July 6, 2018

One of the more challenging aspects of the deadline-oriented world of grant writing is taking the time to step away from work for a vacation.

At Elevate we wholeheartedly believe that vacation is important, and we encourage staff to use their vacation time as they please. Furthermore, when on vacation, we encourage staff to truly disconnect from work and avoid checking email or taking work-related phone calls. But doing this successfully – and without negatively impacting our clients and colleagues – requires some planning and preparation.

By doing a bit of planning ahead prior to their vacation, nonprofit professionals can comfortably step away from their work without leaving their colleagues to struggle in their absence. We’ve outlined some of our vacation planning best practices below. Regardless of your organization’s size and structure, these steps will help your staff adequately plan for their time away, anticipate challenges that may arise, and provide contingencies for unforeseen circumstances.

Vacation Planning Steps

• First things first: request time off through the appropriate channels (we use BambooHR for all our time-off requests) and provide plenty of notice. Confirm that your vacation request is approved before making travel plans.
• Discuss your plans for vacation with your supervisor and identify specific areas of support you and/or your teams may need.
• Inform your colleagues and teams in advance about your vacation plans. Elevate’s internal rule of thumb for a vacation lasting one week is to give one month’s notice to your teams about your planned absence. If a major deadline or project falls during your planned vacation, additional notice may be appropriate.
• Review your meeting schedule and identify any important meetings that are scheduled while you are away. Where appropriate, develop a plan for any meetings scheduled during your vacation. This might include rescheduling check-ins with team members and supervisor, and identifying whether you will miss an all-staff or larger team meeting.
  • If you typically lead a meeting that is scheduled for while you are out, you will generally have two options: 1) Reschedule or 2) Prep your team to carry on in your absence. If meetings are to be rescheduled, you should provide as much notice as possible. If meetings are to go on in your absence, we recommend preparing agendas and talking points with your team in advance of your departure. If you are comfortable having a colleague lead the meeting, ensure that they have the information and resources they need, as well as talking points about how to address decisions they are not comfortable making in your absence. (For example, “I’ll flag that for Jill as soon as she returns from vacation next week.”)
• Remember to set an out of office message that indicates the dates you will be out of the office and who to contact if something urgent comes up while you are away.
• After your vacation, review your to-do list (we use Asana for internal task management) and touch base with your team members to recap what took place while you were away!

Additional Considerations for Grant Writers

• Deadline planning: Review your grant calendar(s) and identify deadlines during and immediately after your vacation.
  (Don’t have a grants calendar? Check out our blog post on how to create one for your organization!)
• Draft and submission planning: Plan ahead for any drafts or submissions that are due during and immediately following your vacation. As much as possible, work ahead to prepare drafts in advance of your vacation. With your supervisor and/or team, develop a plan for drafts that will need to be drafted, revised, or submitted while you are away. If you are asking a colleague to assist with any drafts in your absence, provide them with ample notice that you will need their help. Make sure your team has all the information needed to manage any submissions that may need to take place while you are out.

What other tips do you have for successful vacation planning? Share them with us on Facebook, and join the conversation!

One of our goals at Elevate is to create a culture of continuous learning for our staff, and one of the best ways to do that is by regularly sharing feedback.

Since regular feedback is closely linked to employee engagement, we recognize that the more insight we give our team members into where they are doing well and where they could improve, the better we can work together.

At Elevate, Directors are primarily responsible for leading client teams, which presents a range of challenges and opportunities around sharing feedback, offering constructive criticism, and fostering the team’s overall growth. Recently, Elevate’s Team Directors got together as a group to discuss their role in sharing and receiving feedback on their teams. Here we are sharing some of the key takeaways from that conversation, as well as links to other resources that may be helpful for anyone wanting to incorporate more regular feedback-sharing into their work relationships.

As team leaders, how do we navigate the reality that we don’t always have the full picture of our supervisees’ workload?

The reality is that no supervisor goes into a feedback conversation knowing their employee’s entire life story. In any company, there may be a variety of personal or professional reasons why someone may be approaching their work in a way that doesn’t align with your expectations as their supervisor.

The key to giving any type of feedback is to approach it as a conversation, not as a directive. Explain what you have observed your colleague is doing well or could improve on, and then ask them how they would approach that situation in the future. By approaching this as a conversation, you don’t risk giving someone advice that doesn’t make sense for their overall situation.

For example, perhaps someone got hit with a complex editing process on another client and couldn’t put as much time or attention into their work on your team. By asking them to share their thoughts about why a particular work product wasn’t as strong as it could have been, you give that person an opportunity to provide the context you need to find a solution together.

How do I give good feedback?

Okay, so maybe no one at the meeting asked this question verbatim, but here’s an answer anyway! Research and years of management best-practices suggest that the most helpful feedback — whether positive or constructive — has the following characteristics:

Clear & Concise

• Providing feedback can feel very challenging, so our instinct can be to ramble. That makes it difficult for recipient to understand the issue, which is actually a much worse experience than simply hearing some constructive feedback. Plan ahead so you know exactly what you want to communicate.
• Avoid the compliment sandwich. While it can feel easier to squeeze in constructive feedback between two positive comments, this structure has a tendency to make people doubt the validity of the positive feedback while also potentially losing clarity, about what they need to improve.
• Don’t let a negative response pull you off your main point. It can be tempting to try and soften the impact of what you are trying to communicate when someone has a hard time hearing the information. Be kind, but clear!

