Author, coach, copy-writer, nonprofit marketing consultant and political junkie, Pamela is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants”  and  the creator of Simple Development Systems, the only online coaching program created for the overwhelmed fundraiser in the one-person marketing and development shop.

Pam segued from six years working in programming and communications at a regional grantmaking foundation to the world of fundraising in 2001.  In her first position as a 15-hour a week development director for an agency with a $3 million dollar budget, she increased individual giving by 25% – while reducing costs by 31% – and increased foundation funding by an astonishing 93%! She’s raised over $10 million in funding since then and has been positioning small nonprofit organizations on the path to sustainable funding ever since  with her “Simple Development Systems” of donor-centric fundraising methods.

With an eclectic 20 year background in politics, sales, marketing and philanthropy, Pamela’s greatest satisfaction lies in teaching the small community-based nonprofits how to, in her words,  “market like the big boys” with limited time and resources.

How Simple Development Systems Will Create Sustainable Funding

In the past six months my daughter has lost 45 pounds. She watches her diet, runs several times a week (she’s surpassed me – a runner or over 30 years – in that department!) and looks and feels amazing.

The other day I suggested to her that her experience would be prime fodder for a book, even an e-book, to help others struggling with their weight. After all, she has been struggling with her weight for over ten years and seems to have hit upon the perfect solution!

“Are you kidding mom?” she responded. “I lost this weight through diet and exercise! It was hard work! No one wants to hear that! Everyone wants a quick fix or a pill …”

You know what?

She’s right.

Lately it’s occurred to me that many of us in the field of nonprofit fundraising have the same mindset.

Whenever I’ve met with potential clients, I always hear the same questions or concerns:
“What about a signature event?”
“How do you get major donors?”
“How do we use social media to raise money?”
“We tried grants a few years ago and it didn’t work …”

As Charlie Brown used to say: “Argh!”

What I have found, in my 14 years working in the nonprofit arena, is that organizations who commit to their development in the same way that they commit to their mission, and who establish sound fundraising systems will always have the tools at their disposal for sustainable funding.

Great development is all about systems and relationship-building. There is no magic pill. There isn’t one single technique or tactic or trick that will set your organization on the path to sustainability.

Nonprofit organizations need tried and true systems – systems for:

• Grants management
• Individual giving
• Donor stewardship & communications
• Website creation & management

And the backbone of all these systems is a strong case statement presented with engaging story telling.

An organization doesn’t “try” grants one year and decide it doesn’t work! You’ve got to engage the foundations, reapply, research on a consistent basis and steward the grants that you have received well.

After all, you wouldn’t go the gym once, decide exercise didn’t “work” and never return would you?

Repeat my mantra: systems and relationships, systems and relationships, systems and relationships …

I am very happy to post another article guest author Betsy Baker!  Besty is the President of  YourGrantAuthority.com. She has earned more than ten million dollars in grant funding and continues to be a grant writing consultant for nonprofits.

She is best known for her plain-language instructional guidance and offers both ebook instruction and one-on-one coaching in writing grants and starting a grant writing consulting career.

The Grant Writing Hall of Shame

Author, coach, copy-writer, nonprofit marketing consultant and political junkie, Pamela is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants”  and  the creator of Simple Development Systems, the only online coaching program created for the overwhelmed fundraiser in the one-person marketing and development shop.

Pam segued from six years working in programming and communications at a regional grantmaking foundation to the world of fundraising in 2001.  In her first position as a 15-hour a week development director for an agency with a $3 million dollar budget, she increased individual giving by 25% – while reducing costs by 31% – and increased foundation funding by an astonishing 93%! She’s raised over $10 million in funding since then and has been positioning small nonprofit organizations on the path to sustainable funding ever since  with her “Simple Development Systems” of donor-centric fundraising methods.

With an eclectic 20 year background in politics, sales, marketing and philanthropy, Pamela’s greatest satisfaction lies in teaching the small community-based nonprofits how to, in her words,  “market like the big boys” with limited time and resources.

