Articles by CharityChannel Members
CharityChannel members who have years of experience in their field may apply to join a Contributor's Panel. Once accepted to a panel by the panel's editor, the member will work with the editor to determine article topics and to prepare an article that is ready for publication. With tens of thousands of colleagues in the CharityChannel professional community, this is a key opportunity to give back to your profession by sharing your hard-won expertise and wisdom.
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Keeping it Positive and Keeping it Local Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterThursday, April 11, 2013 (33 days ago)
Keeping your proposals positive and locally focused isn’t always easy. Thus, it’s very important to remember, “It’s the opportunity, stupid.”
With apologies to a former presidential candidate many of our readers are probably too young to remember, I urge grant professionals everywhere to adopt this new mantra. (Okay, my mother would never allow her children to call anyone stupid, so you can drop that part, but be sure to keep the opportunity part.)
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Writing Foundation Grants for Faith-Based Organizations Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, August 31, 2011 (1 years 257 days ago)
In most regards, writing competitive grant proposals for faith-based organizations is little different from writing successful proposals on behalf of any organization. The same fundamentals apply: do your research, tell a clear story, and make the need compelling.
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Tips and Tricks for Cutting Content When Space is Tight Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, February 16, 2011 (2 years 88 days ago)
Since my own writing style is to “spew” first and polish later, I usually have to cut content to meet space requirements. Even though I have been called “The Queen of Cutting,” last fall presented some challenges to even my editing skills. In one instance, a federal program (which usually allows an 80-page application) allowed only 40 pages. All the same attachments were still required: the one-page logic model, two-page curriculum vitae for key personnel, the organizational chart, the budget, and the budget narrative.
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Getting the Information Your Proposal Needs from Others Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, June 09, 2010 (2 years 340 days ago)
I have written articles for Grants and Foundation Review and spoken at conferences about the vital role that grant professionals play in program planning because they know how to turn a project idea into something fundable. Almost inevitably, someone raises a hand and asks the age-old question, “How do you get the information from the program people (or the financial people, or the fill-in-the-blank here people)?!”
Usually the person is frustrated, with a specific experience in mind. But the bottom line is the same. How do we....
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Developing Skills and Techniques to Make Yourself Valuable at Work Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, December 16, 2009 (3 years 150 days ago)
Especially during times of economic weakness, we are interested in ways to make ourselves stand out at work — for bosses and other leaders to recognize our true value. Of course, as grant professionals, we are expected to raise funds by producing excellent grant proposals. That goes without saying.
But it has been my experience that colleagues and supervisors rarely understand the amount of work required to craft a truly excellent proposal, that it’s not “just writing.” We have also all experienced the phenomenon of everyone else getting credit when the proposal is successful but the blame falling only on us when it is not.
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How to Keep Plugging Away Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, December 10, 2008 (4 years 156 days ago)
If you’ve been a grants professional for a few years now, you may find yourself struggling to remain motivated at times. Whether you just keep receiving rejection letters, or whether you’ve been writing what seems like the same proposal over and over again for months or years, all of us have times when it’s hard to get energized about what we’re doing. Unfortunately, this usually is reflected in our uninspired writing, so we need to address it as quickly as possible.
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Redefining Bricks and Mortar Projects to Generate More Funds Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, August 27, 2008 (4 years 261 days ago)
There are two strategies to generate new funding sources for your building projects. The key is to remember that capital projects usually consist of more than just construction. You must furnish the building once it is built. The programs in that facility will need equipment and materials. Landscaping must be completed outside the building. These all give you opportunities to seek non-capital grants that will chip away at the total cost of a new facility.
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Cover Letters: Introducing Your Proposal with Style Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, September 12, 2007 (5 years 246 days ago)
Cover letters, not to be confused with letters of support or letters of inquiry, can play a valuable role in smoothing the way for your grant proposal. If we have just spent days putting together a complex proposal, it can be tempting to throw together a bland cover letter just to get the proposal out the door. Or maybe we omit the letter completely.
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Weight Lifting for Non-Profits: Capacity-Building Grants Explained Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, July 25, 2007 (5 years 295 days ago)
Grants to organizations for capacity-building purposes are certainly not new. However, in the last several years, a targeted effort from certain federal agencies and some community foundations to reach out to the rapidly growing number of faith-based and community-based organizations has brought this special type of grant to the fore. There are now many opportunities for receiving capacity-building funds, especially for smaller or new non-profits.
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Tips for On-Line Applications Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, March 28, 2007 (6 years 49 days ago)
It’s certainly not news to most of us that more funders are requiring applications or Letters of Inquiry to be submitted on-line. The complexity of these on-line methods ranges from simple e-mail forms with a few checkboxes and a “send” button to the ever-favorite Grants.gov.
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We're #1! - Writing the Organizational Profile Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, February 14, 2007 (6 years 91 days ago)
You could probably write pages about your organization – its mission, who it serves, and, most important, why it should be the one to receive the grant! For, that is the ultimate purpose of the organizational profile – selling your organization to the funder as the best choice of where to invest its grant funds.
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A Grantseeker’s Guide to Interpreting Foundation Tax Returns Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, November 15, 2006 (6 years 182 days ago)
The on-line availability of foundation tax returns has been a boon to grantseekers and makes our research so much quicker than it used to be. Remember the days of calling the Foundation Center and waiting for them to fax 990s to you? This article is an introduction to the highlights of a Form 990-PF that grantseekers find most useful in their research.
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Preparing Great Budgets Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, August 16, 2006 (6 years 273 days ago)
How much does it cost three staff members to travel to a national conference for four days? As you turn your attention from the grant narrative to the grant budget, here are some important tips and practices to keep in mind. First, don’t be tempted to....
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Developing Relationships with Foundations Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, July 19, 2006 (6 years 301 days ago)
A foundation executive once exclaimed to my partner (whose predecessor had ignored guidelines and asked for way too much money because a board member insisted that his relationship with the foundation should trump the rules), "Don't you people understand you have to hold hands before you can get married?!?"
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You’ve Got the Grant, Now What? Post-Award Administration and the Grants Professional Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterWednesday, March 09, 2005 (8 years 68 days ago)
For those of us without an official "grants administrator," how involved should the "grant writer" be with the program after the grant is awarded?
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Keep Those Numbers! Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterTuesday, September 07, 2004 (8 years 251 days ago)
One of the things I wish someone had told me the first day on the job as a new grants professional is that I should keep excellent records of how proposal budgets were developed.
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But It's Not My Job! When the Grantwriter HAS to Plan Programs Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterTuesday, March 09, 2004 (9 years 68 days ago)
Yes, it is usually our job to write or edit the narrative and otherwise prepare the proposal package. But we "grant writers" have other, very valuable knowledge and skills, and we can contribute quite a bit to program planning. In fact, the longer I do this, the more convinced I am that grants professionals play a huge, unsung role in shaping their organizations for the future.
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Prepare NOW for CFRE Certification Contributed by:
Cheryl KesterTuesday, October 28, 2003 (9 years 201 days ago)
So, you think you might like to become a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE)? Or, maybe you think it would be nice, but it's just too much work to apply. I'll admit, that 22-page application can look pretty intimidating. Or maybe you've never heard of the CFRE.
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