Rest in Peace, Mr. Escalante

Like many others, I was saddened to learn this morning of Jaime Escalante’s passing. I vividly remember being inspired by his story, both as it was portrayed by Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver, and as it unfolded after the film was released.

Mr. Escalante found himself at the center of a controversy that still surrounds California schools today. What’s the problem?  Low student performance. Huge achievement gap between minority students (who are the majority in most of our urban schools). Overwhelmingly powerful unions. Overburdened teachers. Apathetic teachers. Parents who are completely disconnected from the education system because they are either focused on survival or dealing with their own personal issues.  Inadequate school funding.

Sound familiar? It should.

Mr. Escalante dealt with it in a way that I deeply admired, and that had a profound effect on my own career in education.  He lit a candle. He ignored the naysayers, and the union, and all the negative forces around him, and he did everything he could to make a difference in the lives of the youth he taught. He not only had high expectations for them (a buzzword that has become so overused that most people don’t even know what it would really look like in the classroom anymore), but he demanded excellence from his students – and then he put his money (a.k.a. his time) where his mouth was, and he provided the support they needed to meet his demands. To paraphrase Gandhi, he decided that he would be the change he wanted in the world, and it almost killed him.

When the movie first came out, I had mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand, who could not be inspired by his selfless and inspirational teaching and the results he got?  On the other hand, I was a bit offended by the implication that teachers should have to give up their personal lives, huge amounts of time with their families, and even their health in order to be successful at their jobs.

As time went on, I began to understand that something is terribly wrong with a system that would demand such incredible sacrifice on the part of a teacher, yet I know teachers who give as much as Mr. Escalante every day, even to this very day.  Make no mistake about it, he was, and is, not alone in his dedication, his ability to inspire children, and his belief that he can make a difference by lighting his candle and making change in his classroom, with his students. In spite of this, all of the characters you remember from the movie telling him to work less and laughing at him for believing that those kids could really achieve are still around even though the faces and names have changed.  They are all over the state, in every school and district, and the system has ground to a halt largely because of them.

They play a game of blame, insisting that everyone else is responsible for the failing state of our schools- especially the children and their families. They show up at exactly their contracted time 30 minutes before the bell in the morning and they leave at exactly the time their contract says their day is over. I have seen them stand up in the middle of student presentations at after school sessions and walk out because the clock chimed “contract” and it was their time to go. They keep such a close eye on their own rights, time, and compensation that they have completely lost sight of the children who depend on them. Yes, I know they would angrily object to my characterization, but I have seen them for years in my work in the schools, I have met them, I know them.  They can’t hide from me.

I am hoping the day is coming when they can’t hide from the rest of California anymore, either.

The unions are so powerful in California that people are afraid to speak out because the second they do the unions cast them as a teacher-hater.  Politicians who attempt real reform are quickly beaten back.  Social security may be the third rail of politics nationally, but there is no doubt that meaningful school reform and standing up to the unions to accomplish it form the third rail of California politics.

Mr. Escalante taught his students about the importance of las ganas. You have to really want it. To accomplish anything difficult, you have to really, really want it.  You have to work hard at it.  You have to sacrifice for it. That’s what our schools need.  Advocates who are willing to work hard to make a change because they really, really want it.  And not just a few, but thousands of advocates.

Some will do that work in their classrooms, but we need others who will do it as school leaders in the front offices of schools, as district leaders in the district offices, as trustees in the board rooms across the state, and as parents everywhere, in all of those settings.

The time has long passed when we should have started recognizing effective teachers with higher pay and job security, and that we deal with ineffective teachers (and administrators) by helping them on their way to a new profession.

I don’t know when the tipping point was reached – that point when unions, and apathy, and self-interest took control of our schools out of the hands of effective teachers, administrators, parents, and local communities – but I know that it’s time to take it back.

Mr. Escalante showed us what it looks like when a teacher has las ganas to make a difference. We know it’s possible.  I wonder what our system would look like if thousands of us across the spectrum let that desire loose, too.

It is my hope that Mr. Escalante’s legacy will be that others, who may have been inspired by his life but not inspired enough to change and act, will reflect on his contribution to education and decide to pick up the torch and keep the movement he started moving forward.  If one man can make such a difference, imagine what all of us could do.

Rest in peace, Mr. Escalante.  We will miss you….and thank you.

