Grants Mean Change

It’s important to understand that grants mean change and that there is a predictable process to change within an organization. I learned when I was in a leadership position that it’s difficult to change a light bulb without stepping on someone’s toes so major changes require determined effort and planning.

There are many models for change process but the one I like best is an inverted bell curve with highs on both sides and a low in the middle. In this model, people enter into the change process on a high with “uninformed optimism.” This is akin to the kind of the high you feel when your grant is funded. WOOHOO! We just won a million dollar grant! But wait, as Forest Gump would say about getting a lot of money, it’s merely “One less thang.”

There are a bunch of other “thangs” still in play, like all the reasons you needed the funding. All the needs are still there, just as real and ever more pressing. Only now you’re expected to solve them, you have to put staff and processes in place to do that. It’s a lot of work.

Realizing that getting the grant doesn’t solve the needs is when people in the change process enter into the “informed pessimism” stage where all the difficulties involved in making the change emerge. There are a plethora of challenges including new staff who need training, integrating new programs and staff with existing ones, etc. New staff in a new program tend to get overwhelmed and need a lot of direction for a while. Plus, they’re people so they need to be supervised, and list could go on and on…

Then as things get sorted out a little bit the bell curve usually takes an upswing. Optimism returns little by little as problems are sorted out, needs are being met, services are delivered, positive feedback and data are encouraging, the change becomes incorporated into the organization.

In planning a grant program, consider these important aspects of the change process:

Does the model fit your agency culture?
Do you have the right people for the work?
Do you have a plan for giving clear roles and responsibilities to everyone involved?
Are you prepared to give proper authority to those involved to ensure performance?
Prepare a plan to help existing employees adapt and grow with guidance.
Prepare a communication plan that encourages input and keeps people informed.

About the time you sort out all the change a grant creates, it is probably nearing the end of its funding cycle. When a funding cycle ends, you may need to seek other funding, reduce the program scope, or phase out the program entirely. Change is a natural cycle that grants create for an organization. Boards and leadership need to understand how to lead a change process in order to successfully manage grants.

Other posts you’ll enjoy:
One Grantee’s Rocky Road of Grant Implementation
Evaluating When a Grant is Right for Your Organization

Image Credit – Ehsan Namavar

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

Positive Thinking in a Changing Grant World

One of the key attributes our clients seek in a grant writer is a positive attitude. Agencies and managers who seek grants customarily do so out of a desire to expand their programs. They willingly take on more work to positively impact more clients and to spread the influence of their services. About 99% of the people I’ve written grants for are optimistic, mission-driven, and highly dedicated.

These economic times are challenging many people to remain positive in the face of cutbacks, loss of personnel, and reduced budgets. Not everyone can remain positive in the face of change; yet, the only constant in today’s grant and non-profit world is change.

We’re being impacted by forces beyond our control, so do as Poet Laureate Maya Angelou advised, “…if you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

Grant writers must be prepared for change and embrace it with a positive attitude. Here are five ways to be positive when in the midst of change:

Validate the positive people you work with.
Encourage positive statements when you hear them.
Stay out of drama whenever possible.
Self-monitor your own language and avoid joining negative conversations.
Smile…don’t react or respond to negativity, turn it around.

The new economic reality requires grant writers to be flexible and adaptable to change. Staying positive throughout change is vital to a successful grant writing career.

When times are tough, Grant writers need to remember that you have strong skill sets and talents that may be marketable across a variety of industries. Only grant writers who have the ability to embrace change positively will thrive over time.

Clients seek to work with positive, adaptable grant writers who can move and flow with the constantly changing business realities of the grant world. If you are a skilled and talented person who thinks positively while adapting your skills and talents to any situation, you’ll do well as a grant writer!

Even a Grant Writer Needs a Break!

I am enjoying my coffee and my Al Stewart station on Pandora, it’s a nice little interlude in the day. This blog is about the importance of taking breaks since that’s what is on my mind at the moment.

If I were diagnosed as a type, I’d be in the “Type A” category. Taking a break is a hard thing to do sometimes as the clutter of the unfinished work and looming deadlines up in my mind. For me, paying too much attention to those piles can become stifling, even paralyzing.

The piles and the pending can become tyrannical haunts that invade my time away from work when I should be relaxing. They can fly darkly through my dreams and interrupt my activities.

A freelance grant writer lives with uncertainty. There is uncertainty about where the next
client is, whether a grant will be funded, when a client will send that overdue
check I desperately need to deposit.

In good times, it’s easier for me to take a break because I’m not so worried about business. In these troubled economic times, my breaks are less carefree. I remind myself that much of what happens in business is beyond my control. I am responsible to do what is sensible, professional, and reasonable.

These days I take shorter breaks like sipping my coffee, or trekking out on my daily walk. Each day as I walk, I remind myself to look upward at the sky, to breathe deeply of the fresh air, and to appreciate my ability and opportunity to walk about freely.

