Thursday July 10- Post grants

Hi !

💋  Kiss a little longer: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

• Both sides of the table

• Watch and learn how to be prepared to receive grant awards

• Learn from the good: Update donors how they solved a problem

• Great post: A quick guide to DAFs

• Strategy Insider: The process

• The saga of the cheater

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from two weeks ago: Enrico Pallazzo (Leslie Nielsen) sings the Star Spangled Banner in this hilarious scene from Naked Gun.

I know there’s lots of competition for grant dollars. The problem is that organizations don’t always prepare in advance for getting a yes to a grant proposal. And that can cost them further grants.

Wanna continue to get grants from current funders? Prepare the answers to the W questions in advance.

Let’s dive into it.

🤣 Laugh a little longer: Both sides of the table 

Grant writing is not easy. Annoying character limits, trying to decipher what the funder is looking for, answering what sounds like the same question three times three different ways.

And did I mention those farshluggina character counts?!

I worked as a grant writer. I know how much time and effort it takes just to submit the application, let alone afterwards preparing reports, data, budgets etc.

I also served as global director of communications for a global family foundation. I got to see how the other half lives. (It’s not bad!) I enjoyed the perspective of sitting on the other side of the table, as part of the team that’s giving rather than asking.

Both experiences gave me a front row seat to see how the grant world operates. One of my biggest learnings:

Prep in advance.

Applying and getting grants is like fundraising and marketing: It’s about building relationships. You want to connect with the funder, keep them informed and hopefully this increases your chances of getting more grants in upcoming years.

But none of that happens without prepping far in advance… even before you submit a single application.

Your organization needs to be prepared to accept foundation gifts. The money you receive? That’s the smallest part of it. You have a whole checklist of things to consider and plan out in order for the grant to be considered a success.

Waiting to figure things out until after the money arrives in your bank account can be disastrous. You’ll end up doing a lot of scrambling which can cause delays which means programs and services are held up which means less impact on fewer people which could mean not fulfilling what you promised in the application.

Having sat on the funder’s side I can tell you this is a BIG problem!

The solution is knowing what to get ready as early on as possible.

❤️ That big red freshness lasts right through it: The W questions of post grant award management

To help you, I have published a video which provides all the questions you need to ask and have answered.

The goal: Successfully implement the grant while building a good relationship with the funder.

In the video I provide a list of “W” questions that will help you get ready to receive not just one grant but many. Take notes and then start getting your organization ready.

Watch as I share how to prepare IN ADVANCE for post grant award management:

For those who prefer short content bites, I have broken down the above video into quick videos:

• Introduction to post award grant management (2 minutes)

• The Who of post award grant management (1 minute)

• The What of post award grant management (1 minute)

• The Where of post award grant management (1 minute)

• The When of post award grant management (2 minutes)

• The How of post award grant management (2 minutes)

• The Why of post award grant management (2 minutes)

It’s great when a funder sends you a letter informing you that your application was accepted and you’ll be receiving funds. It’s even better when you’re all ready to use those funds from day one to serve people and impact their lives.

😛 Your fresh breath goes on and on: Learn from the good- share updates

In this section I will share with you something good being done by a nonprofit that you can learn from.

When’s the last time your organization updated your audience about a campaign from 3 months ago? 6 months ago? A year?

You shared a problem with people, asked for their donations. But have you revisited the problem and shared how people’s gifts solved a pain point?

People like to close the loop on a story, rather than having it stay open ended. Which is why I liked what Houston Food Bank sent me last week.

This was the email header:

Good image plus it told me what I’d be reading about. The email was an update, full of gratitude. They added this update image:

A little data, some images, gratitude. Simple but effective.

Did you run a campaign to raise money for scholarships so high school students can attend college? To help a family rent a home and get off the streets? Pay for a child’s treatment?

Update people. Let them know how they helped. Make them feel good about their giving.

They’ll give again the next time you ask.

👋 Say goodbye a little longer: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. How to fix two fundraising copy brain biases. MUST READ! (Lisa Sargent)

2. A quick guide to DAFs (LinkedIn)

3. How to write headlines that hook readers (Content Marketing Institute)

4. How to improve your Board’s engagement (BradyMartz)

5. 5 mistakes that kill a major gift ask… and how to fix them (Nonprofit Fundraising)

🧑‍🤝‍🧑  Make it last a little longer: Strategy Insider- Deep Dive: The process

In this section I’m going to share with you how I build strategies for nonprofits. Each week I’ll share another piece and over the coming months you’ll see how everything fits together.

I recently presented a custom A-Z organizational strategy I crafted to the CEO and Board of a growing nonprofit. Approved.

This was a LARGE project as it didn’t just focus on fundraising and marketing. I also looked at how the organization operates and suggested changes to mainstream some things, improve and upgrade how they have operated until now.

What was I looking at?

• Processes and systems: How do they onboard new staff and Board members? Do they train volunteers? How does the organization make major decisions? (Is there collaboration between the CEO and staff? Between the CEO and Board?) Is everything written out and stored somewhere where people have access to it? Is there a process in place for when an employee needs to be let go?

• Policies: Gift acceptance; communications; crisis comms; hiring new staff

• Priorities: Has the organization followed and successfully implemented its organizational priorities? If not, why not? What are the roadblocks and bottlenecks? What processes can be improved and upgraded to reach the goals as set out by the Board and staff?

• Budget: Full review of the annual budget; how they spend money and allocate resources; why there may have been shortfalls in recent years; how the budget is crafted (who’s involved? How do they come up with numbers?)

Fundraising and marketing are important. But if the inner workings of the organization are a hot mess, things will fall by the wayside. Projects will remain unfinished. Staff will be confused as to where the organization is headed.

This is why, as part of my strategy, I performed a processes and systems audit. I reviewed the internal workings of the organization.

How an organization operates internally can have external outcomes. Sometimes good and sometimes not so great. My goal was to fix what wasn’t working, introduce new ways of operating and create the internal processes necessary for maximum impact externally.

So far I’ve shared with you my deep dive into fundraising, marketing, platforms, interviews, competition, the Board, grants and organizational processes. Next week I’ll be discussing gratitude.

😜  Give your breath long lasting freshness: What happened next?

These were posted on the scoreboard at PNC Park, home of baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates. I’ll let you know if there are any more updates.

I’ll be back next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

P.S. I listened to Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” on an endless loop while working on the enews. Great 80s hit!