Six Critical Things to Look For in a Foundation’s 990 For Successful Grant Funding

By Pamela Grow

When it comes to foundation grants, researching prospective foundations is crucial for locating the ideal match. And there is no finer tool for truly observing the inner workings of a grant-making foundation — and whether or not their mission provides a match with your organization — than with a thorough investigation of a foundation’s federal 990-PF form (downloadable at a number of sites for free, including Guidestar and Nozasearch).
What, exactly, should you be looking for?

Let’s take a walk through a typical grantmaking foundation’s 990-FP:

Do take a look at the foundation’s Fiscal Year. Why? Well, here’s a take-away from seven years working at a foundation. If the foundation in question happens to be closing in on the end of their fiscal year, they may have already spent the required 5 percent payout. On the other hand, if they’re fairly new to grant-making, the foundation may have yet to hone their grant-making policies – and you may get lucky if they’re looking to send some last minute grant checks out the door.

Assets: Note, of course, the total fair market value of all assets recorded in Part One for the last year reported. Now take a look back – has the XYZ Foundation’s assets declined or grown over the past few years? Are they a fairly new operating foundation?

Part I, Revenue and Expenses summarizes other sections of the report. If major contributions have been made during the year in question a founder or trustee may have recently deceased – and an increase in giving could be in the future.

Part VIII – Take note – here’s one of your most important resources. Information about officers, directors, trustees, foundation managers, highly paid employees and contractors. You will certainly want to note the names and locations of the trustees. Could members of your board possibly know any of the trustees of XYZ Foundation? Does the XYZ Foundation have staff members or is it entirely family-run? Are the trustees paid?

Part IX-A – Summary of Direct Charitable Activities: Here’s where you find out the exact dollar amount given in grants. If the foundation you’re researching tends to give many grants in the $2,500 to $10,000 range (as opposed to a few grants in the $25,000-$100,000 range) and you are a first time applicant, you’ll want to frame your first ask accordingly. (See How Much Should You Request in Your Grant Proposal?) http://www.pamelasgrantwritingblog.com/269/how-much-should-you-request-in-your-grant-proposal-how-much-do-you-need/

Part XV: This section will tell you how grant applications should be prepared, if there are any deadlines, etc. along with a listing of grantees. Although it’s still a good idea to phone and get grant application guidelines directly from the foundation in question, this section will get you started (and don’t write a foundation off if they specifically note that they only grant to pre-selected organizations – I’ve had success with smaller grants of $250-1,000 with these foundations when there was an otherwise good match in giving!) Are there organizations similar to yours on that listing of grants given in 2003? What is the dollar range in their grantmaking and where would your organization fall?

By performing a little preliminary detective work on the foundation you’re seeking funding from, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of successful funding!

I am very happy to post another article guest author Betsy Baker!  Besty is the President of  YourGrantAuthority.com. She has earned more than ten million dollars in grant funding and continues to be a grant writing consultant for nonprofits.

She is best known for her plain-language instructional guidance and offers both ebook instruction and one-on-one coaching in writing grants and starting a grant writing consulting career.

The #1 Thing Keeping You From What You Want

This is one of my favorite photos of my son Rhodes as he is finishing his first race – which just happened to be at Disney World.  The clay track at the ESPN field where the race took place was packed with excited kids; most holding hands with even more excited parents.  The atmosphere was festive with a live band, balloons, favorite Disney characters and a race director tasked with herding the cats, I mean the children, onto the track for the race to begin.

Anticipation for this day had been building as my husband Norm and I both have participated in several races and were eager for Rhodes’ first.  We explained to Rhodes before the race that while he was to run as fast as he could, what was really important was to just have fun and finish the race.  Rhodes had another idea.

As the starter pistol shot rang out, I was holding hands with Rhodes because he was only three at the time and I didn’t want him to get lost in a sea of strangers.  But as we ran, Rhodes began pulling away from me and trying to wriggle out of my grasp.  It was obvious – his eye was on the prize and he was there to win that race.

I can’t help but compare his enthusiasm to some of the organizations I meet with that seek my help in teaching them to write grants that will win them money.  Or with folks that want to begin their own independent grant consulting business and seek me out for guidance.  These are the people near and dear to my heart that I want to help because I know of all the good things in store for them.

