying to multiple places anyways, this is totally normal. (It's nice to mention in the application that you're doing this, though!)
• Even if a funder seems interested, it's not a deal until the cash is in the bank. You should be slightly paranoid about fundraising.

Paul Graham has a great essay on how to raise money; it's written for startups but is surprisingly applicable to charities.

Partly, this is a note for my past self. I paused fundraising for Mox while waiting to hear back from OpenPhil, because I mistook their interest as commitment; they ended up declining, after months of delay.