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Thought-provoking piece on the role of grant writers in making an impact. Is your grant writer doing these things?

Grant Writers as Agents of Change Lately, I’ve engaged in multiple conversations with fellow grant professionals and colleagues in the nonprofit space about the issues and challenges facing our country right now. From to BLM to COVID-19 to the 2020 election, many things are changing and evolving in our world. And of course,...

Many funders are changing the way they do things in response to challenges resulting from the coronavirus. Here’s what some funders are doing.

My favorite funder responses so far to COVID-19 - National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy It’s still early in the COVID-19 crisis, yet many funders have already taken important steps to support grantees.

Over forty foundations have signed a pledge to provide more flexible funding to help their grantees meet emergency needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

We applaud these and all of other foundations out there who are responding quickly and with flexibility to their communities' needs.

Foundations Pledge Flexible Funding in Wake of COVID-19 Crisis Informed by the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, spearheaded by the Ford Foundation, and conducted in partnership with the Council on Foundations, the pledge calls on foundations and philanthropies to provide more flexible funding to grantees working to address the social and economic consequences....

The What is… Blog Series is designed to serve as a friendly entry point for readers who are new to federal grants. If you have a question about a federal grant requirement, it's likely it's already been answered on this blog.

“What Is a Grant?” – Grants.gov Community Blog In many cases, grant-making agencies will provide specific instructions about the makeup of the budget narrative.

Check out this piece on how nonprofits can (and should) collaborate to increase social impact.

Partner to Solve Social Problems; Stop Acting in Silos - Clairification

Great blog post by Grants.gov on how to use the grant budget narrative to advance your credibility.

http://bit.ly/2JCu56P

Essentially, integrity — honesty, virtue and morality — can make or break you in the professional world. And if you choose not to make it a priority, you risk getting stuck with a reputation for deceit.

Warren Buffett to MBA students: This is what 'sets apart a big winner from the rest of the pack' At a talk to MBA students from the University of Florida, Warren Buffett explains the secret to becoming the person everyone wants to hire and invest in.

Argentum Consulting updated their business hours.

Classy rounded up the top 10 TED Talks that can help you overcome apathetic attitudes, refine your leadership tactics, inspire action, and much more.

Top 10 TED Talks to Inspire Nonprofit Leaders | Classy Watch these top 10 TED Talks and learn how you can overcome apathetic attitudes, refine your leadership tactics, inspire action, and so much more.

The U.S. Department of Labor, in partnership with DRA and the Appalachian Regional Commission, has released $29.2 million in grant funding through the Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) program.

These grants will enable eligible applicants within the Appalachian and Delta regions to expand the impact of existing workforce development initiatives, as well as provide valuable career, training, and support services to eligible individuals in counties and parishes and/or areas currently underserved by other resources. These grants support workforce development activities that prepare dislocated workers, new entrants to the workforce, and incumbent workers for good jobs in high-demand occupations aligned with a regional or community economic development strategy.

To complement this federal initiative, DRA is hosting two technical assistance workshops to help DRA stakeholders prepare competitive applications for grant funding.

One is in Baton Rouge on June 6. Make sure you register below.

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Fantastic tips for defining and projecting the impact of a proposed project for grant applications.

Grant Writing: 3 Tips for Discussing Impact in Federal Grant Applications We continue our grant writing series with tips for defining and projecting the impact of a proposed project.

Great collection of advice on grant writing mistakes that we all make from time to time.

Avoid These Grant-Seeking Mistakes: Advice From Foundations and Seasoned Proposal Writers Program officers and fundraising consultants see a lot of really bad proposals. So we asked some of them to candidly identify the most common blunders that ensure a grant request is dead on arrival at a foundation.

When your job is to make the world a better place, it's easy to forget to take care of yourself and the people around you. But as long as we’re willing to put in the work, a happier, healthier organizational culture is within our grasp.

Avoiding Burnout and Building a Positive Organizational Culture How can your nonprofit balance the line between nonprofit burnout and high achievement? Two leaders suggest how to determine where your organizations stands in terms of work-life balance and how to foster a productive, balanced environment for continued success.

The federal grant application process is anything but simple. From searching for funding opportunities to submitting carefully crafted applications, there are complexities at every turn.

Grants.gov, the place where ALL federal grant opportunities live, now has a mobile app! Registered users can:

> Search for federal opportunities
> Track opportunities so you don't miss a deadline
> Subscribe to changes and add deadlines to your calendar
> And this is huge... You can submit applications right from your mobile device!

Mobile App – Grants.gov Community Blog Posts about Mobile App written by Grants.gov

LOVE this piece! Nonprofits are businesses, too, with normal overhead costs. Expecting that nonprofits, which often deal with society's most intractable issues, would have lower overhead rates, is unrealistic and actually hurts the nonprofit sector and their work.

How much does nonprofit burnout cost donors and investors? | Blue Cross Foundation Last week, we focused on burnout for those working in the nonprofit sector. This week, let’s take a look at what burnout costs, particularly for donors, investors and the impact of the nonprofit in the community. To set the stage,...

What if we thought of failure as just a data point that taught us something valuable for the next time a similar problem arises? In the grant writing world, a rejection by a funder shouldn’t be depressing. It’s just a message for you to revisit your project design, talk to the funder, build a relationship, or something else.

