Don't Let Grants Stress You Out
“Sorry, but there are lots of bad writers. Some are on staff at your local newspaper, usually reviewing little-theatre productions or pontificating about the local sports teams. Some have scribbled their way to homes in the Caribbean, leaving a trail of pulsing adverbs, wooden characters, and vile passive-voice constructions behind them.” Stephen King, the master of horrific imagination, wrote one of the best books ever…
Dear New Grant Writer, Welcome to the field of grant seeking! You may be wondering what you got yourself into as you accepted this new job, or perhaps this new assignment as part of your expanded duties for your current employer. When I was new in the field back in 2002, I wasn’t sure where to go for resources or to ask for assistance…
How Can Will Ferrell, a farming community and Legos Help Us Become Better Grant Writers I was helping a friend develop a list of motivational movies for a sports team and began thinking about what movies would psych up a grant writer. What films would inspire and motivate grant writers during a busy grant writing season, or perhaps during a writer’s slump? The following…
Dear Executive Director and/or Well-Intentioned Board President: We need to talk. First off, let me say that I am so proud to be a part of your organization. As a grant professional, nothing gives me more joy than working as a foot soldier for you and your team as you battle social problems and fight systemic barriers for the voiceless. I have been…
Thanks, Diane Leonard, for recently reminding us that grant professionals are superheroes. We need to hear this, especially when we are fighting to make the world a better place despite current troubling events. As grant professionals, we must remember to take a breath, stay positive, and pat ourselves on the back. In July 2018, thanks to grant funding, I had the privilege of attending my…
Does this scenario sound familiar? You have a grant deadline coming up so you open the grant application or pull up a blank page to start writing, but your grant team hasn’t given you all the information you need and you can’t think of a single thing to write. The blank page looks hauntingly back at you. It happens to all grant professionals from…
You may wonder what do grants, bequests, direct mail appeals, monthly donor campaigns, and social media outreach all have in common, and the answer is storytelling. I was honored to be a part of the team that spoke at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in Orlando. You can probably guess that given the DH Leonard Consulting team’s sole focus and love for all thing grants, that…
Grant writing often involves big ideas and things we’ve never done before. Involving multiple people. And multiple ideas. And conflicting ideas. This is why I traveled across the county to attend a Compression Planning® Institute. I wanted to learn Compression Planning®. The formal definition of compression planning is: a visual brainstorming process designed to bring out a group’s best thinking and energy on a specific…
It is that time of year…conference season! I have the pleasure and honor of speaking/presenting/teaching at 8 different events around the country this fall talking about my favorite topic…grant writing and best practices in our field including the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference and Grant Professionals Association National Conference. Wondering what I’m talking about at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference? As I started to prepare this summer for…
Stress Relieving Techniques During a Busy Grant Writing Season… ..or Why 2pm Chocolate is a Healthy Professional Coping Mechanism We all know that in the midst of a busy grant season it’s important to keep self-care in mind, but we also know that this is typically the first thing to come off of our “to do list”. When deadlines are looming, self -care…