Owned

• Use “I” statements – make it about your experience and observation of the behavior and do not insert your own subjective opinion. i.e. “I’ve noticed that the past 2 drafts got to me a few days after the internal deadline, which can make it difficult for me to turn around edits in time for the client to review.” rather than “it seems like you’re not planning ahead enough to meet our internal deadlines.”
• Be clear about how the work or behavior you have observed has impacted you and your team — don’t try to extrapolate out to other situations.

• Avoid blaming someone else. While it’s tempting to frame feedback as something we “have to do to make [some other internal or external party] happy,” that can actually be a pretty demotivating way to communicate the need for extra effort or attention in a particular area. Instead, take ownership of your request, and be open to feedback that maybe there’s another way to achieve the same goal.

Regular

• Check-ins are critical for providing regular feedback. If you incorporate reciprocal feedback into your regular meetings, it will feel more natural and support stronger collaboration over time. It also makes remembering to share positive feedback a lot easier!
• Feedback is time-sensitive. Nobody likes to hear that they’ve been doing something right or wrong for six months before anyone mentioned something! If you see something worthy of either positive or negative feedback, bring it up at the first opportunity.

Balanced

• Balance positive feedback with constructive feedback
• It typically takes hearing positive feedback 7 times as much as it takes for negative feedback to 1 time
• Important to include what team member is doing well, even if you think it is obvious or feel like there are bigger issues to tackle on other client teams.

Specific

• The more specific your feedback is, the better it is for your colleague’s professional growth. For example, feedback is far more useful when it sounds like: “I noticed that you faced some challenges answering this question in the last proposal. Can I show you how I would have approached that part of the narrative?” rather than, “You could improve your drafting skills.”
• This is also important for positive feedback – e.g. saying “great work” – does not provide specific feedback on what they can continue to build on in the future. It doesn’t help someone develop their skills professionally or build self-awareness about their key strengths.

This is great – but I don’t want to scare my team members by suddenly giving them a ton more feedback that I have been up until now.

We all struggle to make feedback part of our day-to-day work! The key is to be transparent with your team members about wanting to incorporate feedback into your work together. Here are some quicks steps to take to make this happen:

1. Let them know that you are working on giving and receiving feedback more regularly and would like to make it part of your work together.
2. Clarify that you’d like their feedback as well. Consider asking them for input on your work first, a system a lot like the Management Center’s 2X2 structure. Be sure to respond to the feedback you receive — if people feel like what they say is repeatedly ignored, they’ll stop giving us the information we need to improve our work.
3. Ask how they would like to receive feedback. Some people respond better when they receive feedback in writing, others don’t want to dwell on something before they discuss it with you. Either way, don’t assume others prefer to receive feedback the same way you do.
4. When you do offer feedback to someone, demonstrate that you want to support them in their professional growth in addition to sharing where you think they need to grow. Improving our work takes time and support, and being a partner to your colleagues during this process can only help.

MORE RESOURCES!

• Did you know employees receiving predominantly negative feedback from their manager are over 20 times more likely to be engaged than those receiving little or no feedback? (Gallup, 2009)
• In addition to these general guidelines, we recommend using models like SAW or AID so you can get into the practice of structuring clear feedback conversations.
• It turns out that we struggle to receive constructive feedback because we are all so bad at giving it. Our very real, physio-emotional response is uncomfortable and can actually make us subtly restructure our social networks at work to avoid people who give us that constructive feedback. Check out the WorkLife TEDx Podcast “How to Love Criticism” by Adam Grant for more information.

May 11, 2018

Mother’s Day is this Sunday May 13, and to celebrate, we want to take this opportunity to recognize and celebrate the many ways our clients and partners are making a difference in the lives of mothers in their communities, and beyond.

At Elevate, we believe in supporting programs and policies that serve mothers in meaningful ways. We do this as an employer, through parental leave and flexible work schedule policies that give staff the support and flexibility they need to be present for their families. But one of the most transformative ways we are able to support mothers is by partnering with nonprofit organizations whose work makes a positive impact on the lives of moms and their families.

By providing everything from wraparound services, to financial tools and resources, to accessible housing, to legal services, these organizations work tirelessly to create meaningful opportunities for moms and families who need them most. The list below illustrates just some of the ways our clients and their programs support mothers of all kinds. We invite you to join us in recognizing and appreciating their work!

Greater DC Diaper Bank

Greater DC Diaper Bank works to empower mothers and families throughout the DC region by providing a reliable and adequate source of basic baby needs and personal hygiene products. Through their four unique programs, Greater DC Diaper Bank collects the essential supplies and products families need to be safe, happy, and healthy — and helps distribute them to families in need. Additionally, through their newest project, The Monthly, Greater DC Diaper Bank collects donated tampons and pads, and works with nearly forty nonprofit organizations in the region to distribute them to the people who need them.

