Learn how to SUCCESSFULLY plan and write grants!
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Janet Levine Consulting |
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| Greetings!
I know you are busy. Busy has become a way of life. But I worry that too many of us are being busy doing the wrong or unimportant things, and consequently are too busy to get to the things that really matter.
No, I'm not talking about work/life balance. My concern is pretty work-focused. It's how and on what we spend our time that is giving me pause.
Pause is a good thing, I've discovered. Taking the time to take stock. Is this what I should focus on or am I not facing in the right direction to see what I most need to see? Am I doing busy work, feeling that I am getting things done and feeling virtuous about all that work I'm doing instead of accomplishing what is most necessary to move me and my organization forward?
This is not a new concern for me. I write about it frequently in my Too Busy to Fundraise blog. I focus on it in my One Person Development Office workshop. And it's what I look at with most of my clients.
To ensure that you are not too busy to accomplish whatever it is that must be done, first make sure you are spending your time in the right places. That means really understanding what your outcome needs to be.
The best way to do that is to start at the end: what will I have achieved when this is done. "This" could be a long-term project, or an immediate step, but don't get caught thinking about the wrong achievement.
Think about that meeting you want to schedule for your board members. You could think that the end result would be to have the meeting set. You could, but I would argue you would be focusing on the wrong outcome.
The right outcome would be to think what would be the results of this meeting? Another way to put it would be to ask: Why does this meeting have to happen? Inherent in this is the larger question: Does this meeting have to happen? If, for example, the purpose is to share information, mightn't it be just as useful to have everyone who has information to share to put that information in a short memo to be disseminated to the group?
Then, perhaps, you'll discover that the meeting you need to have is the one that happens after everyone digests the information and you get together to decide on next steps, decide on an action or make a recommendation for one.
Or maybe you won't need a meeting at all. Either way, think of all that time you'll save-time busy people will value.
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Grant Strategies
Kelly Kester-Smith, President, Yes! Communcations
Since just before the turn of the last century, Kelly Kester-Smith has been writing grants for nonprofits. She started her
"Writing the grant is only a part of the process," Kelly says. "First organizations must have a comprehensive grant strategy-and that is something I really feel we excel at."
The strategy clearly works. In the past 12 years, she's written successful grants to nearly 100 foundations, corporations and government departments yielding more than $20 million for her clients. But getting grant funding is getting harder. Lots of my students and clients are finding that out first hand. Since my focus is on individuals, I decided to go to an expert and find out what the lay of the grant land is today.
In 1999, Kelly remembers, "you could write a warm and fuzzy three-pager" and get funded. Goals? Evaluations? Not necessary. Today, however, it is a very different story.
Funders today are looking for measurable outcomes. And that means evaluations. "What nonprofits need to understand," Kelly says, "is that evaluations are not statements of fact, such as we served 20 kids. Rather, they are looking evidence based practices and demonstrating how you affect change in those served."
Evidence based practices are based on hard science and rely on quantitative research. This means that you must provide an evaluation program that shows the validity of your project. Typically, this means that you have:
- Quantitative and qualitative data demonstrating change, such as test scores, surveys, focus groups, and substantive pre and post-tests.
- Statistically significant improvement as compared to a different approach or no simply leaving things as is.
- At least two studies indicating that your approach is consistent with research-proven best practices
- Evidence that the project can be replicated.
Besides, as Kelly says, needing an increasingly sophisticated understanding of evaluation, you also need to have a pretty sophisticated program design.
As you might imagine, these need to be outcomes driven. And your outcomes need to be more quantitative than "building self-esteem" or vaguely increasing or improving how people feel about something.
Beyond these things, Kelly is finding that funders are demanding organizational professionalism from the nonprofits they will consider funding. You need to have clean audits and strategic plans. Your funding should be diversified with a significant portion of it being sustainable. You should have professionally created collateral materials. And your website should be robust. (READ MORE)
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Making the Case
When I started as a fundraiser, I worked at a large research university. There were all sorts of resources that were available, including lots of beautiful brochures, reports, case statements. I never, ever used any of them. I was also able to raise a lot of money.
