Fundraising HayDay

Dana Schuler Drummond has a long and storied career in the field of grants and fundraising. She writes grant proposals; she teaches nonprofit courses at a local college; and she developed a grant management software tool when her post-it system failed her. No two people have the same career trajectory, but Dana has a story that will resonate with us all.

Dear funders, we appreciate when you offer a grant workshop. It is ALWAYS helpful to learn more about an upcoming application process and have the opportunity to ask questions of you. But not all funder-led workshops are created equal. Join us as we talk about the aspects of these workshops that drive every grant professional to bang their head against the wall, and hear our dream world about the perfect workshop experience. 

These days, grant professionals and fundraisers are often asked to tag team on capital campaigns. When raising a significant amount of money in a set time frame for a new building, large technology upgrade, an endowment, a fleet of new vehicles, or any other large-scaled project, it is typically all hands-on deck. We're offering a step-by-step process, highlighting how grants can and should play a role in the process.

You have probably been there before. You already have a full-time job as a teacher, firefighter, major gifts manager, city clerk, accountant, volunteer coordinator, or "fill-in-the-blank job" here. One day your boss comes in and adds grant research and writing to your other duties as assigned. You don't even know where to begin, much less how to submit a completed grant proposal. Trust us when we say, you are not the only individual in this position. We're talking with Joy Day, the Mayor of Jonesboro, Georgia, a part-time elected official who took it upon herself to seek grants to improve the quality of life in her city. Her advice: let your desire for getting a project funded exceed your fear of the grant process.

As grant and fundraising professionals, we work with colleagues, boards, partners, other nonprofit agencies, funders, donors, and many other stakeholders. Our job is so much more than bringing in funding. If we are serious about building diversity, equity, and inclusion, we need to build better relationships with all our community stakeholders - making the funding world a better place for every recipient. Don't know how to start? We have a few tips. 

It's the dreaded question most funders ask: how are you going to sustain this program when the grant is over? If we are being brutally honest, the answer is probably to write another grant. But we want to be funded, so a more comprehensive and multi-faceted answer is required. Learn all about the benefits of collaboration, fundraising, and more to create the best sustainability answer possible.

The work is piling up - grant deadlines, conference presentations, a new capital campaign, the next fundraising gala, and other duties as assigned. You feel like you're a jack of all trades, but a master of none. How do you get to the place where you feel good enough and are okay with that? Join our conversation with Jess Pettitt, author of Good Enough Now, as she shares how to "do the best we can with what we have some of the time."

You know the drill. A funder asks a series of questions, then gives you anywhere from 100 to 1,000 CHARACTERS to answer each question. When you have a million things to share, but a very limited space to do so, how do you fit it all in? Today we're talking writing tight.

Sure, we all speak English, but are we talking about the same thing? Fundraising is not an exclusively American thing, so we are talking to our friend across the pond. David Burgess, and his firm Apollo Fundraising, provides consultancy, training, and support to arts and cultural organizations. Turns out, we have more in common than we think - and more to learn from one another in getting the job done well.

It's the Fundraising HayDay annual episode that is ripped from the headlines. We are talking grant fraud stories and the consequences that happen when the rules are broken. We've got stories about a university professor and a local mayor. We're also following up on a story from last year's episode about the Tennessee state senator who was accused of using federal grant funds for personal gain.