This blog post was originally posted at grantprofessionals.org under the title: Power to the People: Promoting Equity and Community Engagement as A Grant Professional. With great power comes great responsibility. As grant professionals, we utilize our superpowers to connect the needs of communities, the interests of funders, and the mission and capacity of organizations. How can grant professionals promote equity in an organization’s engagement of communities? How can we help ...

The competition for grant funding is tougher than ever. Many will try. Few will succeed. Over the past decade, I’ve applied for countless grants (and won more than a few) for nonprofits and higher education institutions. Along the way, I’ve learned that the path to getting grants is similar to training and competing like an athlete. Now for as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a huge sports fan. Beyond watching basketball games, tennis matches, track and field meets, ...

This week a member of our online community asked: “where can my nonprofit find grants, especially if I don’t have a subscription to a grant database?” Many nonprofits and grant professionals, like me, use paid grant databases like Grant Station and the Foundation Directory Online. However, there are many low-cost (or free.99) ways to find grants. In fact, I’ve found some of the best grants and funders through free grant research methods and tools. In this post, ...

I have to admit that I’m not one to make new year's resolutions, but there’s just something about starting “fresh” that gets me excited. Over the past few years, I’ve been unlearning waiting until the new year to start fresh and instead using each season,(honestly, each quarter, month, week, day etc.) to take a step back and reflect on the habits need to establish and the initial steps I need to take to prepare me to move towards the results I want to ...

A common concern nonprofits have when hiring a grant writer, whether as a staff member or consultant, is the return on the investment. It’s completely understandable to wonder “If I spend the money to hire a grant writer, are we going to get results”?  A common misconception among nonprofit staff and leadership is the belief that hiring a grant writer guarantees that you will win grants. However, one thing for certain and two things for sure - no grant writer (even the ...

The struggle of finding the one is real. Anyone who’s been single and dating for a period of time can attest to the struggle of knowing how and where to find “strong” potential matches, what to look for (i.e. reg flags), how to build a genuine connection, and knowing when it might be time to close the deal or walk away. Dating is very similar to the grants process. The time I spent dating as a single young woman living in a large metropolitan city, Washington D.C., has taught ...