For the organizations desiring grant money, I know what can be accomplished with receipt of grant funding: children fed, disaster victims housed, terminal diseases cured, babies placed into loving arms.

And I also know what a successful, freedom-based grant consulting business can bring: personal accomplishment , time at home with children every day, the ability to participate in field trips, catching up with friends over a long lunch, the excitement of landing a new client and the capacity, when needed, to care for aging parents a state away.

I’ve been on both sides.

So, I talk with people that have the desire to make a needed and wanted change but here’s what separates them from being able to say “I Did It!” And it’s so simple – they never took the action required to accomplish that desire. Don’t let any of your perceived or very real obstacles prevent you from taking action.  Very rarely is there a straight path to what you want accomplished – my path continues to be a zig-zag every day!  The trick is to just keep moving forward.  Action.

I think Gandhi says it best, “Action expresses priorities.”  What is your priority and what is the action you need to take – today?

Grow Your Consulting Business with clubGRANT

I am very happy to welcome back guest author Betsy Baker!  Besty is the President of  YourGrantAuthority.com. She has earned more than ten million dollars in grant funding and continues to be a grant writing consultant for nonprofits.

She is best known for her plain-language instructional guidance and offers both ebook instruction and one-on-one coaching in writing grants and starting a grant writing consulting career.

Betsy also runs a coaching program that teaches people on how to develop an exciting  Grant Consulting career.  This looks like a fantastic opportunity.  Click here to learn more about this class.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go Writing Grants

Congratulations!

Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go.

Dr. Seuss

When I pursued the art of grant writing I didn’t realize at the time “oh, the places I can go.”  Like most other grant writers, I fell into this career by happy accident.  I’ve always loved reading, I’ve always loved writing and I loved being able to help people in my own unique way.  Writing grants felt natural to me and when I discovered that it was something that could bring even greater reward both personally and professionally I was ready to sign on for good.

Whether you’re brand new to writing grants or are an old pro, I want to challenge you to think of how you can use this skill – what it allows you to do.  Here are just a few ideas for your consideration:

Transform a Nonprofit – There’s an observation that floats around the grant writing world.  I don’t know how scientific it is but I like it and.  Eighty percent of grant writing is dedicated planning and twenty percent is actual writing.  A well-written grant proposal is dependent on the planning that an organization does ahead of time to prepare before the proposal is sent to the funder for consideration.  Good planning includes bringing together staff, the organization’s Board of Directors, partners, volunteers and those being served to answer the question “what does our community need most from us and, in turn, what program do we need most financial support for?”  Answering that question is vital to both the organization and the community it serves.  If you are a grant writer for your organization, get these groups together and see the great change that was just waiting for you to orchestrate.

Become an Independent Consultant – Have you always dreamed of working for yourself rather than others?  Become a grant writing consultant!  Hundreds of grant writers have branched out on their own contracting with a variety of nonprofits to write their grant applications and have a satisfying and rewarding career doing so.  Start-up costs are practically non-existent and you can work from anywhere allowing you freedom and flexibility.  Have a professional take care of the legal stuff, market yourself like crazy and keep up your good reputation in the nonprofit community.  With more than a million and a half nonprofits in the U.S. alone, there is much, much greater supply than demand of grant writers.  You will always be needed.

Ready to get started?  Download a no-cost guide here.

Work for the Feds – Okay, perhaps this one isn’t on your bucket list but it can be rewarding to go through the process of being on a team of federal grant reviewers.  You get to travel, you get to meet interesting people from across the country, the opportunity gives you a certain cache and you even get a small stipend.  No, you won’t get rich but consider what you do gain:

• Stronger grant application skills
• Contacts that can help you in the long run
• An in-depth understanding of the federal grant awards process

Again, these are just a few ideas off the top of my head.  What can you think of that you can do with the skill of writing grants?  I’d love to hear your ideas and about your experiences!

I would like to welcome back guest writer Pamela Grow to Step by Step Fundraising today. Pam is an author, coach, copy-writer, and nonprofit marketing consultant.  She is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants” and the creator of Simple Development Systems, the only online coaching program created for the overwhelmed fundraiser in the one-person marketing and development shop.  Thanks for sharing with us, Pam! - Jim Berigan

How much should you request in your foundation grant proposal?