Time Management Tips for Grant Writers

Effective time management is one of the most valuable skills a grant writer can have. Grant writers live under the constant ticking of the deadline clock, and our progress is often impeded or supported by factors (a.k.a. other people) over whom we have no (or very little) control. Learning to manage time in the grant writing process can make the difference between success or failure of a proposal and, by extension, between success and failure of a grant writing career.

Here are some tips for time management:

  • Develop a time line for the project.  It can be very helpful to take the time to write out a time line for the project, including tentative deadlines for yourself for various stages of the process. The more people there are involved in the process, the more important a time line becomes.
  • Front load the time line. Get as much accomplished as you possibly can during the first week or two of the time line.  That’s the time to gather as much data as possible. Sketch out the big ideas.  Do any research you need to do. Get a solid outline constructed. This pre-writing period is one of the most important, so don’t skimp on it.
  • Make a list of data and information you’ll need from others to complete the project.  Share the list with those who can help you. It doesn’t have to be a complete list, and things will definitely pop up during the process, but remember that others can’t read your mind.  If you need something from them, put it in writing.
  • Get the budget sketched out early and finalize it as soon as possible.  It is much easier and quicker to write a complete draft of the narrative when the budget has been finalized.  It also prevents having to go back into the narrative to adjust activities that you thought you were going to be able to fund, but that you couldn’t fit into the budget.
  • If you get stuck on the narrative, take a break and work on something else.  The budget narrative, forms, or appendices are good choices.
  • Develop a prepared guide for writing good letters of support (including some samples) in advance that you can give to project partners at the beginning of the process. Get people started thinking about letters at the first planning meeting. As soon as your design components are clear to you, put a summary in writing and distribute it to your partners so they can get effective letters of support started. Feel free to refer folks to our blog post on Writing Good Letters of Support or our free webinar on Writing Good Letters of Support for Grants.
  • Assign someone the responsibility of collecting letters of support and signatures. If at all possible, this should not be you.  Not only do you need to focus on writing, but the process of collecting letters is extremely time consuming. If it has to be you, dedicate an hour a day, from day 1, to the task so it doesn’t get put off until the very end.
  • Get the first draft done as soon as possible.  Remember it’s a draft, so it doesn’t have to be complete.  It doesn’t have to have all of the data inserted. The sooner you get the first draft done, the more confident you will feel, and the easier it will be to see what information and data you are really missing, if any.
  • Schedule your time line so you are completely finished with the narrative at least three days before the deadline.  If you end up with less time at the end, your proofreading process will be rushed and the likelihood of errors making it through to the final draft goes up dramatically.
  • Remember that the back end of the process always takes longer than you expect.  I’m talking about proofreading, reviewing the draft to ensure that the narrative matches the letters of support, finalizing the budget and budget narrative (including double- and triple-checking your numbers), and assembling the appendices. Plan for this. Do as much of it in the pre-writing phase as possible.
  • Get plenty of rest and eat right.  While this may not seem like a time management tip, it really is. Research has demonstrated that people are less effective when they are tired. Working late into the evening will not be as productive as the morning hours when you are well rested.  All grant writers have experienced late nights, and sometimes they can’t be avoided, but you should avoid them when you can (unless, of course, you are one of those folks who works best at night). From the 10th hour of work onward, your effectiveness declines rapidly.
  • Once you have developed a process that works well for you, stick to it. I’m not talking about superstition and sticking to a process because you think it makes you lucky, but developing a set of processes and procedures that are smooth and effective.  If you write many grants each year, having a standardized process will allow you to focus less on the process and more on the writing – and that will pay off for you.

Do you have any time management tips that have worked well for you? Please, share them!

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Would you like even more tips? Become a member! You’ll gain access to a HUGE collection of resources.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Time Management Tips for Grant Writers

Effective time management is one of the most valuable skills a grant writer can have. Grant writers live under the constant ticking of the deadline clock, and our progress is often impeded or supported by factors (a.k.a. other people) over whom we have no (or very little) control. Learning to manage time in the grant writing process can make the difference between success or failure of a proposal and, by extension, between success and failure of a grant writing career.

