24 Mar

Posted at 18:00h in Budgets, Megan Campbell
Like any business or corporation, nonprofit organizations must manage revenue and expenses to deliver their products and services to communities. While nonprofits have been charged with addressing the world’s most critical issues, they often lack the adequate resources required to do it. Most organizations need things like safe facilities, light bulbs, furniture, computers, printers, office supplies, etc. to function. Large organizations such as hospitals and university systems are seldom scrutinized for these kinds of “operational” expenses, yet small organizations often accept the nonprofit starvation cycle, assuming that items needed for operations should be donated, mismatched, and held together by duct tape. There is an unspoken yet oft-acknowledged expectation that small nonprofits should rely on free or donated space, equipment, and even underpaid professional expertise more than their larger counterparts.

27 Mar

Posted at 00:59h in Competency Five, Competency Four, Courses, Federal Grants, GPCI Competencies, Grant Writing, How-To, Julie Assel, GPC, Uncategorized

    Federal Grant Management - Financial Requirements Session 11 of the Federal Grant Development Series The most common concerns related to federal grant management are around the financial requirements. These requirements include paying staff, contracting for services, travel, and purchasing materials. This session will discuss the most common policies...

11 Aug

Posted at 10:45h in Budget Narratives, Budgets, Competency Four, Courses, Evaluation, GPCI Competencies, Grant Readiness, Grant Training Series, Grant Writing, Grants 201, How-To, Julie Assel, Julie Assel, GPC, Uncategorized

    Grants 201: Creating an Effective Budget Narrative Session 6 of the Grants 201 Series A budget is a key element of most grant proposals and serves as a blueprint for spending the project’s funds. An effective proposal budget outlines the proposed project in fiscal terms and helps reviewers...

29 May

Posted at 19:36h in

Grants 201: Creating Effective Budget Narratives Session 6 of the Grants 201 Series A budget is a key element of most grant proposals and serves as a blueprint for spending the project’s funds. An effective proposal budget outlines the proposed project in fiscal terms and helps reviewers to...

26 May

Posted at 10:44h in

Grants 201: Creating Effective Budget Narratives Session 6 of the Grants 201 Series A budget is a key element of most grant proposals and serves as a blueprint for spending the project’s funds. An effective proposal budget outlines the proposed project in fiscal terms and helps reviewers to...

29 Jan

Posted at 14:34h in Budget Narratives, Budgets, Case Statements, Courses, Ethics, Evidence-based Programming, Funder Relations, Funding, Grant Readiness, Grant Writing, Grants 101, How-To, Need & Need Statements, Partnerships, Program Development, Relationships, Research, Sustainability

    Cost: $25/session or $250 for the full series Grants 101 Series Sessions by GPCI Competency Register for the complete series: Register Now     Grants 101 Training Series Grants are about so much more than just grant writing. This series of grant trainings will guide you through 1) researching opportunities, 2) building...

29 Jun

Posted at 19:17h in Budgets, Competency Four, Hayley Waynick, GPC
With quick turnarounds and tight deadlines, grant writers can often overlook the importance of tying the numbers in the budget to the activities of the project. While funders give us many opportunities to do this, they often cite the absence of this connection as one of their biggest critiques of grant proposals. I’ve heard it mentioned time after time in funder panels, trainings, and in direct feedback from funders. As you begin a grant proposal and rally the project team, encourage them to have a “budget first” mindset. The budget, after all, is the primary driver of what the grant is all about. When the budget is the last thing on the list to complete, this typically sets off a chain reaction of making last minute edits to the proposal narrative, budget narrative, timeline, etc. This is when the connection between the budget and the project itself can get lost. The two key places where grant writers can be sure to show this connection are the budget narrative and the proposal narrative.