One of the most common questions I’m asked is “Pam, how do you know how much to request when drafting a foundation grant proposal?”

Well, how much do you need?

Folks, this isn’t rocket science and I refer, once again, to my constant mantra of “systems, systems, and systems.”

Have you been researching foundation funders on a weekly basis? While I’ve seen other grant gurus advising grantseekers to spend one to two days a year researching foundation funders, I’m a strong believer in making weekly prospect research a habit. That is if you’re serious about building your foundation funding.

When you do, you’ll always have a solid listing of prospective funders as well as their grant application guidelines. You should know:

a) that their funding interests provide a match with your organizational mission,
b) that they have funded organizations similar to yours in the past,
c) whether they fund general operating costs,
d) their grantmaking range (gleaned from the foundation’s 990 tax return)
e) their fiscal year, and
f) whether your organization has applied to them in the past.

Now, take a look at your organizational budget and join me as we determine two separate grant request amounts …

First off, we have the ABC Foundation. They’re a fairly “new kid on the block” to grant making, having opened their doors a scant three years ago after the founder sold his company (according to your Google research). They’ve funded an organization on the opposite end of the city providing the same services as your organization, and their giving history shows general operating grants in the $1,000-25,000 range. Your routine surveying of your board members has also revealed that one of your board members also sits on the board of the local art center – and has a friendly acquaintance with the ABC Foundation’s founder’s wife, who also sits on the board of the local art center.

Your first proposal to the ABC Foundation will be a small one. You feel rather safe in seeking a grant in the amount of $2,500 towards general operating expenses (and your board member has agreed to mention the proposal to Mrs. ABC). Without the connection, your first proposal would have come in at the very lowest end of $1,000.

The XYZ Foundation, on the other hand, has been in existence since 1962. Your organization has been fortunate to receive three nice-sized program grants over a period of ten years in the amounts of $15,000, $25,000, as well as one two-year grant in the amount of $60,000 that ended two years ago.

You’re launching a new mentoring program this year and, based on the site visit XYZ paid your organization following their $60,000 grant, you already know that they’re excited about this new program. On the other hand, you also know that XYZ’s assets have taken a bit of a tumble.

Your sixth grant proposal to the XYZ Foundation will seek $10,000 in support of your new mentoring program.

What??!! Sixth proposal??

Didn’t I say that the XYZ Foundation had funded your organization three times?

That’s right. Your first two proposals were declined.

After all, development is all about systems and relationships.

Keep on building.

I am very happy to welcome back guest author Betsy Baker!  Besty is the President of  YourGrantAuthority.com. She has earned more than ten million dollars in grant funding and continues to be a grant writing consultant for nonprofits.

She is best known for her plain-language instructional guidance and offers both ebook instruction and one-on-one coaching in writing grants and starting a grant writing consulting career.

Betsy also runs a coaching program that teaches people on how to develop an exciting  Grant Consulting career.  This looks like a fantastic opportunity.  Her current class is sold out, but click here to learn more about this class.

You’ve Gotta Have a Plan! 3 Tips to Develop Winning Grant Proposals

We see it all the time. Plans that help us lose weight. Plans that help us organize our time better. Plans that help us retire early. In successfully reaching any goal, you’ve gotta have a plan.

The same principle applies to developing applications that will win awards. It’s unrealistic to think that you can simply download the grant application, fill out a few sections and send it on its way with no preparation ahead of time. You know as well as I do that anything worth having takes work. How many times did your Mom say that to you? I finally quit counting.

In any event, Mom was right and here are three ways that winning grant writers take advantage of the planning process to craft proposals that make reviewers sit up and take notice:

1. Discuss grant funding options with key players. The grant writer is not an island to determine a nonprofit’s needs. Gather your nonprofit staff, advisors, select clients and partners and discuss which projects need funding. Make it fun and invite everyone to participate in the discussion! After spending time debating which project is most critical to the present operation and which project best meets the funder’s criteria, then move forward. It has to be a win-win for both the nonprofit and the grant maker. Don’t chase dollars and create a program your community doesn’t even need just to get funding. Often times doing so results in an unpleasant outcome.

