22 Oct Falling into Grant Award Management by Kellie Brungard, GPC
October brings many wonderful things – cooler weather, changing landscape palettes, and the sound of grant professionals cheering when they receive notice of awards for federal grants. If you recently received an award, go ahead and pat yourself on the back for your hard work and dedication to ensuring the proposal was top-notch – you did it! Many of us focus on the details of project design and pulling together the long list of attachments but might not be well versed in what to do after an award is announced. Don’t worry – here are a few guidelines and resources to have you prepared faster than you can say “pumpkin spice latte.”
13 Jul What to Expect When You’re Prospecting by Leah Hyman, GPC
Posted at 10:40h
in Competency Two, Funding, Leah Hyman, Organizational Readiness, Research, Strategy
What to Expect When You’re Prospecting
Or: What to Know About Working with a Consultant
A scenario: your small nonprofit organization has been in operation for several years now, thanks to the generosity and trust of individual donors and supporters. You have generated some promising outcome data from your programs, have a clear direction, and are making a positive impact on your target population. You feel you’re ready to move on to the next step in your organization’s growth: diversifying funding streams by adding in some grant dollars. But you’re busy running programs, your board is stretched thin, and you’re just not sure where to start.
Choosing to seek outside assistance from a grant professional is a big step for an organization. The combination of a very small staff (or perhaps even a one-person shop), a small pool of invested donors and volunteers, and the amount of time, energy, and resources spent in getting a nonprofit off the ground can make this a deeply personal decision. An outsider consultant who suddenly asks lots of specific questions about your policies, competitors, and finances might feel a little intrusive (at best) or downright offensive (at worst).
But wait! That consultant means well. They’re likely trying to gauge your organization’s grant-readiness and capacity for managing different types of funding opportunities to determine the most effective and efficient next steps. Here’s what to expect as you enter this new relationship.
29 Mar Conducting Mission-Focused Planning and Needs Assessments with Applicant Organizations: Part 2 – Assessing the Need Written by Julie Alsup, GPC and Tom Assel, GPC
Posted at 20:42h
in Competency Two, Julie Alsup, GPC, Organizational Readiness, Program Design, Program Development, Thomas Assel, GPC
In Part 1, we talked about finding and using existing needs assessments. But suppose no appropriate needs assessment data already exists. How do you start the needs planning process?
08 Mar Conducting Mission-Focused Planning and Needs Assessments with Applicant Organizations by Julie Alsup, GPC
Part 1- Accessing existing information The big question: What do you do when you identify a grant opportunity that requires discussion of how the project fits into the agency’s larger mission and/or existing needs assessments? This may initially cause concern and prevent an organization from pursuing the opportunity. The truth is there are likely existing documents within your organization and the community that may provide you with what you need.
02 Mar Coffee Shop or Boardroom? How an Organization’s Culture Influences the Grant Process Written by Michele Ryan, GPC
Many times, being a grant professional feels more like an endless quest for information. We find ourselves at the mercy of those who create the programs and the individuals who hold the data. Navigating the twists and turns and the emphatic, “you need what!!??” can be daunting. Whether as a consultant or the grant writer on staff, our role puts us in the position of relying on others to provide us with the information necessary to craft a grant proposal worthy of funding. How this process unfolds is largely dependent on the culture of the organization and the way they communicate, plan, and process information.
01 Mar Internal Roadmap of Grant Program Policies and Procedures to Help Organizations Become Grant Ready – By AGS Staff
Posted at 21:43h
in AGS Staff, Competency Two, Organizational Development, Organizational Readiness, Research, Strategy
There are lots of activities that can help a nonprofit organization become grant ready, and one of them is their internal roadmap of tasks that define their grants program.
The purpose of these practices is to help ensure staff have a documented process that covers the A to Zs of a comprehensive grant program.
25 Feb Robbing Peter to Pay Paul – AGS Grant Staff
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 Organizational Readiness through an Evaluation Lens by Tom 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 Understanding and Articulating the Financial Needs of Projects by Julie Alsup, GPC
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.- 1
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