Category Archives: Grants

Calling all Seattle-ites: Attend My Session at the Puget Sound Grantwriters’ Assn Conference (10/22)

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Thinking about attending the 2015 Puget Sound Grantwriters’ Association Conference in Seattle this October 22?

The theme is “Impact” and the lineup offers something for everyone in the grantwriting community. My session is no exception, and the title is: “So what? Who cares? Zero In on Your Impact and Tell Funders About it!”

Here’s the description:

All grantwriters know the answer to the question, “What does your organization do?” That is, you are clear on its activities, services, and programs. But can you really identify your organization’s impact? If you’ve been asked to put together a Logic Model or an Evaluation Plan, you may have been stumped a bit on this question. In this session we will dig deep to find out what lurks beneath your services and programs. Come prepared to discuss your organization’s work; leave with the knowledge of what lies at the heart of your “impact” – and how to communicate it to grantmakers.

What you will learn:

  1. How to move beyond an understanding of what their organization does, to what difference it makes in the community
  2. How to get and use client stories and feedback to underscore that impact
  3. How to act as a leader to help other staff evaluate the organization’s impact (to improve grant proposals)

Learn more about the entire conference and register (if you haven’t already) right HERE. I look forward to meeting folks in the Seattle area!

Ask Dalya: How can I tutor and support someone else in writing a needs statement for our grant proposal?

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Q: How can I tutor and support someone else in writing a needs statement for our grant proposal? No one ever seems to feel like they can do it.

A: The needs statement is one of the core elements of a grant proposal, but it doesn’t need to be a scary piece to write. In fact, the simpler the better. I use (and teach) a 5-part system for putting together your proposal’s priorities; two of them relate to the needs statement:

Facts and Figures: This is simply the context you are in. Who are your clients/participants? What are the top few issues they’re dealing with? What are some current trends that make those issues so pressing? Are there research data or statistics that can back you up?

Importance of the issue: If you were telling a stranger why they should care about this issue what would you say? Don’t assume the answer is obvious. If they asked you, “So what?” would you have a clear answer? Outline what is at stake if that issue were not addressed. If you’re proposing a specific project or program, talk about how it’s a priority for you in working toward your organization’s overall mission.

Here are a couple of examples: Continue reading →

Ask Dalya: What if 2 or more similar grant proposals get funded? What about using photos?

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Q: What happens if 2 or more grant applications come through for the same program?

A: That is an enviable situation to be in! Assuming that the total amount awarded is more than the program’s total budget, you should re-assess your situation. Can you do more of the same program with a larger budget? Save the funds for the next fiscal year? Or would you prefer to use the extra funds for another program or for general operating support? Once you know your ideal plan, explain your situation to the funder(s) and try to negotiate a good alternate use of the grant. The main thing is to always maintain transparency by letting your funders know if you have any plans to use their funds in ways other than described in your proposal. Chances are, the funders will be pleased to hear of your so-called predicament.

Q: Would you recommend including a picture or two in a grant proposal”? Our organization works on adaptation to environmental concerns. We could send photos of wildfires burning homes and forests. What do you think? Continue reading →

Ask Dalya: How can we measure return on investment for grantwriting?

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Q: What is the best way to measure return on investment for grantwriting?

A: You may be tempted to think that it’s simply the amount of money you immediately bring in minus the time and money you spent to procure that grant. Right? Not so fast…

We need to look at grantwriting’s return on investment in both the short term and long term.

The number and size of grants directly resulting from any given proposal is often out of your control. Foundation board members consider many factors when funding different grants, and (I dare say) the quality of your proposal is only one of them. The organization’s reputation or history in the community, changing funder priorities or staff, unexpected limitations on funds, and a perceived mismatch with a proposal’s emphasis are just a few. So the short-term success of any proposal (i.e., getting funded) is not the only way we can measure the effectiveness of grantwriting work.

The good news is that the grantwriting process itself can be valuable to the organization in several ways. For example, thinking through the responses to a Request for Proposals can be a great strategic planning exercise. Creating a program budget may shine a light on expenses you have never tallied up before. While writing a general operations proposal, seeing the big picture of an organization (beyond its day-to-day parts) can be an eye-opening experience. I have seen many organizations benefit in these ways from the grantwriting process (whether or not they get a specific grant). Continue reading →

6 Tips To Avoid Common Grant Application Mistakes

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mistakes[Dalya’s Note: This guest post was written by Diane H. Leonard, GPC. She a certified grant professional who has provided grant development counsel to nonprofit organizations of varying size and scope for more than a decade. ]

As grant professionals and fundraisers we are always working to improve our success ratio, write a stronger application, and build better relationships with our funders. While keeping you attention on best practices when completing your grant applications, it is still possible to overlook some small, yet common and easy-to-address mistakes.

I facilitated a panel at the Grant Professional Association’s conference in Baltimore last year with an experienced group of extremely successful grant professionals who discussed some such mistakes that they had made during their career.  The panel I assembled was a dynamic group of grant professionals with a wide range of experience and expertise that I admire tremendously and appreciate using as a sounding board on formal and informal collaborative projects: Rena Beyer of Grant Specialist USA, Margit Brazda Poirier of Grants 4 Good, Linda Butler of Butler Consulting, Jana Jane Hexter of Grants Champion, Jo Miller of JM Grants, and Heather Stombaugh of Just Write Solutions.  As a result of this engaging panel dialogue, I have outlined a summary of the remedies to key mistakes we identified for you to focus on avoiding in your grant application documents or grant application submission process.

While not a complete list of steps to take to avoid common mistakes, we agreed in our discussion that they were the most important to ensure are addressed during each application:

Continue reading →