One of the most foundational tools in a grant professional’s toolkit is one that many organizations still don’t have in place: a grant calendar. Let’s make sure we start with what a grant calendar is…
Browsing CategoryGrant Writing Tips and Best Practices
How the Great British Baking Show Can Make You a Grants Authority
Holiday baking reigns supreme this time of year. Cookies, cakes, pies—it’s hard to escape. I’m not a baker, but I do appreciate the baking artistry of others. And I do escape the hustle and bustle…
One Gift Does Not Fit All: Gift Policies and You
By the time you read this, you may be knee-deep in holiday shopping madness. And it may not be a Hallmark Movie movement for you or those you love. There’s a lot to consider, right? …
Do Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth: Grant Funding
I began what I now see was my first grant seeking for a capital campaign when I was in fifth grade. Instead of bricks and mortar I sought a four-hooved, whinnying kind of large scale…
Volunteer: Serve Others and Help Yourself
“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.” ~Aristotle I don’t care what your profession, there is probably a membership organization out there just for you. City planner? How…
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
I moved to Leavenworth, Kansas when I was a 13-year-old army brat, and that’s when I realized the Wizard of Oz was more than a movie played on television each Thanksgiving. It’s a Kansas-resident obsession,…
What Lady Mary and Downton Abbey Can Teach You about Fundraising Events
First, dear reader—a full and frank confession. I have an unnatural attraction to British period dramas. As in, if the cast of Downton Abbey reunited to read the entire Uniform Guidance documentation, I would be…
Never Too Many (Grant) Cooks in the Kitchen
What would be your recipe to create the perfect grant? How about a list of ingredients that include: a clean, well-lit quiet office free of distractions immediate access to the most comprehensive databases with all…
Taking Grant Writing from DIY to DI WHY (S2, E1)
With Requests for Proposals (RFPs) aka Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) often running between 40 and 100 pages of detailed instructions grant writing seems like endless sets of assembly instructions for IKEA furniture on steroids—minus…
Shark Week Revisited: Anatomy of a Funded 21st CCLC Grant
My grandson was finally old enough this year to be as excited about Shark Week as much as I am. I love learning about sharks as much as I love being a grant peer reviewer….