I had you there, right? You were wondering if it was a well-intentioned Giving Tuesday blog posted a few days late…

I promise, it’s not!

Rather, it is the opening to a story of a grant professional who was handed the keys to a well-established grassroots community event called River Santa after being led by the same energetic community member for its first NINE years, and being charged with raising $50,000 in a few short months to bring the 10th annual event to life for hundreds of children and families.

Now, for full transparency, I haven’t had to organize or lead fundraising events in quite a few years. Not since I was the Board Chair of the Clayton Area Preschool (for context, my girls are now 16 and 19!). Not since I was the Membership & Fundraising Committee chair for Save the River up until right around 2020. 

So, in preparing, I also thought back to jobs I have had that were part of development teams. 

• As part of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s “Lock-up” fundraiser, I had to call business members of the community and tell them they would be “locked up” and have to call friends and family for “bail.” The lessons I learned from my job cold-calling donors taught me how to handle rejection. Lots of rejection. But there was always the potential for a yes.

• I thought about what I had helped with when I worked at the Alzheimer’s Association – Greater Michigan Chapter and “all hands” were on deck for the annual Chocolate Jubilee or for the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s. I thought about how accurate and consistent sponsor recognition was under Shelley’s watchful leadership and eye, whether a family, a corporation, or a foundation.

• I reflected on how awesome professionals I know who are fellow speakers at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference talk about telling stories in individual appeals, in newsletters, on social media, and on the day of special events.

There were LOTS of lessons from past jobs to help me think about how to lead River Santa this year. But then I also thought about all the things I’ve learned as a grant professional that would help make the event a success:

• Understanding what corporate grantmakers are looking for in recognition after awarding a grant. Small businesses in rural communities deserve that same special treatment.
• Knowing what it feels like to be a grantmaker or on a review committee and have your heartstrings pulled by the way a story is told in a grant application. Every person reading our sponsorship letter should be engaged in that same way.
• Feeling comfortable with strict small character and word limits in grant application portals. Thank goodness, as trying to get the messaging in Reels “just right” so people watch past three seconds feels trickier than any grant application portal character limit!
• And back to the 3,500 reasons to give? Knowing how important matching scenarios are to some donors/grantmakers. The generosity of Lake Ontario Realty and agreement that the matching component was important provided the first $2,500 of our matching challenge, which then quickly grew to a $3,500 overall challenge thanks to an anonymous local donor.

So with all that reflection on what success has looked like in other situations, I dug in. We have four days left until the event as I type this note – we have already exceeded our fundraising goal for the year, and spirits are high. I credit my desire to learn from successes and thinking about how to replicate them, along of course with a HUGE shoutout to the awesome volunteers who have joined me this year with what looks to be an awesome year for River Santa. If I had only focused on learning from past “failures,” I don’t think the story would have had the same awesome ending.

What other job duties do you have, or have you had – whether paid or unpaid, that have helped you strengthen your work as a grant professional?

I’d love to hear! Comment below and let me know – even if it was something many years ago that still sticks with you.