Here are some tips for time management:

  • Develop a time line for the project.  It can be very helpful to take the time to write out a time line for the project, including tentative deadlines for yourself for various stages of the process. The more people there are involved in the process, the more important a time line becomes.
  • Front load the time line. Get as much accomplished as you possibly can during the first week or two of the time line.  That’s the time to gather as much data as possible. Sketch out the big ideas.  Do any research you need to do. Get a solid outline constructed. This pre-writing period is one of the most important, so don’t skimp on it.
  • Make a list of data and information you’ll need from others to complete the project.  Share the list with those who can help you. It doesn’t have to be a complete list, and things will definitely pop up during the process, but remember that others can’t read your mind.  If you need something from them, put it in writing.
  • Get the budget sketched out early and finalize it as soon as possible.  It is much easier and quicker to write a complete draft of the narrative when the budget has been finalized.  It also prevents having to go back into the narrative to adjust activities that you thought you were going to be able to fund, but that you couldn’t fit into the budget.
  • If you get stuck on the narrative, take a break and work on something else.  The budget narrative, forms, or appendices are good choices.
  • Develop a prepared guide for writing good letters of support (including some samples) in advance that you can give to project partners at the beginning of the process. Get people started thinking about letters at the first planning meeting. As soon as your design components are clear to you, put a summary in writing and distribute it to your partners so they can get effective letters of support started. Feel free to refer folks to our blog post on Writing Good Letters of Support or our free webinar on Writing Good Letters of Support for Grants.
  • Assign someone the responsibility of collecting letters of support and signatures. If at all possible, this should not be you.  Not only do you need to focus on writing, but the process of collecting letters is extremely time consuming. If it has to be you, dedicate an hour a day, from day 1, to the task so it doesn’t get put off until the very end.
  • Get the first draft done as soon as possible.  Remember it’s a draft, so it doesn’t have to be complete.  It doesn’t have to have all of the data inserted. The sooner you get the first draft done, the more confident you will feel, and the easier it will be to see what information and data you are really missing, if any.
  • Schedule your time line so you are completely finished with the narrative at least three days before the deadline.  If you end up with less time at the end, your proofreading process will be rushed and the likelihood of errors making it through to the final draft goes up dramatically.
  • Remember that the back end of the process always takes longer than you expect.  I’m talking about proofreading, reviewing the draft to ensure that the narrative matches the letters of support, finalizing the budget and budget narrative (including double- and triple-checking your numbers), and assembling the appendices. Plan for this. Do as much of it in the pre-writing phase as possible.
  • Get plenty of rest and eat right.  While this may not seem like a time management tip, it really is. Research has demonstrated that people are less effective when they are tired. Working late into the evening will not be as productive as the morning hours when you are well rested.  All grant writers have experienced late nights, and sometimes they can’t be avoided, but you should avoid them when you can (unless, of course, you are one of those folks who works best at night). From the 10th hour of work onward, your effectiveness declines rapidly.
  • Once you have developed a process that works well for you, stick to it. I’m not talking about superstition and sticking to a process because you think it makes you lucky, but developing a set of processes and procedures that are smooth and effective.  If you write many grants each year, having a standardized process will allow you to focus less on the process and more on the writing – and that will pay off for you.

Do you have any time management tips that have worked well for you? Please, share them!

—————————————

Would you like even more tips? Become a member! You’ll gain access to a HUGE collection of resources.

The Basis of the Debate over Philanthrocapitalism

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares some information on the debate surrounding Philanthrocapitalism in the non-profit world:

There is often a separation between donors, those of us who give money to causes in order to feel good about helping, and the doers, the volunteers and staffers who do the work of organizations that receive the money. Philanthrocapitalism challenges this model through the creation of organizations that don’t simply distribute donated wealth, but which actually engage in commerce to create wealth for distribution.

The debate over the concept of Philanthrocapitalism challenges the fundamental underpinning of charity, that nobody should become wealthy by doing charity work; for in doing so, that person is personally benefitting from charity dollars. Mother Theresa is perhaps the most visible patron saint of self-sacrificing charity work. She gave most of her life to the poor in India, living among them each day. People like Mother Theresa contribute to a fundamental belief that to do good one must sacrifice, that in order to understand the needs of those you serve, one must feel their pain, and live with the mission at some level.

The Philanthrocapitalism paradigm is challenging the natural order of the charity world. Many people engaged in charity work are employed at low wages and they accept these sacrificially out of commitment to the cause. They sacrifice higher paid jobs in the for profit world to serve a cause. The incursion of capitalists into the world of philanthropy is unsettling to those who think a non-profit executive or consultant earning $200k or better per year is in effect robbing valuable resources from the cause.