Treat Failure Like a Scientist - James Clear - Pocket I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friend, Beck Tench. During our chat, Beck told me about an interesting shift in thinking that occurred while she worked at a science museum. During her time there, Beck said that she learned how to treat failure like a scientist.

😒 😡 This has happened to me too many times to count. Not naming any names. Has it happened to you?

Navigating Funders’ Online Grants Management Systems What’s the true cost to nonprofits? If you’ve written a grant in the last year, chances are at least one of these things has happened to you. Your proposal is carefully crafted and ready to be uploaded and submitted.

Creative activity outside of work may help us perform at higher levels, increasing creative thought on the job, confidence, and offering a new perspective on a problem. In short - although you may be busy, spend time on your hobbies. In addition to enriching your personal life, they may also enhance your professional performance.

Why You Should Work Less and Spend More Time on Hobbies Creative pursuits will open up new perspectives and boost your confidence.

Happy New Year! This is your year to make of it what you will. Be purposeful, be driven, be innovative, and above all - be caffeinated!

Welcome back to work, you stunningly brilliant and attractive world-changer, you! My friends of the nonprofit sector. For many of you, this is your first week back at work after a much-deserved but all-too-brief period of rest. It is not a fun feeling, and not helped by the perk…

Make sure to take time for yourself over the holidays, nonprofit employees! It’s tempting to use your slack time productively, but taking a break will actually make you more effective in the long run. This article gives some tips about how you can unwind, and why you should in the first place.

How to quiet your overthinking brain enough to enjoy your holiday break Hi everyone, before we begin, check out this delightful video made by the Human Services Council in New York City. Similar to this NAF post, the video envisions a for-profit, here a pizza place, be…

Drum roll, please! We're so excited to share that our newly designed website us up, thanks to 423 Creative in Baton Rouge. Out with the old, in with the new!

Argentum Consulting

It’s getting closer to Halloween! Nothing like a scary story from the nonprofit world to usher in the fall.

7 nonprofit scary stories to tell in the dark Hi everyone. I usually don’t post more than once a week, but I love Halloween. It’s my favorite holiday. So here are some terrifying stories set in the sector. Read them, but beware, th…

We can help you with #2 on this list! Hint - Ask for more money!

7 game-changing things nonprofits can learn from for-profits A while ago, I read about Juicero, a wifi-connected juicing machine. It was originally $700, and you had to subscribe to these proprietary packets of cut-up fruit and veggies for $7 each. You put a…

Should you trust that research study you just read about?

How to Be a Smart Consumer of Social Science Research Don’t rely too much on any one study.

Great advice for nonprofit professionals!

The game of nonprofit is flawed. Learn to play it so you can change it. Every once a while, an up-and-coming nonprofit professional would ask me, “What advice would you give us folks who are just starting in the sector?” This is how you know that you yourself are no lo…

Great advice: "Whatever helps you see the big picture, don’t skip those things. Also, give yourself time after those activities to figure out how you’re going to translate your insights into specific plans and actions."

How to Focus on What’s Important, Not Just What’s Urgent

Meet our new intern, Sydney! She's super creative, as well as highly organized. She is a born project manager and one day she is going to run everything and we'll all be working for her. She's already proven to be a highly valuable member of our team.

Hey guys, it's Sydney —intern for Career Compass' media partner... I work with this account a LOT! I graduated from St. Michael High () in the spring and I'm attending SELU for Marketing! I want to proceed to get my MBA + my dream job is being able to market sustainable textiles and ethically produced fashion.
Here I am meeting Dr. Jim Henderson in his office (peep the friendship circle pic); he's the University of Louisiana System's President, and he's also on CC's board of directors! He also helped get TOPS fully funded for this year and is the former NSU president! Shoutout if you go to Grambling/LA Tech/McNeese/Nicholls/NSU/SELU/ULL/ULM/UNO!

Nonprofits are way more effective when we work together. However, partnerships can be challenging when there are clearly differences in culture, resources, and power. I attended a training on the topic of diversity and inclusion this weekend, and this article couldn't have come at a better time.

20 ways majority-white nonprofits can build authentic partnerships with organizations led by communities of color Hi everyone, before we begin today’s topic, please take time to fill out this new survey, which seeks to identify ideas and practices for investing in intersectional racial equity in the nonprofit …

If you shut down your creativity before it has chance to flourish, you’ll never get anywhere. One idea can spawn other, even greater ideas. Great example of a growth mindset.

Turning ideas into reality I meet a lot of people who really want to be entrepreneurs, but don’t think their idea is good enough. If they were just willing to embrace the ideas they do have and give them a go, even better ones will follow. Image from John Armstrong This doesn’t just go for businesses; you can apply it to ...

We would do well to remember the C.S. Lewis saying: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Why Great Success Can Bring Out the Worst Parts of Our Personalities

It can be draining to work with a perfectionist. While it’s great to work with colleagues who care about the quality of their work, perfectionists take it a step further.

How to Collaborate with a Perfectionist Five ways to prevent the relationship from becoming too draining.

Foundations, how aggravating is your grantmaking process? This handy dandy checklist will help.

Foundations, how aggravating is your grantmaking process? Use this checklist to find out! As we roll into 2017, there have been lots of articles about how philanthropy must adapt, including my post urging funders to increase payout and fund advocacy efforts, as well as this piece on mov…