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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Stone Soup for the Grant Writer (or Resource Ideas When the Cupboard is Bare) Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsWednesday, November 30, 2011 (1 years 165 days ago)
Like a hungry soldier, not all grant writers can afford the ingredients for a nourishing soup (such as foundation research services or online databases). But if you are hungry for the ingredients to make some new funding requests, there are a lot of little ways you can build a foundation resource list—much like the soldier connected to a strange community by asking each person to bring something to the soup pot.
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Five Mid-Year Resolutions for Your Grant Development Department Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsWednesday, June 01, 2011 (1 years 347 days ago)
As we approach mid-year, it is time to ask ourselves a question. Are we doing all we can to have a better fund raising year? The year 2011 might offer the same for nonprofits as 2010. Of course, it could offer more funding possibilities. Whatever the changes are in store for the funding community, to be as successful as you can be you will need a specific, measurable strategy that is divided into manageable pieces.
Let’s start now to look at five opportunities each month for the rest of the year to advance your development efforts and to achieve organizational goals this year!
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Engaging the Board Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsThursday, May 19, 2011 (1 years 360 days ago)
One of the challenges that nonprofit leaders and fund development professionals face is how to engage the board in meaningful and productive work on behalf of the organization. Engaging the board can be achieved in four basic steps....
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Looking Beyond the Usual Places for Funding Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsWednesday, September 23, 2009 (3 years 233 days ago)
Habits are hard to break. Thus, it is not surprising that we often go back to the same comfortable sources for funding because we can count on them for support. While having great relationships with funding partners is good, always asking for help from the same friends can wear out the relationship. So now is a great time to step back and look for sources that may be closer to your organization than you think — but haven’t been asked recently to help. Let’s step into the “opportunity zone” and identify new potential sources beyond the usual places for funding.
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Nagging Mom or Bragging Coach - Winning Ways to Build a Grant Reporting Team Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsWednesday, June 24, 2009 (3 years 324 days ago)
Do you ever feel like a nagging mother when you are trying to get a grant report done? While staff members love to have the funding, they often hate the reporting requirements. Much like children avoiding homework, staff can try everything possible to procrastinate and not provide the information you need to do your job. So here are some hints to move from nagging mother to bragging coach in your organization AND make sure your reports are submitted on time.
There are five ways winning strategies for making grant reporting easier.
- Ask how results will be measured when you are preparing the grant application.
- Clarify report expectations with the funder when the grant is received.
- Make tracking information simple and accessible.
- Provide training for staff.
- Build relationships with those seeking funds and providing information for reports.
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Top Ten Ways to Frustrate a Grant Reviewer Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsWednesday, May 27, 2009 (3 years 352 days ago)
I have made it a mission to foster stronger grants writers as I have edited and reviewed an estimated one thousand of their applications, prepared for both private and government funders. Nothing is more frustrating than reading a proposal in which the grant writer pushes pet peeve buttons that can so easily be avoided. So if you want to ensure that you don’t push the pet peeve buttons of grant reviewers around the world, you may find my top ten list quite helpful. May I have a drum roll please….
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Board Members as Grants Advocates Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsWednesday, March 04, 2009 (4 years 71 days ago)
Wouldn’t it be great if board members better understood the grants process? Many nonprofits have sat in a room with members of the board trying to figure out a short fall in funding or to find finding for a critical project and someone says, “Well, let’s write a grant!” The key to helping well meaning, passionate volunteers understand how they can help is breaking down tasks into meaningful, but manageable pieces of support for the grants process.
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Branding Strategy with Foundations Contributed by:
Jeannette Archer-SimonsMonday, February 16, 2009 (4 years 87 days ago)
Branding? That is the communications department job! Actually, everyone has a role in branding an organization. A brand is what distinguishes the organization from others (ref. Dictionary.com). It can be a stigma about your organization because of bad practices or if well managed, can enhance the perceived value of your organization and position a proposal for funding ahead of other organizations.
CharityChannel's WE REVIEW
CharityChannel members who have been admitted to the WE REVIEW Contributors Panel are eligible to receive recently-published books from a variety of publishers (and some self-publishers) to review. Reviews are not limited to books published by CharityChannel Press, the publishing project of the CharityChannel professional community. If you are interested in reviewing books, you are welcome to apply. Note that, even though WE REVIEW has been publishing reviews for over a decade, it has recently been reorganized and re-launched. We took the opportunity to remove prior reviews, since our focus is on newly published books.
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CharityChannel Press Books
CarityChannel Press is the publishing arm of CharityChannel. Many of the sector’s most experienced, knowledgeable practitioners are part of the CharityChannel professional community. Because of its unique role in the nonprofit sector, CharityChannel Press enjoys a rich pool of prospective authors from which to draw. In addition, the CharityChannel professional community, consisting of tens of thousands of practitioners, forms a natural initial market for the books as does the greater third sector itself. Interested in writing a book or manual?
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CharityChannel Press Blog for Authors and Editors
CharityChannel Press is the publishing project of the CharityChannel professional community. In this blogging feature, the authors and editors of our books and manuals share their thoughts, ideas, insights, and advice on topics of interest to busy practitioners. Reading their blogs is a great way to get to know them and to learn about their latest books and manuals. Be sure to jump in and add your comment to blog postings.
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