Relaxing on a break requires me to clear away the clutter of the job (and sometimes the news). Perhaps it is surprising that the sidewalk outside my office is not strewn each afternoon with discarded papers, bills, and phone messages.

Other posts you may enjoy:
Is Grant Writing Keeping You Up at Night?
Writers Must Know Their Limits

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

Where is Grant Writing Perfection?

I’m agonizing over a grant narrative. It isn’t perfect yet. I’m missing a key piece of data from the client. There are a couple of sections that can be tightened up. The deadline is coming and it’s not perfect yet. I always have trouble decided when to put it to rest.

There are some big truths about grant writing I’ve learned through years of practice.

1. Writing is never finished.

2. You and your client rarely prioritize the grant in the same way.

3. The further removed a partner is from the writing, the harder it is to get what you need from them.

4. You must stop revising at some point at edit carefully.

5. When a section of narrative is hard to tighten up (make crystal-clear and comprehensible) a graphic might help accomplish that.

Perfection in your written narrative is something you aren’t going to achieve. You do though want to be perfectly accurate, perfectly edited, and perfectly on time! You’ll always agonize as you send it that there was a section you could have improved upon. There will always be that unhelpful partner that sends you a letter of support the day after the grant was due.

We all learn to live with a little imperfection in the world and grant writing is no different.

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

Q & A – How do foundations decide who to give grant money to?

I know this sounds like an elementary question to anyone who has worked in the non-profit field for any length of time. But for many people who are just starting a non-profit, this is an important question.

The answer is complicated because there are actually many ways that a foundation will decide to give a grant. The ones listed below are general in nature and not all criteria will apply to every foundation. These are common, but the list is not exhaustive.

1. Field(s) of interest determined by the foundation’s board and defined in their bylaws.

2. Types of funding – Money isn’t money to a foundation. If you want funding for a building, that’s a capital expense and not all foundations are willing to spend money on. Many foundations shy away from funding operating expenses although that restriction has eased a little in some cases with the state of the economy.

3. Relationships – Often a foundation will fund organizations and individuals they know and trust to do the most effective job with a grant. Newcomers must establish these relationships over time and by proving they can do the job. Many foundations give a small grant in year one and assess performance, if an agency does well, sometimes subsequent requests can be larger.

4. Geography – Some foundations specify locations to give to excluding everyone else. Some give nationally while others give internationally. It is important to look at previous grants funded to know where they will fund.

5. Types of Organizations – Foundations usually only give to other non-profit organizations so individuals have a harder time finding assistance from foundations directly.

Of course there are many factors that help determine the allocation of grant money. These five are generally applicable to most foundations. It is imperative that grant seekers pay close attention to these five – at a minimum – in screening potential funding sources when seeking grants.

For more information about grant writing and non-profits see:

Grant Goddess Resources

http://grantgoddess.com/resources.html

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

Is Grant Writing Keeping You Up at Night?

The deadline is coming, it’s less than 36 hours away. Your narrative is coming along, but you aren’t confident about it yet. You haven’t received all of the signature pages and letters of support from the client and grant partners. Forget about the budget narrative, you haven’t even gone there yet. You’re worried and tired so your anxiety level is peaking.

Veteran grant writers know these feelings well. There are times when a grant comes together so smoothly it feels effortless. Then, there are the grants that feel as though they will never come together. Tough grants cause high anxiety that grows over the period of development as the pieces of the proposal seem to defy gravity or force of will.

A veteran grant writer has fewer of these experiences than a novice. Through experience we learn to sidestep some potential problems. But much of what goes into a grant proposal such as signature pages, letters of commitment, MOU’s, budget figures come from people and/or organizations outside of the grant writer’s control. Depending on others can be problematic for lots of reasons: People are busy; People are flawed; People forget things; People lose things; People do not always read emails from others who ask them to do things.

When the anxiety of an approaching deadline strikes, it’s wise to take some concrete steps to place the responsibility where it belongs and refocus on what you can directly impact.

1. Carry out a campaign of direct, polite, yet redundant, communication to unresponsive people using a variety of media (phone calls, emails, text messages, Skype phone calls, etc) and personal visits if needed.

2. Stick to your checklist and complete all the items you have control over.

3. Document your efforts to collect missing information.

4. Keep a folder of all emails related to the project, a folder of all memos, and a folder of all documents developed.

A grant writer is a ring master as well as the main performer in the proposal development circus. Striking a good balance between the two roles is important if you’re going to get any sleep.

Related Posts:
Time Management Tips for Grant Writers
Good Grant Writers are like Wedding Planners
Stress Relief through Laughter

Photo Credit – Nara Vieira da Silva Osga

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

Wax On, Wax Off – Find Your Grant Writing Myagi like the Karate Kid

Your organization is under assault. United Way contributions are dropping. Donations have slowed to a trickle. Your endowment has taken a beating in the stock market. You need help; you need to write some grants.