2. Build evaluation of your project early into your application. Winning grant writers begin building evaluation methods into their proposal as they’re writing – not after the proposal is written. As you’re developing your goals and objectives think about what evaluation techniques would successfully measure their outcomes. Basic techniques include pre- and post-surveys, interviews and focus groups. Here are some tips for writing the evaluation from Joanne Fritz.

3. Assess both internal and external support. Do you have everyone and everything in place to run a tight ship in meeting your project’s goals? Take an inventory of what talent and support is already available to the project and then determine if additional support is needed. Request what’s needed in the application being specific about why new staff or support systems are required. Getting a grant funded and then discovering you lack the appropriate resources to carry out the project is doom and gloom to a funder.

Good luck and stick to your plan!

3 Tips for Award-Winning Grants

Last Saturday, Rhodes had his end-of-season party for his tee-ball team. He was so proud as he posed for pictures with his coach who presented him with a trophy. The coach praised the team members (all adorable at 4 and 5 years old for their dedication to showing up for practice, for listening to his instruction and for vast overall improvement from the beginning of the season.

Listening to the coach, I couldn’t help but be reminded of one’s determination when it comes to writing grants that win. Think it’s effortless? Think again. Sometimes we’re a lot like our four and five year old friends. We think that we can piece something together and hit it out of the park on our first try. But a lot of planning and effort goes into each and every winning application. Plus, just like my son whose dad has spent many afternoons practicing with him in the backyard, you’ll find that the more that you write the better you become. I look back at some of my earlier proposals and wince – but I had to start somewhere. If you want to write proposals that win but haven’t had the best of luck, hang in there and follow this simple advice. You already know it, you just have to remember to put it into practice!

Submit a Polished Proposal – Don’t let application “eyesores” put your proposal on the chopping block. A professional, aesthetically pleasing proposal catches the grant reviewer’s eye. Be sure to leave plenty of white space in your narrative with at least one inch margins on all sides (unless otherwise instructed,) don’t doctor up your proposal with too many charts and graphs and spell check, spell check, spell check! Follow all application guidelines which means that you get your application in on time in the manner requested. (Ten copies included as suggested? Done. Delivered, as instructed in the guidelines, by U.S. mail at the specified time and date? Check. All requested documents attached? Yup. Resisted the urge to include your marketing materials such as your cool new video and annual report especially since it was expressly requested that you did not? Good for you!) You would be amazed at how many grant reviewers will chuck proposals that couldn’t even follow simple instructions.

Remember That You’re Always in a Competition – Dig for those statistics that prove you’re assisting folks that need your help. Employ an evaluation plan that proves you’re interested in the outcome of your clients. Prove that your organization is unique and provides services that no one else in the community is providing. Fight the good fight! Believe in what you’re doing and translate that into your proposal. Enthusiasm is contagious and a grant reviewer can tell when an organization is passionate about their work. Even when you’re up to your eyeballs in research and finding the whole stats thing becoming a blur of numbers and percentages, remember that while you know why your organization is needed and is helpful to the community, grant reviewers do not. It takes evidence and it’s your job to provide that. Your solid presentation of just the right facts and figures is persuasive in determining a positive outcome for your proposal. Going that extra mile, especially when others don’t, wins money.

Resist the Urge to Paint a Doomsday Picture – If your organization is on the verge of collapse if you don’t get this grant maker’s grant, you have much bigger problems than not getting this grant. You know that old saying “You attract more flies with honey than with vinegar?” Well, this same principle applies to how you represent your organization. Grant makers like winners – pure and simple. This means offering solutions to challenging situations and having back-up plans. While all nonprofits need money to survive, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. (Loving the cliches today, aren’t I? I promise there’s a point.) The point is that while there’s nothing wrong with having a sense of urgency, what does turn off grant reviewers is painting so grim a picture that they alone hold the answer to your fate. Show that you’re simply incorporating them into your funding plan and list other means of raising funds that you feel positive about. This could mean that you’re applying to other foundations (you should be!) and implementing other fund raising methods such as major gifts, direct mail appeals, special events and annual giving programs.