Save a Child’s Heart

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is an Israeli-based international nonprofit organization with special consultative status granted by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (ECOSOC). SACH was founded with the mission of improving the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children in developing countries, and creating centers of competence in these countries. All children who come from outside of Israel for treatment are invited to stay at the Children’s Home, a pluralistic, multi-lingual environment that allows children and families to recover in a supportive community. The home accommodates SACH children and their caregivers (often mothers or aunts) and includes a children’s playground, a backyard garden, toys and games for the children, and all modern amenities.

Life Asset

Life Asset works to help alleviate poverty in the Washington DC metropolitan area by empowering people through affordable financial products, services, and education. They provide microloans, financial and business training, networking opportunities, and office and retail space—all of which help promote self-reliance and self-respect, and expand social and economic opportunities for low income individuals.

Life Asset’s work impacts not only the individuals they serve — 80% of whom are women — but also their families, friends, and the community at large. For example: by supporting 40-50 home daycares, Life Asset not only provides a sustainable source of income for entrepreneurs, but this investment also ensures that parents in their communities have the reliable childcare they need to retain a job and support their families.

Hope and a Home

Hope and a Home is a local nonprofit in the District of Columbia whose mission is to empower low-income families with children in D.C. to create stable homes of their own and to make lasting changes in their lives. Their long term vision is to break the cycle of poverty for qualified families through their programs and services. Among Hope and a Home’s core beliefs is the idea that stable housing, educational success, rewarding work, and a connection to one’s community are invaluable to every family’s development. As such, they embrace a holistic approach as the most effective way to achieve lasting change for children and their families.

Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County

Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King County (Habitat SKC) builds families’ strength, stability, and self-reliance through shelter, building new homes to create affordable homeownership opportunities for low-income families and supporting low-income homeowners and communities through home repairs and education. Being able to afford a safe, stable home to call your own is particularly important for parents with children. Of the more than 1,776 people Habitat SKC has helped shelter in its organizational history, 995 of them have been children.

Many of Habitat SKC’s partner families are headed by hardworking single mothers looking to ensure a brighter future for their children. When Elevate’s Habitat SKC client team were in Seattle last November on a site visit, they had the privilege of attending a home dedication ceremony for one of those partner families — watching as a U.S. Army veteran and a single mother of two cut the ribbon with her kids on their brand new home just in time for the holidays!

Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania

Volunteers of America has served the people of Pennsylvania since 1896, the same year our nationwide movement began with the promise to “go wherever we are needed, and do whatever comes to hand.” Their innovative human services directly address the quality of life in Pennsylvania by meeting the material, emotional and spiritual needs of individuals; by strengthening families, and by building healthier, more productive, and more compassionate communities for all.

The VOA Children’s Center in Allentown provides accredited, high quality early childhood education and care to underserved families in Allentown, enabling mothers and other caregivers to pursue their own education or career. VOA also supports a number of homeless moms who seek shelter in their Ruth’s Place women’s shelter, by helping them to obtain stable housing so they can reunite with their children. Additionally, they provide case management and a baby pantry for moms through our Caring Alternatives program. Finally, their All of Us Care program in Pittsburgh also provides an after-school option for mothers who need a safe place for their kids to go until they get home from work or school.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence

The mission of the Brady organization is to create a safer America by cutting gun deaths in half. The Brady Center’s ASK (Asking Saves Kids) campaign is an important component of this mission, and empowers parents to ask the simple question, “Is there an unlocked gun in your home?” before sending children over to play. In partnership with organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and National Parent Teacher Association, The Brady Center provides a variety of resources full of compelling facts and pointers to help parents begin these discussions with their networks.

Children’s Law Center

Children’s Law Center (CLC) fights so every DC child can grow up with a loving family, good health and quality education. As part of this mission, CLC meets—and works closely with—amazing, dedicated moms every day. When we asked the CLC team if we could highlight their work in honor of Mother’s Day, that’s who they immediately thought of—the moms who work so hard to advocate for their families.

They shared just a couple of scenarios of DC moms as powerful advocates for their families. Like moms everywhere, the moms who CLC works with help their children with homework, stay home from work when their kids are too sick to go to school, and rush them to the doctor when their child is ill. But CLC says their moms are extra special because they have to stand up to teachers and landlords who often ignore them. For example, CLC often works with moms who have done everything they can to get their child the educational support necessary to address a learning disability, but the school refuses to help. In these cases, CLC attorneys partner with the parent, taking legal action to fight for the child’s education. CLC also works with moms trying to get the landlord and government agencies to turn heat on in the winter or clean up the mold caused by leaky pipes. They join forces with the mom to force landlords to make critical repairs to protect her family. The list could go on.

The takeaway? Moms are fierce advocates for their families. Moms are often the ones fighting for their family’s health and education. Moms inspire us and the CLC team every day.

JANUARY 18, 2018

In the grant writing world, there is understandably a huge emphasis placed on writing a compelling narrative. However, it is also important to think of grants as packages composed of several components, all of which call for careful thought, planning, and tracking.

First, there is the list of requirements for each submission – what information is required, and how it needs to be formatted and presented; there are the attachments, which often need to be gathered and updated from various corners of the office (see our best tips for keeping them organized); and even the narrative itself often includes sections written by several different team members. A process-oriented approach that treats your grant as a complete package with moving parts that all need attention will not only strengthen the grant’s narrative, but will lead to a stronger overall grant application.

