How do I start writing grants? – SHARITY

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Powering Nonprofit Success Through Participatory Processes:

Did you know that organizations prioritizing participatory processes and deliberately decreasing barriers see a significant increase in program effectiveness? This Fall, I’m excited to delve into how this framework powers real-world success through our three-part webinar series, Insights for Impact!

On September 18th, Dr. Inderjit Vicky Basra, President and CEO of the Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center, and Jessica Raymond, former Chief of Staff of the YWCA, joined Sharity Global Expert Anne Miskey to offer real-world examples of ways participatory processes elevated their organizations’ mission and impact. Dr. Basra emphasized the importance of including direct and indirect experts in decision-making conversations. She noted, “…layered communication makes the change.” When those in the community who experience the challenges your organization strives to address work alongside those with academic or professional experience in key areas, your organization can begin to affect systemic change. Jessica added, “When we talk about advocating for people and engaging their voices…here is the mic! You sit at this table, you tell me what you need from us, you make the decision…”

Key takeaways from the conversation included:

Write equity into your policies and procedures.
Avoid “tokenizing” the community you serve. Ensure that if you ask something of your community members, such as asking them to share their stories, you are developing and strengthening a mutually beneficial relationship with them.
Identify ways your organization may connect direct experts, those with lived experience, with donors, elected officials, and other community leaders and influencers.
Engaging all voices allows you to review and evaluate the impact of your programming with an open mind and heart.
Give credit to all the experts helping you execute your mission. Whenever possible, compensate and recognize direct experts, those with lived experiences, for their work on behalf of your organization, just as you would an indirect expert with academic or professional experience.

Dr. Basra summed up the importance of engaging all voices when she described the success her organization has had with connecting survivor mentors with the recently rescued. “[Survivor’s] concepts around hope look very different because they’re sitting across from somebody, that at some point, was in the same space that they are in…Their survivor-mentor becomes a beacon of hope!” Anne added, “The little ways you can connect your donors in real ways to people” will bring about transformation.

How do I start writing grants?

Ask Me Anything Summary

This is a great question because I see a lot of comments online about people who want to go out and start writing for grants and what they don’t realize is you don’t just start writing grants if you’re just going to write grants blindly.
It’s like walking up to a stranger on the street and saying, give me money and that’s what’s going to happen to you. you’re gonna be really frustrated and if you’re paying someone, you’re gonna be spending money for absolutely no return on that investment.

So the first thing you have to make sure you’re doing to do before you go out and start looking for grant funding is write a business plan. have some sort of idea of what you’re trying to accomplish, what programs you are going to have involved in in that solution, and what the outcomes are gonna be.

You also have to have a really good idea of how much that plan is going to cost. then you’ll know which grants to reach out to, to start to cultivate so that they know who your organization is and what you’re trying to accomplish in the community.

That’s the first step in getting grants. and if you’re going to hire a grant writer, before you’ve done that work, you’re really throwing your money away. so take the time. Pause.

Build that plan and then go out and find somebody who really knows how to write those grants. of course, you can always check in with us at sharity global. we have some of the best grant writers in the business who have raised millions and millions of dollars and they specialize, which is another important thing in either federal grants, foundation grants, or even global giving.

If you have any questions or any comments, you can always direct message us via social media, put a message in the comment section or reach out to us at ‘sharityglobal.com‘. Have a great day.