18 Feb

Posted at 18:00h in Competency Eight, Competency Seven, Megan Campbell, Relationships, Strategy
Defining Small Nonprofits: Whether a nonprofit or not-for-profit, a charitable organization’s “size” is not determined by its facility, number of staff, or services to the public but by the size of its operating budget. Large organizations have operating budgets in the $10- $50MM range, while organizations with annual budgets of $5MM or less are considered small. Large, nationally affiliated organizations tend to get the lion’s share of public recognition and visibility; however, they are not representative of the U.S. nonprofit sector as a whole. In fact, the National Council of Nonprofits reports that 92% of organizations within the nonprofit sector are small organizations with annual revenue of less than $1MM. Yet the reality is that all charitable organizations depend on public and private support (i.e., government or private grants, individual donations, in-kind gifts, volunteers) to achieve their missions, and small organizations often grapple with how to compete in a market publicly dominated by their larger counterparts.

28 Jan

Posted at 18:00h in Competency Eight, Funder Relations, Kellie Brunguard, Organizational Development, Relationships, Strategy
Denial can be challenging, especially when your grant proposals seem to be on a losing streak. Before you start rethinking your grant strategy or wondering if you’re doing something wrong, there may be other proactive steps and factors to take into consideration. Grant funding is complex. There are a multitude of funding streams, networks and relationships, and preferences involved—most of which are beyond your control. And while you can do your best to present an aligned, impactful proposal, sometimes you will never know the reason a proposal is denied. Sometimes, a string of denials prompts a self-evaluation to evaluate how you could do better, or you take the rejection personally. While self-awareness is important, so is understanding the factors that are beyond your control in an application.

21 Jan

Posted at 18:00h in Competency Four, Competency Three, Competency Two, Culture, Organizational Development, Program Design, Relationships, Shauna O'Toole, Strategy
Have you encountered inefficiency, frustration, or even conflict when working with a group to develop a grant proposal? Take heart. This is normal. Most teams struggle and experience conflict before they begin performing at their peak. The Stages of Group Development framework, developed by Bruce Tuckman (1965) describes this process. This blog will briefly describe Tuckman’s framework and then apply these ideas to grant proposal development.

11 Jan

Posted at 18:00h in Competency Eight, Competency Six, Funder Relations, GPC, Grant Reporting, Grants Management, Megan Campbell, MPA, Relationships
Congratulations! You have received notice that a local foundation will gladly support your organization and/or program during the coming year. The foundation board or staff are excited about your mission, your plans, and helping serve your community. You record the amount in your donor and accounting software, generate a letter acknowledging the gift, and move on to managing the implementation of program activities. Right? Well, no.

02 Jun

Posted at 13:06h in Competency Eight, Funder Relations, Funders, Hayley Waynick, GPC, Relationships

  I recently attended a webinar through the Grant Professionals Association entitled “Pet Peeves of Funders.” The trainer had conducted extensive surveys with grant making entity officers in her area to assess their biggest pet peeves with the organizations they fund. One program officer surveyed shared that...

21 Apr

Posted at 19:48h in Community, Competency Three, Competency Two, Culture, Relationships, Roxanne Jensen, ED. SPEC., Strategy, Volunteering
Volunteerism has become a vital component to supporting community needs throughout the United States. Volunteers are engaged in critical activities at virtually every level from direct service delivery to data collection and reporting to board-level involvement and fundraising. Without volunteers, many nonprofits would not be able to implement their programming or serve their clients.

30 Nov

Posted at 21:11h in Budgets, Community, Competency Three, Kellie Brunguard, Program Design, Relationships
Partnerships can be a powerful tool in communities when they are designed to support everyone involved. Much like making a homemade pie, it takes preparation, time, and trust in the process. Here are some tips and considerations when designing partnerships to make sure everyone has a slice of the pie.

15 Nov

Posted at 21:49h in Community, Competency Three, Competency Two, Inspiration, Relationships, Roxanne Jensen, ED. SPEC.
With Thanksgiving just over a week away, I find myself taking a few minutes to reflect on the nonprofits that provide services to those individuals in our community who need support. These organizations have diligently served our community through challenging times, some for many years. Their steadfast service and that of their talented staff, uplift our communities. While there are so many amazing organizations I could highlight, I am especially grateful for the following organizations…

06 Jun

Posted at 20:39h in Competency Eight, Competency Seven, Julie Assel, GPC, Professional Development, Professionalism, Relationships
I am a grant professional for whom the written word is a more comfortable form of communication than face-to-face communication. Once I understood the concepts and intent of grant proposal writing, I fell in love with it. The majority of my time is spent alone in my office writing or in one-on-one conversations with program, financial, and executive leadership staff. Given that my learning style is also visual text, reading RFPs, gathering the information needed, and conducting the research is all easy for me to understand. Recently though, I have needed to be involved in meetings with program officers. These are not my favorite activity. Oh, I love hearing all the things funders have to say about their organization that help me better understand their mission. I also love to hear all the things about the program that my organizations say to the funder that I have not heard before in quite the same way. (Haven’t we all been here?) If my only task was to listen, these meetings would be easy, but these were conversations in which I was the lead for a significant portion of the conversation.