Through the Grants Coordinator and Project Coordinator roles on our teams, Elevate adds a layer of project management approach to the grant writing process that emphasizes the creation, management, and adherence to internal deadlines. This more systematic approach to grant writing helps our teams manage multiple grant deadlines at once, which allows us and the nonprofit organizations we work with to build out robust, well-organized grants calendars.

Below are four ways to systematize the grant writing process to strengthen your grant package, and reduce stress:

1. Pull the application questions first

Before you begin drafting any content, pull the application questions from each specific funder’s website, template, or online portal – and save them in outline form. Though this may seem like a redundant or even unnecessary step, it allows you to see every piece you need to plan for, as well as which narrative components may require input from different staff members. Are there statistics or program outcomes that a certain program staff will need to provide? This step will help you plan ahead and build in enough time to collect the data you need.

2. Create an attachment needs table

Create a table that lists all the required attachment for the grant. This table should include a note of where the attachment can be found, and who may have it. Will you need a program budget? An audit from a specific fiscal year? Letters of support from partners? If the funder allows for supplemental materials, also include any additional collateral you may want to include in your application packet such as media articles, annual reports, and images.

3. Set a timeline for gathering all the pieces

Once you have listed out the various components of your grants package –and noted where to find them–it is time to create a timeline for the compilation of your grant package. Be sure to consider the following as you put together your timeline:

• Prioritize any materials that you may need to procure externally. For example, letters of support from partners or a Certificate of Good Standing from your local government.
• Assign tasks to appropriate team members well in advance.
• Think about how long it may take for various team members to produce certain materials. Be sure to consider each team member’s schedule, workload, and work style.
• Allocate ample time to assemble all the components of your grant package and double check that everything is up-to-date, present, and accounted for.

4. Have one person be responsible for the management and adherence to internal deadlines

It is futile to create a timeline if its deadlines aren’t closely followed. Adhering to internal deadlines is easiest when one person takes the lead on monitoring the timeline. This can be done through task management software (at Elevate we use Asana), project management tools such as Gantt tables, or something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet. No matter which tool you choose, be sure to regularly check on your timeline and gently remind team members of upcoming tasks.

There is no worse feeling than realizing at the last minute that you may not be able to submit a grant because you do not have your adequate time to collect a required letter of support, or that your narrative could have been significantly strengthened if you had built in time to add a programmatic statistic or anecdote. The systematization of the grant writing process, and the implementation, management and adherence to internal deadlines, mitigates the risk of a last-minute grants-related crisis. It creates safeguards that allow you to thoroughly think through every aspect of your grant submission, and ensure that you deliver the strongest possible application to potential funders.

December 11, 2017

For some nonprofits, corporate contributions are the saving grace that powers their operations.

Small nonprofits may receive a check from a local business that helps them get off the ground, or plan a major event. Large nonprofits often attract large corporate donations and sponsorships that sustain their programming year after year – in 2016, 68% of Feeding America’s cash budget came from corporate contributions and promotions.

Corporate contributions have a number of benefits over foundation funding: reporting requirements for corporate contributions are often less onerous than foundation reports, and can lessen the administrative load for nonprofit staff; and corporations may provide a source of unrestricted funds, which may be difficult to obtain from foundation sources.

While many nonprofits embrace corporate contributions as a business’s responsibility to the public, some fundraising professionals and board members may feel a sense of apprehension about accepting corporate donations, particularly when the corporation may have negative associations in their field of work. Should a health and wellness organization accept donations from a food and beverage company that has contributed to the obesity health crisis? Should an environmental conservation group refuse to accept donations from companies known to dodge emissions regulations? Are organizations morally obligated one way or the other – to either accept these donations as an earnest effort to improve relations and well-being within the community, or to reject these donations as a conflict of interest?

While there is no right-or-wrong standard for accepting corporate contributions, this post will address some common apprehensions and provide a number of perspectives on the issue.

Corporate Social Responsibility

In the 1960s when the idea of “corporate social responsibility” was first widely popularized, William Frederick, a professor of business and society, defined corporate social responsibility as a willingness to use economic and human resources not just for the narrow interests of private firms and persons, but more broadly for enhancing total social-economic welfare. Now in 2017, most large corporations have corporate social responsibility (CSR) departments, and produce yearly reports on their efforts. Businesses often attempt to enhance social welfare not just through internal operations (i.e., promoting diversity through hiring practices, creating more sustainable operations, etc.), but by supporting nonprofits primarily in the communities where they operate.

Other perspectives on corporation’s social responsibilities have been more prescriptive: H. Gordon Fitch argued that the role of CSR should not broadly be to solve benefit social welfare, but the “serious attempt to solve social problems caused wholly or in part by the corporation.” Based on this understanding, companies’ giving should reflect the social challenges created (intentionally or unintentionally) by their operations.

While many corporations fund areas related to their work, few select funding areas that acknowledge the potential social problems created by their corporate strategy. For example, Coca Cola will fund “active healthy living” programs, but has backed away from funding healthy diet- or obesity-related initiatives in recent years. Instead, many corporations have opted for “strategic philanthropy” that improve their competitive context – such as Cargill’s programs that fund research to improve agricultural productivity and nutrition.

