However, many leaders view their function to be asking questions instead of dispensing answers. Continue reading Asking Questions – A Fundamental Leadership Skill
I wrote a post offering a quick way to get past a blank page using the here-it-is, ain’t-it-great, however, approach. That works for emergency situations, where you just have no idea at all where you are going.
If you have more time, here are four ways to get started: Continue reading Getting Past the Blank Page
The Linkedin Grant Writing Networking Group created this grant readiness checklist.
It is interesting, although I like my list better.
I have not cleaned up the obvious grammatical, structural, and punctuation errors. Continue reading Are You Ready to Apply for Grants?
Problogger published a podcast describing a technique to write better sales copy. While aimed at copywriters and bloggers, their technique has obvious uses in nearly every aspect of our communication with others. Of course, every communication involves selling something, even an idea, to someone. Continue reading Know Their Pain and Gain
Nonprofits start with the recognition of a problem, a vision of the problem solved, and a mission to achieve the vision and solve the problem. This is basis foundation for strategic planning and is the key to winning donors, grants, and volunteers. One of the biggest problems in grant applications is not properly stating the problem, or, more commonly, not stating the right problem.
Everything is driven by the definition of the problem. Once you get that right, the rest comes much more easily. But defining the problem is more complex than it looks. Continue reading How to Use the Cause Effect Chain
You have just completed the grant application, but need a cover letter. Or, You are starting to prepare a presentation to a gathering of potential donors. Or, you are offering a course in street-smarts. Or, you want to set up a world peace conference. Or, you want them to sign up for your newsletter.
You are facing the dreaded blank page. You know what message you want to convey, but that page is blank. Continue reading How to Get Past the Blank Page
In an earlier post, I mentioned that Logic Models describe a set of “If…Then…” statements, such as “If we teach 200 driving students, then there will be fewer auto accidents.” But how do I know this is true? Continue reading Prove Your Impact
There are lots of opportunities to apply for grants.
But grants require applications and applications take time, effort, and money.
Unless you have myriads of free grant writers sitting around, you can only apply for a finite number of grants. For most of us, that number is quite finite.
Resources spent pursing the wrong grant or losing the grant competition are resources wasted. So the most important decision you can make is, “Which grants do I invest in?” Continue reading Real – Win – Worth
We all want to sit down and start writing as soon as we get the grant guidelines, so we can demonstrate real progress. But this approach results in wasted time and effort and, in the worst case, failure to be awarded the grant. Continue reading Six Basic Questions to Answer Before You Apply for a Grant
As I mentioned in my post on The Big Picture, a Logic Model is a useful tool to bring clarity to strategic thinking. Logic Models provide a clear, direct, causal, link between strategies, inputs, actions, outputs, and outcomes, in a single package. Continue reading Use Logic Models for Clarity