Tag Archive for: Grant Professionals

Long-Distance Trail Running and Grants Management– It All Depends on Community

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by Lucien Darjeun Meadows, Fort Collins Museum of Discovery
2016 Membership Scholar

As I write this blog post today, on a much warmer-than-average morning in Northern Colorado (52 degrees!), I am in the midst of training for the Quad Rock 25/50 Trail Race in Fort Collins, in May. I am also in the midst of finalizing a major foundation proposal, revising several letters of introduction, preparing a few corporate grants, and beginning to draft a major federal grant for my organization: Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, the only discovery museum in our region.

Today, I will research, read, and write for several hours, then go for a sunny 7-mile lunchtime run, then return to my grant writing projects. And while I sit at a computer for grants and prance down the trails for running, I realize, through the education I have gained as a recent GPF membership scholar, success in grants management parallels success in long-distance trail running*—it all depends on community.

Grants management is usually an independent process (since a keyboard generally works best for only two hands at a time), as is long-distance trail running (even for a group run, you have to decide to lace up your shoes and power them down the trail). Still, I find that above all, it is the community that gives each of us the greatest chance of success.

Though 95% of my running occurs alone, with just me and the trail, I rely on my local running community for inspiration, advice, and support—even consolation. Last year, I was just three weeks away from a race that had been on my to-do list for two years when I had an injury that kept me from running for two months. While going from rigorous training (that had been building for months) to zero was hard, my fellow runners helped me keep this setback in perspective. Through them, there were opportunities to stay involved, successes to celebrate, others to support, and, always, future races and group runs to look forward to. And when I ran the Black Squirrel Trail Half-Marathon that September, this race-day community watched out for each other throughout the technical course, encouraged each other when the hills became steep, and celebrated each other as each crossed the finish line, from the sub-1:30 winner to the 4:00+ final finisher (who received rousing applause from everyone).

In a similar way, I am blessed with the support of my museum’s team, who willingly brainstorm, read drafts, provide feedback, and celebrate all results, whether the grant is gained or declined—since fundraising is, like long-distance trail running, a long-term process.

But of special thanks over the last year is GPF, and the community they granted me access to through a GPA Membership Scholarship. While grants management connects to many of my prior interests (10+ years of library experience, grant-seeking as a researcher and graduate student, ongoing fascination with nonprofits), GPA gave me the tools I needed for high success in my first year as an official grants professional. Because of GPF’s scholarship, I have been able to enroll in GPA webinars, share thoughts with grant professionals nationwide, and learn from this incredible network of knowledgeable, inspiring, and, above all, supportive professionals.

Because of the GPA community, I exceeded grant-funding goals for my organization in my first year as a grants professional. Because of your support, I realize a declination is no reason to be sad, because it means someone, somewhere, read this proposal—and as a result, there is now more awareness of my organization in the world. Thank you, GPA. Thank you, GPF for the gift of a membership scholarship.

Happy trails—er, drafts—everyone!

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*Of course, I am far from the first grants professional to see similarities between this profession and running! Diane Leonard, GPC shares how grant writing is like training for a half-marathon, Scott Herr, Ph.D. explores what running marathons have taught him about grant writing, and Dawn Newcomb, Ph.D. discusses the overlap between marathon running and “marathon” research. From them, we learn successful grant writers, like successful long-distance runners, prepare for inevitable setbacks (Leonard); avoid being greedy in asking for more than is reasonable, in budget or pace goals (Herr); and take time to relax and refresh between challenges (Newcomb). Absolutely!

Welcome new board members!

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The Grant Professionals Foundation is pleased to introduce and welcome our new board members:

  • Judy Riffle, Ed.D.
  • Nicole Sibilski, GPC
  • Fayre Crossley, MBA, GPC
  • Ericka Harney, ABD, CAE, CFRE, GPC, CVA
  • Margit Brazda Poirier, GPC, MS

Thank you for you volunteering your time, talent, and resources to advancing the grants profession!

Keeping in Touch with Your Foundation Donors

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Teri BlandonBy Teri S. Blandon, GPC, CFRE; Vice President for External Relations, PAI

The 2016 election caused massive disruptions to many people, personally and professionally. As I work for a women’s reproductive rights advocacy organization, the election results caused us to pivot quickly. Immediately, we had to pull back our annual appeal letter (which was at the printer) and completely rewrite it to reflect the new reality. On an organizational level, we have had to significantly revise our 2017 program plan, which will impact our upcoming foundation proposals and reports.

The election may have caused similar disruptions in your nonprofits. While there are a lot of unknowns about what the future brings, there are concrete things you can and should be doing to maintain positive relationships with your institutional donors.