Regardless of the company’s motives for creating a philanthropic fund, many nonprofit and fundraising professionals consider corporate giving a win-win situation. Nonprofits and their beneficiaries benefit from the funds provided, creating an increase in social good, while corporations benefit from the goodwill and name-recognition that typically goes along with donations to charitable causes. Though rarely does anyone consider corporate contributions to be purely philanthropic, few are bothered by the idea of mutual benefit for nonprofits and corporations.

On the other side, some nonprofits (including policy or law-based organizations) reject corporate contributions in an attempt to remain completely independent from corporate influence. More radically, others believe that corporate donations reduce public pressure on a company to improve potentially harmful practices, or that corporate giving policies are a band-aid solution that ends up creating more inequality – rather than an increase in social good – by avoiding real changes within corporations that would distribute wealth among workers more equitably. But with companies experiencing ever-increasing pressure from stakeholders to drive up profits, changes to corporate structures that don’t benefit the bottom line can seem a distant reality.

Establishing Your Nonprofits’ Stance

Whatever your philosophy about corporate giving, establishing a corporate contributions policy with your board is widely considered a best practice, and can prevent any potential problems down the road. Below are a couple questions we recommend discussing with your board, as a starting point for developing this policy:

Are there any types of corporations we are not willing to accept contributions from?

Some nonprofits choose not to accept or solicit donations from companies that contradict or negatively impact their work or mission. For example, the Environmental Defense Fund’s corporate donation policy prohibits them from accepting contributions from companies involved in: automobiles, chemicals, electric utilities, forestry, fishing, mining, nuclear power, oil/gas, pulp/paper, tobacco, waste management or weapons. Other organizations may be more liberal – accepting contributions from all, or only restricting donations from one or two categories. Some organizations place independence above all, and accept none. The extent to which your nonprofit restricts its corporate contributions will likely depend on your area of work – the Environmental Defense fund is more subject to potential attempts to influence its initiatives and policy work than an organization providing basic needs, and will be subject to greater scrutiny of its independence. In the end, a good guideline is: if you’re not comfortable with the company’s name on your website, t-shirts, or policy products, they are probably not a good partner for your organization. Speaking of…

What are we willing to provide corporations with in terms of name recognition and volunteer opportunities?

Corporations will often request a description of how their contribution will be recognized. Common methods include posting the corporation’s name and logo on your organization’s website, providing a shout-out on social media or in a monthly newsletter, or publically recognizing the contribution at an event. These requirements for recognition will likely be written into your grant agreement with the corporation, so be sure to read these carefully – and don’t be afraid to push back on any requirements that may not align with your abilities or wishes. And if you do accept the contribution – here are a couple ways to say “thanks!”

Additionally, corporations are often looking for volunteer opportunities (and photo opportunities!) for employees. If your company regularly scheduled group volunteer opportunities, this could be a benefit; however, if volunteers aren’t a primary part of your work, arranging a volunteer day could potentially be taxing for your staff.

What type of corporate contributions are we able to accept?

While cash donations are most common, some corporate contributions – namely donations of land, vehicles, or other property – can have tax and legal implications that smaller nonprofits may find difficult to navigate. Other in-kind donations may not make sense for your organization, if you don’t have the space to store, resources to maintain, or a practical need for the donation. While turning down a gift may seem like a faux pas when working to build a corporate relationship, kindly declining or suggesting an equivalent cash donation will be better in the long run than dealing with, say, a room full of outdated computers.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, whether you choose to accept corporate contributions – and if so, what kind – is between you and your board of directors. While the need to meet budget expectations is a constant source of pressure, organizations should carefully weigh both the risks and real benefits of aligning themselves with corporate sponsors.

For best practices for accepting both corporate and foundation giving, check out our post on developing a gift policy.

NOVEMBER 2, 2017

For organizations just starting explore the world of foundation fundraising and grant applications, the intricacies of attachments and additional proposal elements can be downright intimidating.

For almost all foundations, it isn’t enough to submit a compelling narrative and clearly defined goals—you’ll also need to be able to back up your words with budgets, financial statements, board lists, diversity tables, logic models, funder lists, and more. Remarkably, gathering these components can be daunting for both small and large organizations, as you will either be responsible for gathering everything yourself or need to coordinate documentation from multiple departments within your organization.

Despite this foreboding picture, supplementing winning proposals with strong supporting material doesn’t need to be a puzzle of PDFs, spreadsheets, and constantly outdated staff lists. All it takes is an intentional focus on staying organized and a commitment to making the effort to file items properly the first time. As an added bonus, taking these steps consistently and gathering the required attachments ahead of a deadline can strengthen your program design and help further your goals.

Below are some tips to help you keep all your documents organized and up to date:

1. Keep everything in one place.

Nobody wants to dig through all their emails or sift through folders to find that 990 from last year. It’s really easy to create an Attachments folder within your Dropbox or shared drive so that when it comes time to pull together a proposal, you know where everything is.

2. Create an organizational system that works for you, and is comprehensible to others at your organization.

A good starting point is making a folder for each type of attachment (budgets, board list, funders, etc). I’m a big proponent of fine tuning tools or systems to meet your individual needs, but be sure that whatever you choose is either clear enough that someone else could easily follow it or is possible to explain to others. It couldn’t hurt to create a basic user guide or other form of documentation for your coworkers to reference.

