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The sobering reality is that sometimes the sky really does fall. The challenges of everyday life in a nonprofit have little in common with the profound life-altering crisis of the current pandemic. This one’s going to test us all to our limit. Doing our best, whatever that may be in this new framework, is all we can do. An important part of that is preparing now so we will come out intact on the other side.

Some nonprofits always seem to be in the right place at the right time, standing shoulder to shoulder with other community organizations and reeling in grant awards one after another. What’s the story? Why are these nonprofits the darlings of every get-things-done project of every local school, community group, and municipal agency? When you see a nonprofit partnering intensely and successfully, you’re looking at an organization that values and cultivates community engagement.

When first diving into a high-quality funder research database, you’ll probably feel giddy with relief. With only a few clicks you can find “go” and “no-go” indicators to flush out those grantmakers most likely to support your work. But relief will soon morph into disappointment as one synopsis after another warns that the funder does not accept unsolicited proposals.

After submitting hundreds of grant proposals, it’s easy to get lackadaisical when completing yet another description of your nonprofit. But don’t do it! Pump yourself up and snap to, because the funder’s belief in the integrity and credibility of your organization will tip the scale for or against an award.

Your organization’s board of directors may be affable and effective, challenging, or down-right difficult, but love it or not, it has a role to play in grants administration. The board’s responsibility to oversee the financial and legal operations of your nonprofit place it at the epicenter of post-award management, but the board also has a role on the pre-award side.

Nearly sacred in their service, libraries are quiet temples of knowledge, safeguarding while sharing books and their new media counterparts. It's so easy to love libraries. Here at The Grantsmanship Center we’ve had the pleasure and honor to partner with library staff across the U.S. for almost half a century.

Funders want to hear your story–the narrative of what your organization does and how that work improves lives and strengthens the community. The story may be the hook, but unless you can back-up feel-good anecdotes with cold hard numbers your case for support won’t result in a grant.

Really, you’re not. It’s an old notion that was never right in the first place. To continue to move the field forward, let’s make sure our professional language evolves along with our skills and understanding. 

When hammering out the budget for a grant request, remember the Goldilocks Rule: If it’s too large or too small, it won’t do. It’s got to be just the right size to get the work done. The job of the budget is to support program implementation at a reasonable, professional level.

The strain of inadequate, insecure funding is exhausting and often sends nonprofits tilting at every windmill that might throw out a grant dollar. Every organization has its own pressure points and problems, but there are some commonalities throughout the sector.