The concerns about the potential for corruption of civil society ideals via Philanthrocapitalism are understandable because most non-profit organizations still rely on the trust and goodwill of donors. Non-profits do not want to be painted with the broad brush of recent capitalist corruption. Just witness the hotly debated compensation levels of Wall Street executives and how that has damaged the image of the free market capitalists.

What would happen if the compensation levels of non profit executives were to become widely known? This is public information, just not considered newsworthy yet. The average struggling American worker may feel justifiably outraged that their donated dollars are making people wealthy instead of providing the services they donated toward.

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Related Posts:

Changing Lives through Social Entrepreneurship

Is Your NonProfit a Closed Organization?

Does Philanthropy Serve the Common Good?

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Visit GrantGoddess.com for grant writing and non-profit development resources.

 

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

The Basis of the Debate over Philanthrocapitalism

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares some information on the debate surrounding Philanthrocapitalism in the non-profit world:

There is often a separation between donors, those of us who give money to causes in order to feel good about helping, and the doers, the volunteers and staffers who do the work of organizations that receive the money. Philanthrocapitalism challenges this model through the creation of organizations that don’t simply distribute donated wealth, but which actually engage in commerce to create wealth for distribution.

The debate over the concept of Philanthrocapitalism challenges the fundamental underpinning of charity, that nobody should become wealthy by doing charity work; for in doing so, that person is personally benefitting from charity dollars. Mother Theresa is perhaps the most visible patron saint of self-sacrificing charity work. She gave most of her life to the poor in India, living among them each day. People like Mother Theresa contribute to a fundamental belief that to do good one must sacrifice, that in order to understand the needs of those you serve, one must feel their pain, and live with the mission at some level.

The Philanthrocapitalism paradigm is challenging the natural order of the charity world. Many people engaged in charity work are employed at low wages and they accept these sacrificially out of commitment to the cause. They sacrifice higher paid jobs in the for profit world to serve a cause. The incursion of capitalists into the world of philanthropy is unsettling to those who think a non-profit executive or consultant earning $200k or better per year is in effect robbing valuable resources from the cause.

The concerns about the potential for corruption of civil society ideals via Philanthrocapitalism are understandable because most non-profit organizations still rely on the trust and goodwill of donors. Non-profits do not want to be painted with the broad brush of recent capitalist corruption. Just witness the hotly debated compensation levels of Wall Street executives and how that has damaged the image of the free market capitalists.

What would happen if the compensation levels of non profit executives were to become widely known? This is public information, just not considered newsworthy yet. The average struggling American worker may feel justifiably outraged that their donated dollars are making people wealthy instead of providing the services they donated toward.

——————————–

Related Posts:

Changing Lives through Social Entrepreneurship

Is Your NonProfit a Closed Organization?

Does Philanthropy Serve the Common Good?

——————————–

Visit GrantGoddess.com for grant writing and non-profit development resources.

 

Top 3 Things I Love about Grant Writing

Grant writing is definitely not a boring profession.  There are challenges, but there are also some big benefits.

Here are the top 3 things I love about grant writing:

  1. Creativity – I love the who process of taking a few ideas, fleshing them out, and creating a detailed program design.  In fact, for the me the process is a lot like staring at one of those abstract holographic pictures.  At first, it just looks like colors and shapes – no order, nothing else there.  Then, after you have started at it for a while, a 3-dimensional image leaps from the background and you see it.  At that point, it is so clear to you, that it’s hard to even see the picture without the 3D image anymore.  That’s what grant writing is like for me.  At some point in the process of planning, reviewing research, collecting data, and talking to the client, the picture of a solid design clarifies.  At that point, putting it in writing is the easy part.
  2. Making a Difference – I have written about this before.  I also provide program evaluation services.  There are very few things in this life as satisfying as going to conduct some evaluation activities and meeting the people who get a direct benefit from the grant you wrote.  At one time there was nothing but an idea in your head, and then there are real people whose lives are better because of your work.  Wow!  It doesn’t get much better than that.
  3. Time Flexibility – Make no mistake about it, grant writing is work, but if you work for yourself, you can manage your time as you choose.  For example, this is a really busy time of year and I have lots of writing projects to work on, but I didn’t want to work today.  I wanted to stay home with my son, take care of some blogging. do some recreational reading.  So I did.  If I want to take off during the middle of the week to go to a baseball game during the day, I can.  I know this is a benefit that self-employed folks in many fields can claim, but I really like it.

