Don't Let Grants Stress You Out
Where were you when you lost it? Were you reading your least favorite uncle’s latest Facebook rant? Trying to ignore your cat and dog fighting like, well, cats and dogs in the background as you wrangled five family members onto a Wi-Fi system meant for reading email…slowly. Or you were facing another day as an essential worker with nowhere to turn? Or was the final…
Each funder has its own approach to how it makes its grantmaking decisions. Each grantmaker also has its own unique capacity and preference as it relates to building relationships with potential and current grantees. While there is not one universal way to successfully approach a grantmaker to build or enhance a relationship, these ten tips are tried and tested ways that have worked to…
I talked myself out of a job and felt great about it. It was not because I won the lottery. As a business owner, I am not in the habit of turning down clients and projects that match my skill set, interests, and availability. I am in the habit of asking lots of questions, though, a blessing or curse that has followed me all my…
Quick Note from Diane: We’re thrilled to have a guest blog for you from Matt Hugg of Nonprofit Courses. I’ve had fun sharing resources back and forth with Matt and digging deeper into some of our shared passions like talking about “Not Treating Your Grantmakers Like an ATM.” His take on skills for nonprofit professional to develop is right on point (spoiler alert, it *does*…
I’m a sucker for advice columns. It started when I would leaf through the women’s magazines during my mother’s weekly trips to the beauty shop, not to be confused with spas, salons, hairdressers, or anything else other than the retrofitted basement of a split-level ranch house on a wooded lot down a two-lane road in the suburbs. Amid the scent of Aquanet and the radiant…
About 10 years ago I was participating in #grantchat (an hour-long grant discussion on Twitter most Tuesdays at noon Eastern) when that week’s particular topic was centered around high-tech grant tools. Everyone was sharing helpful apps, websites, and software. Meanwhile, I was raving about things like post-it notes, three-ring binders, and my giant whiteboard. (I do love a good whiteboard.) Despite my inclination towards…
Even in these strange and scary times, the giant back-to-school supply bins in my local big box store make me smile. It’s the siren call of all those blank pages, pristine pencil leads, and unsullied calendars and planners. “Take us home,” they whisper. “Together we’ll be so perfectly organized.” I’m a sucker for fresh starts, and the promise of perfect organization. And I can’t be…
Are you a plotter or pantser? This is an oft-discussed question between writers of fiction, attendees of writing conferences, and people who while away the hours listening to podcasts about writing. (Dear reader, I include myself in all these categories.) “Plotters” refer to writers who meticulously outline every single twist and turn of their novel or short story, and compile detailed biographies of their characters’…
AKA Amanda and the horrible, no good, very bad grant writing week I have been a grant professional for 20 years, and for the past six years taught an introduction to grant writing course to thousands of people across the country. I know the best practices for grant writing—meeting deadlines with a quality, complete proposal. Yet despite all this, I made three major mistakes in…
On this week’s episode of the Fundraising HayDay Podcast (Season 4, Episode 14), Kimberly and I had the great fortune to chat with Sarah Stewart Holland and Beth Silvers of the popular podcast, Pantsuit Politics. We didn’t stick with a theme for the episode, but rather asked all the questions we wanted to, from earmarks and use of data to having difficult conversations and being…