  • Talk with the community you serve. The campaigns were extraordinarily acrimonious, and stirred up a lot of negative feelings and uncovered deep schisms in our country at many levels. How has this played out in your community (however you define “community”)? Whether you operate locally, state-wide, nationally or internationally, no one has been left unaffected by the campaigns and election. Your nonprofit is on the frontline — what are you learning about the people you serve that could be useful to your funders?
  • Check in with your program colleagues. What worries the program experts about the incoming Congress and Administration? How are your programs and community likely to be affected by policies at the state and national levels? Perhaps there was some good news in your state elections — for example, some jurisdictions increased the minimum wage which will positively impact many of the groups we serve. Make sure you are aware of any discussions going on about how your nonprofit may have to change or adapt your programming in the coming months.
  • Talk to your foundation donors. Almost all of our foundations are now talking internally about how their strategy will shift in light of the Trump-Pence administration. While these discussions will likely take some time, you have a golden opportunity to position your organization as a provider of important and useful intelligence. Thinking back to my first bullet point — what do you know about how the community is feeling/reacting? What is happening within your community to address the issues churned up by the election? And pulling in the information referenced in my second bullet point — what is your nonprofit doing about it? In the case of my organization, we were able to pull together an analysis of the probable funding cuts and policy changes that will happen after the inauguration, and distributed it to our top funders. (The best part is that this was the idea of our Programs staff!) We intend to keep them updated as new information becomes available. We received several emails in response expressing how much the program officers appreciated the information. This wasn’t about asking for money (that will come later); it was about making sure our funders had accurate and timely information they can use when discussing their own strategy.

You are not powerless — you have important information about how upcoming policies and funding decisions affect real people. Use it to advocate for the people you serve by sharing it with your donors. It will position your organization as a provider of services and intelligence.

Four Simple Ways to Recharge

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Teri BlandonBy Teri S. Blandon, GPC, CFRE; Vice President for External Relations, PAI

In the midst of proposals, reports, meetings, and other demands, finding time to recharge may seem like a luxury. It’s not — it’s a necessity. I recently attended a panel on leadership with executives from major nonprofits, consulting firms and corporate foundations. All are supremely busy people and all said the same thing: you need to step away from the job physically and mentally. Otherwise, you are not doing your best work.

So as we enter the prime months of summer (and for some of us, the mid-point of our fiscal year), I offer you four ideas for recharging your personal batteries.

  1. Get out of the office. Let’s start with the obvious: take some time off. If your deadlines make getting away impossible in the summer, then plan to take some extended time off when the deadlines have passed. Even the process of planning a future break can help relieve some of the pressure. If a post-Labor Day vacation won’t work for you, consider taking a day here or there during the summer to give yourself a long weekend. If your organization offers flex days, take advantage of them — don’t talk yourself out of it. Yes, the work will still be there when you get back, but you will be in a much better frame of mind to tackle it.
  1. Shake up your routine. Work routines are good — they make us feel in control and help us get things done. Personally, if I don’t get my lunch and work clothes ready the night before, chances are good I’m going to miss that 7:05 bus in the morning. But routines have a way of becoming ruts, controlling us instead of helping us. I’m not suggesting total chaos (I do have to catch that bus, after all), but change what you can. For me, that can mean taking an alternate exit out of the subway so I’m walking down different streets to work.
  1. Do something different. Pick one thing to do this summer that you haven’t done before. Maybe it’s something you’ve always wanted to try, like ballroom dancing or a drawing class. Or checking out that funky art gallery down the street. Or randomly selecting a podcast and listening to it. Or going to a library and picking a book from a genre that you haven’t tried before (for me, that would be science fiction). Or writing a blog — GPF and GPA are always looking for good articles! Doing something different expands your horizons.
  1. Practice mindfulness. “Mindfulness” has been used to mean a whole host of practices, including meditation and yoga. At its simplest, it means “the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.” Here’s an easy experiment — the next time you go to the coffee shop, grocery store or dry cleaners, notice how many times you make eye contact with the person behind the counter. I was shocked to realize how little it actually was for me — not because I’m not a people person, but because I’m busy with pulling out my credit card or swiping my phone for payment, gathering up the items and getting out of the way of the person behind me. But in doing so, I was missing a moment of humanity, of connecting with the other person involved in the transaction. Now, I purposefully make eye contact with the other person (it doesn’t always work, but it’s worth a shot). Sometimes we have a chance to exchange pleasantries in addition to money. And I’ve learned that it doesn’t take much more time — literally, five seconds. Five seconds and more often than not, a smile that wasn’t there before – on both of our faces.

So these are the things I’ve come up with to relieve the pressure, be more productive and make life worth living. What are some things you’ve tried? I’d love to hear about them — I’m always on the lookout for ways to bring balance to a busy life. Email me your tips and ideas at tblandon@pai.org.

International Grant Professionals Week ends March 20th with Grant Professionals Day!