3. Use clear file names (with dates!).

To build on that last point, make sure that your naming conventions are clear and consistent, so that they can be easily understood at a glance. I’ve found it’s helpful to include at least and month and year in the name of the file, especially with items that may need to be regularly updated. BONUS TIP: If your files are arranged alphabetically, adding 0- to the beginning of the name will always sort it to the top.

4. Keep a ‘current’ and ‘archive’ folder for each attachment.

This is especially useful and important for those documents that get updated regularly, like funder lists. We’d recommend creating both a CURRENT and an ARCHIVED folder for each, saving as new version of each document in the “current” folder each time you update it, and moving the old one to the “archive” folder. By combining this step with the previous step about including date in your file names, you’ll never have to second guess whether you have the most up-to-date file.

5. Create checklists to stay on track:

As in all things, a list is a great way to keep track of all the moving parts, especially if you’re working on multiple proposals at the same time. In that case, putting your attachment lists side by side can help you cross off multiple items at once.

6. Think a few steps ahead.

The trick to avoiding a late-game scramble to gather all your attachments is thinking ahead! As a good rule of thumb, you should be thinking about what attachments you will need and where to find them at the same time as you are thinking about drafting the proposal. Thinking ahead also applies to updating your documents – updating your funding list as you receive funding will save you from the scramble of making those updates (and hoping you didn’t miss any!) when it’s time to gather attachments for an upcoming deadline.

OCTOBER 19, 2017

Board involvement is essential to organizational advancement, especially when it comes to institutional fundraising.

Members of your organization’s Board of Directors may be able to help identify philanthropists or foundation staff that they meet in their professional circles or at networking events, or by promoting their organizations among new funders through emails and meetings. These connections and personal introductions can be invaluable in the grant seeking process, but it’s equally important to set your Board members up for success by giving them what they need to help you in return.

Below are some specific ways Board members can play a role in the success of your grants program, along with some suggestions for how Development staff can equip them for success.

Stages of Board Cultivation in the Grant Seeking Process

1. Identify Prospective Funders

Development staff can prepare board members for success by sharing the staff and board lists of potential funders—including private foundations, corporate charitable giving, or occasionally “giving circles” operated by volunteers—regularly to leverage existing connections. Some boards prefer to share these intermittently via email, while others will compile lists to share and review during regular board or committee meetings.

Board members have a few options to quickly review their networks. An active LinkedIn network can be immensely helpful, but don’t forget about other social sites like Facebook, Twitter, or alumni associations.

2. Determine Strongest Existing Person-to-Person Connection

At this stage, opportunities for Board support may be broadly described as “access”. Along with their time and talent, robust personal networks are one of the greatest assets a Board member can lend to a nonprofit organization. If a board member knows someone or feels comfortable calling on a mutual acquaintance to set up an introductory meeting, this step can go a long way to improve the likelihood of an accepted proposal.

As staff share lists of foundation personnel or board members who are involved in the funding decision-making process, board members should dedicate time to review to determine whether they have any primary or secondary connections. LinkedIn can be a great tool for this—as well as Facebook or Twitter—but also consider other networks like alumni associations, other boards they might serve on, previous employers, current colleagues, etc.

Even in the sometimes-impersonal area of institutional fundraising, people want to work with people they know and trust. It is human nature to be more likely to respond to an email or return a call from a friend or a trusted colleague, as opposed to an unexpected cold call.

3. Leveraging Relationships to Introduce Your Organization

Staff or board connections are ideal, but occasionally—particularly corporate funders with charitable opportunities—simply finding someone who works tangentially with the target funder can be very helpful.

For example, most financial institutions are required to give a certain amount of revenue to support charitable activities. Many of these application processes are open to all requests, and often ask if the applicant organization has an employee connection. However, proposals that include a contact’s name may be more likely to advance in the review process.

Even if an organization can’t find an immediate connection to the person who reviews applications for funding requests, listing a person who is familiar with your work (e.g. VP of Community Relations, a branch manager, account manager, board member of the bank itself, a long-term volunteer, etc.), they can act as an “internal champion” for your organization. This is incredibly helpful! Sometimes this means that the proposal reviewer may call or meet with this person to ask a few questions or get their general impression of the applicant, other times the board member or development staff may share an email template describing the organization’s work as sort of an informal “letter of support “that the contact can forward to the proposal reviewer.

Sometimes, even if you identify a contact with whom you have a strong relationship, they may not always feel comfortable being this “internal champion”. Either they are new at their organization, they don’t know a lot about you, or perhaps they feel like they’ve already used up their influence advocating for another organization. That’s okay! Consider an easier request that doesn’t ask quite so much of the person, such as simply introducing you to the staff involved in the charitable giving department or simply sharing the name/email/contact info of that staff member so development staff can reach out directly.

This process is also helpful for corporations who have Community Social Responsibility or charitable giving departments and many law firms.

Sample Questions for Board Members to Ask Contacts:

• Do you know anyone at the Foundation or Corporate funder? If not directly, could you help us find a name or email, maybe in a staff directory?
• Can I tell you a bit more about our organization and the work we do in the community?
• What other sort of programs or projects does your organization prefer to support?
• Can I introduce you to our Executive Director or other staff?
• If we apply to this funder, would you feel comfortable if we included your name in our proposal?
• Does your organization require an invitation to apply? If so, can you tell me the process for getting the invitation?
• Can I sign you up for our email newsletter to keep you updated on our work?