If you haven’t written a grant before, you’ll need a mentor to teach you the skills. In the Karate Kid movies, the kid is getting beaten up – feeling victimized by his lack of ability to fight back. In the original movie, the kid turns to a mentor named Myagi who makes him do seemingly unrelated stuff to learn the skills he needs to defend himself.

Just as the Karate Kid needed to learn the fundamentals of martial arts, you need specific skills to be a good grant writer too. You need a mentor who insists that you put the wax on and take the wax off in the right way. You need someone to tell you what’s important and how to do it right. You need to practice those skills until they are ingrained in your writing, until they become habits.

A writing mentor isn’t there to baby you. He or she is there to support you in developing good habits that make you a success. A weak teacher allows bad habits to form leading to failure and frustration and maybe even getting beaten up further.

Find a grant writing mentor, persevere, learn, grow, strengthen your skills, and develop good grant writing habits. You’ll find success and your organization will benefit. Who knows, you may find a whole new career!

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

Mini Grant Announcements for Youth

In this difficult economic environment, all program managers should learn how to write and submit a mini grant. Here are a few mini grants currently available.

Disney Friends for Change Grants

The Disney Friends for Change program will award 50 – $500 grants to youth-led service projects around the world that demonstrate youth leadership, creativity, and the commitment to making a positive impact on the environment.

ING Run for Something

The 2011 ING Run For Something Better School Awards Program will provide a minimum of fifty (50) up to $2,500 grants to schools that desire to establish or expand upon an existing school-based running program. Programs must target K-8th grade students and be a minimum of eight (8) weeks.

Sparking Innovation and Lowering Barriers

The Impact Fund is designed to support youth-serving organizations with the resources they need to get underserved youth connected to the outdoors. Program funding from $15,000-$50,000

Kohl’s Kids Who Care

Every year, Kohl’s recognizes and rewards young volunteers (ages 6-18) across the country for their amazing contributions to their communities. This year Kohl’s is recognizing more than 2,100 kids with more than $415,000 in scholarships and prizes.

The ESA Foundation

The ESA Foundation is a philanthropic vehicle of the Entertainment Software Association, is dedicated to supporting programs that make a difference in the lives of America’s youth.

The foundation is accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations that provide programs and services utilizing technology and/or computer and video games to educate America’s youth and young adults (ages 7 to 18).

Learn How to Write Grants
If you need assistance learning how to write a grant, we offer many free grant writing resources on our Resources pages. If you really want to tune up your skills, consider taking one of our online courses offered through Grant Goddess University.

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

Top Ten Reasons Why Your Grant Wasn’t Funded: Part II

This is a continuation of my previous post in which I outlined the first five reasons your grant may not have been funded. So let’s jump right into it shall we?

6. You ran out of time and did a poor job on your budget narrative where you could have added deeper detail on the computers you wanted. (Details, details, details, that’s where the devil is.)

7. Your evaluation plan was shallow – you should have asked the consultant you plan to use to develop that section with you. (Tradition wisdom among mountain climbers is that 90% of the falls happen in the last 10% of the climb when people think they’re done and relax.)

8. You missed a webinar in which the funder gave explicit information necessary to be competitive – but it wasn’t a mandatory webinar. (Remember that the grant maker holds all the cards and may choose to show one when you least expect it.)

9. Your grant was submitted in the same geographic region as one from a more favorably fundable demographic group. (You can’t control for this but you can do the best job possible to demonstrate your client’s needs.)

10. Your grant lacked adequate research citations – perhaps too narrow in scope, out-dated, or authored by researchers whom one, or more, of your readers do not subscribe to. (Convene some experts, spend some time on the phone with one, spend some time in the stacks, whatever it takes to base your program on a solid foundation.)

Grant funding is difficult to obtain and when you throw in the human factor you’ll sometimes get a less-than-satisfactory result for a reason you can’t discern, or which in the reader comments seems prejudicial and unfair. That’s just the way the ball bounces. The best you can do is write a proposal that you are confident about, the rest is up to the readers who score your narrative.

Posts like this one:

What is a Grant Competition?
Grant Writing Rejection

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

The Grant Goddess Speaks

Grant writing wisdom from experience and success

Grants Mean Change

Positive Thinking in a Changing Grant World

Even a Grant Writer Needs a Break!

Where is Grant Writing Perfection?

Q & A – How do foundations decide who to give grant money to?

Is Grant Writing Keeping You Up at Night?

Wax On, Wax Off – Find Your Grant Writing Myagi like the Karate Kid

Mini Grant Announcements for Youth

Top Ten Reasons Why Your Grant Wasn’t Funded: Part II