Category Archives: Nonprofits

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 →

New 2-Minute Video: Juicy Writing Tips

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If you’ve been following my work you probably already know that I love sharing tips on how to improve your social change writing. You may have been part of one of my webinars, read my book, “Writing to Make a Difference: 25 Powerful Techniques to Boost Your Community Impact,” or engaged with me in some other way.

I recently sat down with a colleague of mine, Paul Jolly. He produced a short video that offers a couple of juicy writing tips for engaging your reader. Check it out here:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6vklY_0mxI

 

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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 →

NEW VIDEO: Top 6 Ways Grantwriters Are Strategic Leaders

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KC_ laughingA few months ago, the Grant Professionals Association’s Heart of America chapter invited me to be the plenary speaker at their regional conference in Kansas City, MO. I was honored and pleased to present to such a respected group!

I spoke about the Top 6 Ways Grantwriters Are Strategic Leaders (whether they know it or not). The 6 are:

 

  1. You are passionate about your organization’s story and want to share it
  2. You plan ahead
  3. You “rally the troops” while staying calm, cool, and collected
  4. You ask the right questions and tell it like it is
  5. You see the big picture AND the devilish details and you polish them all
  6. You learn from rejection and know your limits

If you are a grant professional, you are perfectly positioned to help your organization plan strategically for its grantseeking future. You are the knowledgeable guide who can lead executive and program staff to design work that is attractive to grantmakers.

During my presentation, we discussed:

  • How to make sure everyone is on the same page (with the same purposes)
  • What questions to ask to get the information you need
  • Examples of strategizing with staff – before , during, or after the grant award

It was great to see people take notes, participate in group exercises, laugh at my jokes (!), and take away ideas they could really use.

Want to watch the 40-minute presentation (in a few segments)? You can do that right here:


By the way, if YOUR organization or association is looking for a customized presentation for an upcoming meeting (in person or online), please check out my work as a speaker HERE.