4. Solicitation

Depending on the relationship, it may be appropriate for board members to join development staff on a call or with a meeting with their contact. This gives you a chance to learn a bit more about a funder’s priorities. Typically, unless board members feel strongly about their relationship with the contact, this is not the conversation to make the final “ask”. Usually, it’s a chance to talk with the funder and learn how to best position your request (e.g. typical request amount, priority giving areas and trends, program alignment, timing of application, etc.) Generally, the formal ask will be made in the form of a written proposal, submitted either through an online portal, by mail, or by email. Board members may wish to review this final proposal, especially if it includes their name as a direct connection to the funder, but most often this is not necessary.

OCTOBER 06, 2017

In the social justice lexicon, inclusion is defined as “authentically bringing traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities, and decision/policy making in a way that shares power” (H. Thomas and A. Hirsch, The Progressive’s Style Guide).

As grant writers and nonprofit professionals, we understand that language is a powerful tool when advocating for positive social change. In pursuit of this goal, it is critical that we understand the role of word choice in conveying a broad range of identities and perspectives. Various terminologies can be packed with assumptions— economic, social, cultural, and educational. It is essential when writing for social justice causes to be aware of these assumptions, which in turn helps us to embrace writing that combats discriminatory language and conveys an authentic sense of inclusivity.

Writing in a style that is inclusive and ethical is a skill. Like any skill, gaining facility and comfort with using inclusive terminology requires thoughtful, consistent practice. Though there are many approaches and schools of thought when it comes to inclusive writing, two core principles include:

1. People-First language

People- first language aims to make personhood the essential characteristic of every person. People- first language views other descriptive social identities that people may hold as secondary and non-essential. Though adhering to people-first language can lead to awkward sentence constructions, it is critical to center people rather than their circumstances as the heart of your storytelling.

Examples:

• “Children from low-income backgrounds” vs. “low-income children”
• “Formerly incarcerated person” vs. “ex-offender”

2, Self-Identification

Inclusive writing, as much as possible, should strive to include language that respects peoples’ choice and style in how they talk about themselves. By using language that reflects how people self-identify, you respect aspects of their culture, agency, and spirit and lend power to their voices. If you are unsure of preferred terminology, research the most current discourse on the topic using such resources as the Disability Style Guide and An Ally’s Guide to Terminology.

Examples:

• “Individual with a physical disability” vs. “handicapped”
• “People of color” vs. “minorities”
• “Transgender person” vs. “transgendered”

Understanding and committing to these principles is the first step in working towards writing in a style that consistently incorporates inclusive language. Of course, language evolves and appropriate terminology is shaped by the continued larger conversation around social justice, intersectionality, and what authentic inclusivity entails in practice. As much as using the “right” terms or words is something we all work towards, it is equally important to foster a climate of open communication and demonstrate a willingness to learn.

As you work towards developing a writing style that features inclusivity, remember to keep an open mind, keep resources close at hand, and – most of all – keep learning!

Suggested Resources

The Progressive’s Style Guide

Racial Equity Resource Guide Glossary

An Ally’s Guide to Terminology

The Disability Style Guide

The Social Justice Phrase Guide

JUNE 13, 2017

In the grant writer’s world of deadlines and word counts, it can be easy to forget that fundraising is about building relationships. And just like any relationship, the grantee-grantor relationship takes work.

When advising clients about strategies to cultivate and steward prospective or current donors, I like to encourage them to be “pleasantly persistent” in communicating with their point of contact. It is a fine balance: you want to come across as personable, credible, and eager to collaborate without being obnoxious. It’s a lot like dating, really.

Sometimes after an introductory meeting with a foundation there is a mutual desire to keep in touch, but no clear opportunity to submit a funding request at the current point in time. Or perhaps you have an existing donor from which you hope to secure a renewal grant next year. In both cases, it is important to stay on their radar.

Here are five suggestions for ways to be “pleasantly persistent” and keep your point of contact interested in your organization’s work to secure that invitation to apply or upgraded renewal grant next year.

1. Keep them engaged, and add a personal touch.

Invite your point of contact to your organization’s annual conference or any other relevant events you have throughout the year. Send a personal invitation – not just the standard email everyone receives – and always offer to comp the registration fee. For conferences with multiple sessions to choose from, offer a personalized itinerary with suggestions for which sessions she may be most interested in attending (be sure those sessions are likely to have the best speakers and most relevant content!) When at the event, remember to be a good host. Be sure that your contact is engaged and having a good time. If you are too busy coordinating the event, assign a staff member to thank her for attending.

2. Share relevant news.

When you come across an article that involves your shared professional interests, or if you or your organization are featured in an article, send your point of contact a link via email. Include a short personal note indicating you thought he might be interested in the item. Perhaps new research has just been released on a topic of mutual interest, or you’ve just read a magazine article that is relevant to a previous conversation you’ve had. Don’t overuse this tactic, and be sure the article or link is both recent and truly likely to be of interest to the recipient before hitting “send”.