I hope that you’ve found these tips helpful. Just keep practicing remembering all along that “practice makes perfect!” (Sorry, I had to throw one more in there!)  For more juicy, winning grant writing tips, be sure to download a copy of my “60 Insider Grant Writing Secrets.”

Every time the news starts posting information about mega gifts, boards and executive directors start pounding on the door of development directors. The directive is clear: “we want what they’re having.”

Well, I’ll give you the bad news first. Mega gifts do not typically happen overnight. It is a culmination of months, if not years, of planning, visiting, calling, and yes, lots of effort. One organization I worked at spent seven years cultivating a multi-million dollar gift to lead off their capital campaign. That was seven years after at least a year of planning.

Now for the good news. There are things you can do to get started now. The old adage is true, the tortoise wins the race. With consistent effort ever time, you can start to cultivate, and obtain, major gifts. It may not be the multi-million (or billion) dollar mega gifts, but I am confident that you can find individuals who want to partner with you to make this happen.

Here are 8 steps to help you get started.

1. Fundraising 101. First, you’ll want to learn about trends in charitable giving. Visit www.givingusa.com and http://philanthromax.com/atlas for some general information. Blackbuad USA and Convio and publish stories periodically that can help you stay up to date.

2. Vision / Mission. Revisit your vision. Do you have one? This isn’t about a vision for your organization exactly – it’s a vision for how your community could and should be. Your mission can address how your organization will help that vision come to pass.

3. Case Statement. Your case statement should clearly articulate everything that a donor needs to know before making a decision to giving a large gift to your organization. It should be compelling, visionary, easily read, and packed with information. Here’s a link to my Diigo page with links to lots of samples you can review.

4. Audiences. Next you’ll want to identify the primary audiences you will communicate with. Try to identify those groups of people (and individuals) who identify most with your cause. Don’t try to approach everyone, just target in on a few. If you’re not already following Seth Godin’s blog, I strongly recommend it. He often talks about focusing in our marketing.

5. Awareness. People won’t give to your organization if they don’t know about you. And they won’t give if they don’t know that there’s a need. Social media has expanded the ways we have of getting our message out, but there are many more traditional, proven methods as well. Again, focus in on just a few awareness strategies – don’t try to do them all. Based on who you’re communicating with, select just 3-5 avenues to start with.

6. Asking. This is the one topic that generally leaves most people shaking in their boots. Asking for a gift. Please know, this is not begging. Rather, it is inviting people to participate in a cause that they are already passionate about. It’s about providing a vehicle (your program / your organization) that will help a donor accomplish one of their life goals. Learn about your potential donors and what is important to them. At some point you’re going to have to ask.

7. Develop a Plan. There’s nothing worse than having all the pieces, but not knowing where to get started. Map everything out by month so that you can make tracking easier.

8. Expand Your Team. Don’t try to do all of this on your own. Engage your board and/or develop a fundraising committee. Use your plan to help structure expectations of your volunteers.

This is not a sprint. It is definitely a marathon. And it takes hard work. But, if you commit yourself and start implementing these steps, you will start seeing positive results within a few months. But don’t get discouraged too quickly. The real impact starts to show itself at about the 18-month mark.

Would you like some additional help implementing these 8 steps? Sign up for my newsletter, and you’ll receive access to a sneak peak at the first session of my 8-week Major Gift Training Program.

Kirsten Bullock, CFRE is a consultant, trainer and coach who works with leaders of non-profit organizations and ministries to bring professionalism, excellence and effectiveness to their board and fundraising efforts. She earned her designation as a Certified Fund Raising Executive in 2002. Kirsten is currently serving as president elect of the Association for Fundraising Professionals Greater Louisville Chapter. She is an AFP Master Trainer, compiles ‘Kirsten’s Fundraising Headlines’ Blog, authors the ‘Growing Your Donors’ blog and is a contributor for SOFII (The Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration). Kirsten holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and a Master’s of Business Administration. When not working to equip and empower people in the nonprofit sector, Kirsten sculpts, is attempting to learn to speak Danish and enjoys living in the Highlands in Louisville, Kentucky.