
Browse Articles by Katherine Driskell Felts
You Could Use Undefined Jargon, But I'd Have to Kill You
My dad is a retired electronics engineer who used to work for a defense contractor. I never saw his office; they weren't allowed to bring anything into or out of work. There was no Take-Your-Daughter-To-Work-Day for our family. Not exactly a rocket scientist, he was a submarine defense scientist, of sorts. I never understood what…
You Are A Person Out With Whom I Like To Hang - Part Two
So, back to a few of those grammar rules we struggle with. Yes, there are more, but let's bite off what we can chew: 1. Never end a sentence with a preposition. Why not? Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace suggests that this isn't even a rule! And, when you see the backbends and…
You Are A Person Out With Whom I Like To Hang - Part One
Grantwriters, it sometimes seems, spend more time with their words and their keyboard than with their actual families. We struggle to make the English language rise to the task of vividly describing the wonderful, life-changing work our agencies do. When we are writing to foundations, particularly well-known and well-capitalized foundations, we can be intimidated by…
Putting First Things First as You Enter the Consulting Profession: The Why's and the What's Before the How's
On a pretty regular basis, a new consultant, or someone considering being a consultant will ask the CONSULTANTS listserv on CharityChannel a how question. "How do I set my fees, now that I'm grantwriting?" "How do I write my contracts, will you give me yours?" "How do you educate the clients so they know what…
Dreaming of Being Super-Consultant? Faster than a Government RFP Due Date, More Powerful than a Board Assessment Tool, Able to Raise Large Amounts of Money with a Single Volunteer
My husband is into comics. Really into comics. At times, it seems that every horizontal surface in our house that is anywhere near a chair or couch has at least two comic books on it. My husband has told me more about Stan Lee and Alex Ross than any normal human would want to know.…
LET'S ASK FOR ONE MILLION DOLLARS Or Why Successful Grantsmanship Isn't like Buckshot
Early in my career as a paid grant writer I had a client who was very charming. Too charming, really, to his deficit. When his group retained me, I immediately began to research potential funding sources for grants for his programs. They did technical assistance in a very specific area for a very specific population…