3. Make sure they’re receiving key collateral (if they’re interested).

Share your organization’s newsletters or press releases – but only if they are truly newsworthy and include information that is relevant to the funder’s interests. It is always a good idea to include a personal note indicating why you thought she may be interested in seeing the item.

4. Send personal updates as they happen.

Did you just snap a great photo of your program in action or hear a compelling new anecdote from a constituent? While you should absolutely include these in an annual grant report, you don’t have to wait for the report to let your funder know about the great work you are doing. Send a short email with a fun and interesting program update to keep your point of contact in the loop. If you are still in the cultivation phase and the funder has not yet contributed to your organization, this can be a great way to keep them informed of your good work in the community.

5. Ask for their insight.

In many cases, foundation program officers are experts in the field in which they are making philanthropic contributions, and they are almost always well connected within the philanthropic community through affinity groups and grantmaker associations. Don’t be afraid to ask for their advice. They may have good insight about potential collaborators in the field, new programmatic models, or professional development opportunities for you or your staff. People love being asked for their advice; this is a great way to get to know the person, demonstrate your desire to improve your program, and learn from their expertise.

Are you “pleasantly persistent” in cultivating and stewarding donors? What other strategies do you use to develop relationships with funders? We’d love to hear your ideas! Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

JUNE 1, 2017

Managing an annual grants calendar takes time, planning and thoughtfulness.

The calendar is an essential tool to keeping your grants program organized and strategic. But rather than expending all your resources and applying to every RFP under the sun, it’s important to be mindful of your short and long-term fundraising goals while remaining realistic and honest about your organization’s capacity to respond to RFPs throughout the fiscal year.

Below are six best practices to keep in mind that will help make your crazy year of deadlines feel more manageable and strategic!

1. Create a calendar

Sure, it sounds pretty obvious, but creating a calendar is the first step to keeping your grant program focused and manageable. Choose a format and management tool that makes sense for your organization and those who will be using the calendar on a regular basis. Spreadsheets are great and super customizable, or maybe your donor database software allows you export the data you need to build a funding calendar. If you want to capture greater detail over several fiscal years, perhaps consider investing in a more robust project management tool.

At Elevate, our teams use Salesforce to manage our clients’ calendars. Regardless of what type of platform you decide to go with, your calendar should include an overview of each month in your fiscal year that details deadlines, request information/amounts, strategic notes, application requirements and timeline/process, contact information, and tasks associated with the application. Using a well-integrated system to keep track of your daily tasks in conjunction with your grants calendar is a great way of ensuring you stay on top of deadlines!

2. Review past grants

Set aside some time towards the end of each fiscal year to review the grants you applied to that year, and to update your strategy. Consider how much time and effort went into each application and whether reapplying makes sense for your organization in the coming year. This step will also involve researching the foundations’ funding priorities for that year, to make sure the alignment with your programs is still strong. This is a great time to review your grants strategy to guarantee your time will be used to pursue opportunities that are well aligned with your work and meet your fundraising needs. If you’ve decided to not pursue an opportunity again, make sure to note the reason why. This will be extremely helpful in times of transition to prevent new staff from trying to figure out why you didn’t reapply to a grant you’ve been applying to for several years!

3. Start filling in hard grant and reporting deadlines

The easiest step in creating your calendar is starting off by adding the hard deadlines. These deadlines are the least likely to shift, so it provides a great starting point and allows you to see where there are gaps and chances to add rolling deadlines to your calendar. Speaking of rolling deadlines, be sure to include one or two in each month to allow yourself the space to respond to new RFPs that may be released throughout the year.

4. Research new funding opportunities

As you’re creating your new calendar, you might come across some funding gaps that you need to fill. Throughout the year, you should be researching new funding opportunities that are well aligned to these needs, as well as your larger mission and programs. Include the carefully vetted opportunities in your calendar, but be mindful of the staff time needed to apply to the grant and the chances of your organization receiving funding. You might find that these new prospects require an invitation to apply, but that shouldn’t hinder you from building in time into your calendar to cultivate a relationship with the funder.

5. Be realistic

Staff time and resources are incredibly valuable, so it doesn’t make sense to go for grants that you know your organization has no chance of winning.  It will always be better and more strategic to write 10 extremely compelling proposals that you will win than to spend time writing 20 average proposals. This also means that it is critical to remain honest and realistic about your organization’s capacity to take on new grants.  Of course, new and additional funds are great, but putting your organization in a situation where you can’t deliver on your promises is never ideal. When building your calendar, always keep in mind your mission, funding needs, and capacity.

6. Review and update your calendar throughout the year

The grant calendar is not a static document. Reevaluating and updating it throughout your fiscal year is important in making sure that it aligns with your organization’s evolving needs. Be sure to build in time into your schedule at least once a month to review upcoming deadlines, and which opportunities will require time and attention from you and other staff. Review your cultivation tasks to ensure you’re on top of everything so that your calendar doesn’t become unwieldy and you aren’t missing out on great opportunities!

Whether your organization has a robust existing grants calendar, or you’re just starting your foray into the institutional fundraising space, these best practices will help you implement a thorough and strategic system for staying on top of your existing grant deadlines, identifying new opportunities for funding, and maximizing your organization’s time and resources along the way.