Don't Let Grants Stress You Out
Every time I meet a new grant professional and hear about their work, I am totally in awe. We juggle so many deadlines and responsibilities. The work we do is IMPACTFUL to communities around the world. In case you have never met a grant pro, here’s a sampling of what I’m talking about. My friend Laura works for Habitat for Humanity and funds the building…
“Show me the money!” Anyone who lived through the 90s can identify that famous catchphrase. Despite our opinions on Jerry McGuire, this is all too often the expectation with stakeholders when it comes to grant funding. If only it were that simple! But the fact is, successfully securing and implementing grant funding takes time and effort; to be successful in the business of grants, you…
Many people become grant writers because they’re better with words than people. And by many, I mean me. You too, maybe? Seriously though, in my 25+ years in nonprofit fundraising, I have met many more introverts than extroverts who gravitate toward grant writing and management versus individual donors or special events. But here’s the trick. Even though many foundations may seem like faceless institutions hidden…
*Diane’s note: You are used to our team talking about how both pre-award and post-award work connect to create an organization’s overall grant readiness. In fact, we were just talking about this in our most recent webinar about How to Be Exceptionally Grant Ready with Lucy Morgan from MyFedTrainer.com. That’s why thinking about the key types of tools to help you with your grant management…
This is the story of how I found my people. You know who I’m talking about – the colleagues you learn to lean on when you have questions; the ones who understand when you’re having a bad day because they’ve been there too; the people who celebrate your victories, big AND small; and the people who check in regularly because they care. I believe that…
How do you write a grant and win tons of funding? Preparation, or in the grant writer’s case “Readiness”. Readiness is all about preparing your organization to write a grant proposal and creating a strategy for ensuring you are pursuing the right funding sources to help your organization meet its mission. Here are 5 tips for grant writing readiness. Organizational Information: Be prepared to…
Dear Experienced Grant Writer: I have four years experience in grants and I joined a new company where the expectations for completing a proposal are a bit unrealistic. I plan and wrote a federal cooperative agreement a couple of months ago in just three weeks. This took me at least 2-3 hours each evening of the workweek and some hours each weekend just to complete…
I went down a TikTok rabbit hole recently. If I’m being honest, I was diving deep into mindless distraction every day before I disabled the app and addressed some life stressors, but that’s not the point. The point is that watching people sprint down a dark street carrying random things to a snippet of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” gave me a laugh when I…
Dear Experienced Grant Writer: I have been a self-employed grant writer for over 10 years. When I started, it was no longer best practices to charge a percentage of any grant award received. I have charged a flat rate all these years. With a recent new client, they are saying that I am crazy to charge a flat rate instead of a percentage of grant…
Once upon a time in the kingdom of Grantlandia lived a lonely grant scribe who yearned to convince King Thomas the Tightfisted and Queen Attachmentia Excessiva to release their treasure to the people so that all could prosper. (Also, the nameless grant writer knew darn well that the Royal family was sitting on the money they had inherited or had unfairly taxed—but that is another…