My third fundraising job was with an institution launching the biggest campaign they-or anyone else in the state-had ever attempted. We had tons of fabulous collateral materials. I sometimes brought them with me on introductory meetings. Occasionally, I sent them out with a follow up letter. But, usually not. And still, I was able to raise a lot of money.
The other places I worked over the years may have had materials I could have used, but I never did. Never felt the need. What I did need to make the case for giving was strong programs, great volunteers, and support from my leadership that fundraising was the important part of my job. When I had that, I was always successful.
But for many, that glossy brochure or spiffy PowerPoint presentation is comfort. And the "Case Statement" seems to be the most comforting of all.
Read any book or look online, and the elements of the case statement are usually pretty standard. In much the same words they all advise that a good case statement follows the following formula:
- History of the organization, including
- How and why it was started
- What makes it special or unique
- Challenges currently being faced
- What are the impacts if these challenges are not met?
- What are the benefits when they are met?
- Who are you now?
- What is your mission/vision
- Organizational structure and philosophy
- Who do you serve?
- Staff, management, volunteers, supporters
- What do your financials look like?
- Do you have enough to run your organization well?
- Can you show that you are good managers of your money?
- Do you have appropriate reserves?
- Success stories
- What are the successes you want to highlight?
- How will you build on those successes?
- Tie the stated needs back to the successes, building a connection and showing donors the bigger picture
- What are you proposing?
- Why are you asking for support?
- Cost of the project
- How will the money be spent
- What are the long-term impacts?
- How will any specific donation make a difference?
- How will you recognize and steward donors?
- Naming opportunities
- Perks at certain giving levels?
- Special dates/events that are part of the ask/campaign?
But I wonder.
This seems pretty dry to me. I think we need to consider how to make the case more carefully. (READ MORE)
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Looking to the Future
The first course I took in planned giving convinced me that I
would never, ever be able to talk to a donor about making a planned gift. I mean, I am a woman whose retirement planning is akin to fantasyland. But then my friend who was the planned giving director at the university where I was working told me to forget about CRATS, and CRUTS and whether a trust was leading or residual.
"Planned giving is just a fancy term for the many ways your donors can help your organization with larger gifts than they could give you out of their current income." In other words, by strategically thinking about their long-term goals, donors can also help your organization accomplish its long-term goals.
These are not the gifts that will allow you today to keep your doors open. They are the ones that will provide for your organization in the future.
And the most common type of future gift? A bequest.
Bequests count for about 8% of all charitable gifts in the United States. And those all come from the very small percentage of people who put a charity in their will. Most studies report that less than 9% of all people who have wills include a charity. More shockingly, less than 50% of all adult Americans even have a will or a trust.
Without a will, the government gets to decide who inherits how much of your estate. Even if your intention is only to take care of your loved ones-charities not included-it is wise to make your wishes legally known.
If everyone who has ever been involved with or will be involved with a charity made a will, and every one of those wills provided that a mere 2% of each estate would benefit the charity, every charity would be able to have sustainable futures.
How much of a future? Michael Rose, in his blog Michael Rosen Says, offers a Bequest Potential Worksheet )http://michaelrosensays.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/how-much-could-your-planned-giving-program-be-worth/) that if fundraising is your responsibility is worth the investment of time to fill out. And if the potential is there, then considering how to put planned giving front and center is a worthwhile effort.
Perhaps more importantly, bequests are a valuable way to build an endowment.
Endowments, of course, are funds where the donated amount is not spent but is invested. The income (or some percentage of the income) is then available for use.
Marketing endowment giving is difficult. And for organizations where the present is tenuous, thinking about endowment is that much harder. But bequests tend to be un-expected gifts. They are the one piece of the pie we cannot use for budgeting. So putting these "windfalls" in our endowments makes perfect sense.
Besides, people who do remember your organization in their wills are planning to "leave a legacy." Allow them to accomplish that by endowing their generosity.
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Have Your Say
Inquiring minds do want to know--what is on your mind?
Send me your article (200-2,000 words) on any topic of interest to those who work for or with nonprofit organizations. |
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Are your fundraising results down? Board members bored? Or are thinking about a campaign? Whatever your capacity building needs, Janet Levine Consulting can help. Email or give me a call at 310-990-9151 to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.
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