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Danny Blitch, MPA, GPC

Grants Manager, City of Roswell, Georgia

dblitch@roswellgov.com

February, 2015

Grant funding is important to most nonprofit organizations and government agencies, as it makes achieving missions easier. It is one of the ways organizations pay for the services they provide. Grants, combined with fundraising, program income and direct clientIGP_Day_Logo service fees, generate the revenues organizations need to sustain themselves. In short, grants help nonprofits serve more people everywhere.

Many grant professionals do not do their work for the paycheck, the recognition or for accolades from our employers. Rather, almost universally, they are grant professionals because they like to help others. They find comfort in being able to take a mountain of information and condense/develop it into a successful grant proposal.

The Grant Professionals Association has partnered with the Grant Professionals Foundation and the Grant Professionals Certification Institute to recognize grant professionals for their work. Whether full-time or part-time, grant professionals are the heavy lifters who work with grants in one form or another: they are grant seekers, grant developers, grant makers, and grant managers. They may also be executive directors, professors, city clerks, researchers, county managers, program staff or volunteers. They may wear one hat—or twenty. Regardless, grant professionals are important, and their contributions are vital.

We’re planning activities for each day starting March 16 through March 20. Each activity is designed to recognize the grant profession and the importance of our credential, creating world-wide awareness of the life-changing work we do every day. Want to know how you can be involved? Whether you’re a grant professional, member of a GPA chapter, or part of a nonprofit organization, government agency, or business, you can join us by taking a moment to recognize the grant professional(s) you know. You don’t have to shout from the roof tops or buy us lunch… although both would be okay. But, taking the time to send a quick note, a heartfelt thank you or give a friendly pat on the back will mean the world to us.

So on March 20, 2015, I invite you to pause and recognize the specialized work of grant professionals everywhere who are so deadline driven they often schedule their vacations and the births of their children around the “federal silly season.”

International Grant Professionals Week 2015 ends March 20th with Grant Professionals Day. Don’t miss the opportunity to wish your favorite grant professional a “Happy… Grant Professionals Day!”

Building Bridges to a Better World

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Lisa Deem, Grant Specialist, City of Flagstaff
ldeem@flagstaffaz.gov
December, 2014

I had the distinct honor of attending the 2014 Grant Professionals Association Conference in Portland, Oregon through a Jerry Dillehay Scholarship, sponsored by the Arizona Chapter. I became a GPA member in December 2011, supported by my position at the City of Flagstaff. I have attended state conferences, but never able to participate at the national level.  What an experience! The positive energy generated at the conference created an air of support for success. The hosting chapter and planning team were on target and on time, with logistical information and anticipating our every need. Kudos for a job well done!

The keynote speakers on Thursday and Friday were professionals at the top of their fields, providing strategies and insightful perspectives from both sides of the funder-grant seeking forum. I was pleased to hear the underlying reasons for why we were all there – the human element; building relationships in our community, bettering the world around us. Each and every person at that conference recognizes our ultimate mission – funding people, not paper.

Gil Tran, in the Plenary Session, provided critical insight on the rollout of the federal super-circular with his entertaining anecdotes and personal stories. The human element was very active in this lively discussion of OMB regulations, offering simple methods to navigate these new waters.

The variety and number of workshop sessions available were mind-boggling. I often found myself wishing I could clone to attend multiple workshops at once. I was amazed at the vast amount of knowledge and expertise present in each session, both by presenters and the audience.

  • I learned Grants Management is manageable.
  • I learned that FFATA is not a four-letter word, nor is 2CFR200.
  • I learned the importance of building your project team.
  • I learned the difference between “should” versus “must”.
  • I learned that performance indicators, inputs and outcomes are a grant professional’s friend.
  • I learned about logic models, and how they have the capacity to bring a project from good to great outcomes.
  • I learned about the importance of written policies and procedures to accommodate managerial controls and compliance.
  • I learned that grants are similar to one’s garden, requiring vision, planning and constant care.
  • I learned how to find statistical data to support my project.
  • I learned consistent, ethical management practices are the gold-standard.
  • I learned how to align your project with your funder’s objectives and demonstrate a compelling needs statement.
  • I learned that, while many grant professionals operate on a lonely field within their organizations, they have the capacity to bring together their “village” to create lasting, positive change.
  • I learned that grant professionals require an extensive skill set including concise writing, financial accounting, organizational management, setting policy standards, understanding technical-industry jargon, compassionate listening and exceptional human interaction skills.

Most importantly, I learned that grant professionals are some of the warmest, most-giving people I have known. They work tirelessly to improve the world around them, one grant at a time. I am proud to be counted in those numbers. And I thank the Grant Professionals Foundation for the opportunity to interact with other grant professionals in a supportive and educational environment. We were certainly Building Bridges in Portland, and creating lasting relationships. I wish to extend sincere thanks to all involved, for this learning experience.