Don't Let Grants Stress You Out
Ever wonder what goes on in the minds of grant reviewers? We tend to crave that kind of insight, right? Our team recently had the invaluable experience of serving as volunteer reviewers for grant applications for the “Unfunded List.” Our President, Diane, has been serving as a reviewer since 2016, and members of our team have been serving as reviewers as well since 2023. Yet…
In the world of nonprofits, a grant denial often triggers a familiar routine: a deep breath, a review of the application, and an email to the grantmaker requesting feedback. We’re taught to learn from our failures. But what if we’re missing a crucial piece of the puzzle? What if the key to unlocking future funding lies not just in dissecting our rejection, but in celebrating…
Work plans might be missing from your box o’ tools, and you might not even know it. They are, in fact, essential for organizing your tasks, tracking your progress, and achieving your program or project goals. A well-designed work plan keeps grant professionals and program staff on track from pre-award work through implementation and grant closeout. We want to be sure you can create your…
Clear, actionable objectives are essential to every successful grant proposal — and the most effective framework for writing them is SMART. Before diving in, a quick note: people often find the difference between objectives and outcomes confusing. For a full breakdown, see our post on grant objectives vs. outcomes. For our purposes here, objectives are the specific, measurable building blocks of a larger overarching goal…
As grant professionals, every day we draft thoughtful sentences to effectively engage reviewers. Sometimes our careful writing meets an obstacle in the form of a character limit or word count. You know how it is. Sometimes we use too many words… but sometimes we can easily eliminate certain filler words in our draft. Grammarians call expendable words “expletives”—not bad, as the word is commonly…
As grant professionals/grant writers, we strategize how to use powerful words. That skill is our superpower. This blog series allows us the joy of examining our favorite words and lamenting our not-so-favorite words. Join us in the fun! As you organize your day-to-day checklists, projects, and plans, do you ever curse the word “multitasking”? For grant writers, the word can represent a tormenting impossibility…
What Is a Theory of Change? A Theory of Change (ToC) is a strategic framework that helps organizations articulate how their work leads to meaningful outcomes. As defined by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, it is a “systematic assessment of what needs to happen in order for a desired outcome to occur.” It connects an organization’s activities to its larger vision, explaining both the “how”…
You have probably heard what we have heard. We have seen lists of words leaked from certain federal organizations disallowing the use of certain words in certain documents, within certain organizations, and in certain circumstances or banned words. We are grant writers, and we have read that using these words in certain grant applications will not allow us to support the people we serve. …
Our team at DH Leonard Consulting is always trying to think of new ways to “Don’t Let Grants Stress You Out,” whether you are a grant-writing client, a grant-training participant, or a broader member of our community. As you can imagine, AI and its impact on grant writing, our tools, and our general approach to our work have been a hot topic over the past…
Grant writers need to master the difference between objectives and outcomes — because grant applications almost always require both, and confusing the two can weaken your proposal. Do not despair. Our writing team is here to help you navigate this, including what to do when a grantmaker uses the language in a confusing way. Lead Writer Beth Archer, GPC, observes that “sometimes the…