There are lots of other things I like about my work, but those are the big three.

What about you?  What do you like most about grant writing?

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Check out the new GrantGoddess Channel on YouTube! It’s new, but there will be more and more instructional videos added, so subscribe to it and you’ll be notified whenever new content is added.

Have you become a member yet?  If not, check out the member benefits and sign up soon.  The early bird rate will expire soon. Joining now will give you access to some exclusive member trainings coming soon – not to mention all the cool multimedia resources that are being added daily.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Top 3 Things I Love about Grant Writing

Grant writing is definitely not a boring profession.  There are challenges, but there are also some big benefits.

Here are the top 3 things I love about grant writing:

  1. Creativity – I love the who process of taking a few ideas, fleshing them out, and creating a detailed program design.  In fact, for the me the process is a lot like staring at one of those abstract holographic pictures.  At first, it just looks like colors and shapes – no order, nothing else there.  Then, after you have started at it for a while, a 3-dimensional image leaps from the background and you see it.  At that point, it is so clear to you, that it’s hard to even see the picture without the 3D image anymore.  That’s what grant writing is like for me.  At some point in the process of planning, reviewing research, collecting data, and talking to the client, the picture of a solid design clarifies.  At that point, putting it in writing is the easy part.
  2. Making a Difference – I have written about this before.  I also provide program evaluation services.  There are very few things in this life as satisfying as going to conduct some evaluation activities and meeting the people who get a direct benefit from the grant you wrote.  At one time there was nothing but an idea in your head, and then there are real people whose lives are better because of your work.  Wow!  It doesn’t get much better than that.
  3. Time Flexibility – Make no mistake about it, grant writing is work, but if you work for yourself, you can manage your time as you choose.  For example, this is a really busy time of year and I have lots of writing projects to work on, but I didn’t want to work today.  I wanted to stay home with my son, take care of some blogging. do some recreational reading.  So I did.  If I want to take off during the middle of the week to go to a baseball game during the day, I can.  I know this is a benefit that self-employed folks in many fields can claim, but I really like it.

There are lots of other things I like about my work, but those are the big three.

What about you?  What do you like most about grant writing?

—————————————-

Check out the new GrantGoddess Channel on YouTube! It’s new, but there will be more and more instructional videos added, so subscribe to it and you’ll be notified whenever new content is added.

Have you become a member yet?  If not, check out the member benefits and sign up soon.  The early bird rate will expire soon. Joining now will give you access to some exclusive member trainings coming soon – not to mention all the cool multimedia resources that are being added daily.

Five Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Grant Objectives

Here are the most common objective writing mistakes:

  1. Not establishing a target. Simply saying that your participants will “show growth” is not a target. How much growth, according to what measure?
  2. Not identifying how growth will be measured. If you say that there will be a 20% growth in parent knowledge of how to help their children at school, you need to cite your measurement tool. I would also recommend that you be much more specific in how you set the target. Are you talking about 20% growth in the number of parents who reach a cutoff score on a particular assessment or are you referring to a gain of 20 percentage points in the average score of parents on the assessment you identify? Those are very different targets and they are measured differently. Do you see what I mean about being specific?
  3. Not identifying a timeline for achievement of the objective. You have set a target, but you also need to give a timeline. Will it be achieved each year? Each quarter? By the end of the project? The further out your timeline is, the more important it is to also establish short term benchmarks.
  4. Setting a target that is too rigorous. Many people think that they will be most likely to get funded if they set the their targets really high or if they target 100% achievement. The problem with that is that a) you may get the grant, but you have doomed yourself to failing to meet your objectives before you even start; and 2) grant readers are more sophisticated today than they were 15 years ago. They are on the lookout for objectives that are not possible to achieve.
  5. Setting a target that is too low. Other folks go the other direction, and they try to set a really low target so they will definitely be able to meet it. This is commonly done by establishing a target that measures a percentage of a number. For example, to say that there will be a 50% gain in the number of parents who show growth on a particular assessment could be a very low bar to meet, even though it sounds high. If only 2 parents showed growth between pre-and post assessment prior to your grant, you could meet that objective by showing a gain of one parent who showed growth (total 2 parents) after the grant is funded. Don’t try to cheat. Think about what results you want to achieve and what services you are willing to implement to help you get there, and set your targets accordingly.

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You might also be interested in:

Five Tips for Writing Good Grant Objectives

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Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com