25 Feb

Posted at 23:59h in AGS Staff, Budgets, Competency Two, Federal Grants, Organizational Readiness
During my experience working for and in partnership with nonprofit organizations, one common thread is the perpetuation of a “scarcity mindset.” This mindset is based on the idea that nonprofits exist to help others in need and serve the greater good, therefore, staff and anything they might need to do their jobs (salaries, benefits, training) is often last on the list of funding priorities.

17 Feb

Posted at 17:26h in Competency Two, Evaluation, Organizational Readiness, Thomas Assel, GPC
In a previous post, Julie Alsup, GPC looked at competency 2.2 through a budget lens. For this post, I’ll look at an agency’s readiness to seek project funding through an evaluation lens. Evaluation is crucial to project sustainability, a key factor in grant requests. Carefully considering project evaluation can help an agency obtain grant dollars for a project.

17 Feb

Posted at 16:06h in Budgets, Competency Two, Julie Alsup, GPC, Organizational Readiness
Many seasoned grant reviewers will tell you that they start with the budget. I believe this is why a discussion of GPC competency two, assessing an organization’s readiness to obtain funding to implement specific projects, should also begin with a discussion of budget. A deep understanding of the budget is necessary to communicate need to potential funders. The grant writer can help assess and advance readiness in the following ways.