"No Unsolicited Proposals" - What happens when there are no doors for smaller nonprofits to open

An October 2015 opinion piece in the Chronicle of Philanthropy noted that 72% of US charitable foundations do not accept unsolicited grant proposals, a significant increase from just four years ago, when that number was 60% (“Let’s Require All Big Foundations to Let More Nonprofits Apply for Grants,” by Pablo Eisenberg, Chronicle of Philanthropy, October 20, 2015). The author goes on to say that:

“Organizations that are small to medium size as well as those that represent poor, minority, and other grass-roots constituencies, pursue controversial causes and activities, or lack influential connections or friends struggle to get foundation support. This invitation-only system allows foundations to perpetuate inequality in American society, and that’s why Congress, regulators, and nonprofits must come together to force change... Foundations and their wealthy benefactors receive enormous tax benefits that subsidize their operations. Donors receive upfront deductions of 40 to 50 percent for their gifts, while foundations are exempt from local and state taxes as well as from taxes on their investment income. In exchange for these benefits, foundations and donors have an obligation to the public to ensure that their philanthropy is accessible to all nonprofits that want to apply for grants.”

As someone who has helped nonprofits pursue foundation grants for two decades, let me share with you how this looks from the nonprofit’s side:

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The nonprofit researches foundations that might be interested in its work.

The nonprofit sees that the foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals and gives up on the idea of reaching out to the foundation.

Unfortunately, every foundation the nonprofit identifies says that it does not accept unsolicited proposals. Lacking a robust major gifts program (attaining five-figure, six-figure, or higher donations from individuals) or other substantial funding streams, the nonprofit plods along with an annual fundraising campaign, wondering how it will ever expand its services to meet growing needs.

OR

The nonprofit’s in-house fundraiser or fundraising consultant says “Don’t worry about that ‘no unsolicited proposals’ thing – it just means that you have to reach out to the foundation, tell them about our organization, and get it to invite you to submit a proposal.”

A debate ensues about whether or not they should reach out to a foundation officer or the foundation’s board.

Because nobody wants to make a “cold call,” some passing-the-buck takes place around who should make the call.

The fundraising consultant says that she can no longer make these outreach calls on behalf of the nonprofit because she is not registered as a solicitor with attorney general of the state in which the foundation is located, and the foundation would rather hear directly from the nonprofit’s staff, anyway.

The Executive Director of the foundation reviews the prospect research and makes a call to the foundation’s executive director or a program officer.

The Executive Director does not hear back.

The Executive Director calls again a week later.

The Executive Director does not hear back.

The Executive Director sends a follow-up email a week later.

The Executive Director receives a polite email from the foundation, saying the foundation is not accepting unsolicited proposals, has spent out everything it can spend for this year, is no longer funding XYZ....

OR

The Executive Director does get a call back from the foundation. The conversation goes fairly well, and the nonprofit is invited to submit a proposal. The nonprofit spends 15-20 hours deciding what to apply for, compiling the proposal and all of the required ancillary materials (budgets, audited financial statements, board lists, and more) submitting the proposal, and following up – all while other projects and priorities fall by the wayside. The proposal (a) is rejected, (b) is moved to the next docket, which is happening in six months, or (c) gets an “entry level” gift of 10% - 20% of the original ask.

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Certainly, there are scenarios that play out more happily than this, scenarios in which the nonprofit and the foundation’s staff work collaboratively to present a proposal to the foundation’s board that will be accepted at a level close or equal to what was requested. This first gift will lead to a longer-term collaboration between the nonprofit and the foundation, one in which both entities pursue their visions and achieve their missions.

My experience says that this dream scenario is becoming a less frequent reality. As more and more nonprofits are established in the US (there now are more than a million of them, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics), there is increasing competition for funds. I believe that there may simply be too many nonprofits in the US, and some of these organizations that cannot sustain themselves should probably close or merge. But I also have observed that many substantial foundation gifts are made because somebody knew somebody who opened a door. For those on the fringes, for those without connections, it does not seem to be a level playing field.

Meanwhile, smaller nonprofits are spinning their wheels, spending hours and hours preparing for and pursuing grants that they are very unlikely to secure. Those are hours that could be spent on more mission-driven activities.

I imagine that the situation at foundations can be equally frustrating. When they accept unsolicited proposals (and even when they do not), foundations can be inundated with phone calls, letters, emails and more from nonprofits that do not meet their giving guidelines, do not offer programs or services in which the foundation’s board is interested, or simply do not have a chance of receiving a grant. Distracted and overwhelmed by this, foundation officers cannot adequately turn their attention to the business at hand – helping the board make grant making decisions that advance the foundation’s mission. Furthermore, many foundation grant officers also spend their time helping their current grantees make other funding connections, run effective programs, and more. They do not have the time or resources to address every unsolicited inquiry that comes in.

And, of course, there’s the Golden Rule: He who has the gold, rules. If a foundation knows that they only want to support certain hand-picked projects, that is their prerogative.

So what is a foundation to do? What is a nonprofit to do?

Perhaps there is a way to reach a middle ground. For example, mid-size to large foundations could be required to accept unsolicited proposals, but they also could set parameters, such as “you may only submit one unsolicited proposal over a three year period.” That would force nonprofits to think carefully about those submissions, lest they squander a good opportunity. But even if they accepted those unsolicited proposals, I do not think they could be forced to fund them.

I don’t know what the answer is, but from where I sit, after 20+ years of working with nonprofits and foundations of all sizes and scopes, the philanthropic field and the public interest are not well served by the current hamster wheel of a system.  

25 Ideas for When Your Professional Writing Needs a Creative Jolt

You know that thing when you’ve been writing the same blah, blah, blah for so long that your fingers almost work on autopilot – it’s as if the (same, boring) words just appear there, of their own volition? Or when you find your own writing so mundane that you can’t stand to even proofread it? Or when your own work is entirely indecipherable from that of your colleagues or clients?

It’s time for a creative jolt! I’ve written here before about Writing Prompts for creativity, but now I am proposing another alternative:

Don’t write.

When you need a burst of inspiration or creativity for your writing, sometimes the best thing you can do is to not write at all. When you walk away from your writing, even for a few minutes, you can return to it with deeper insight and fresh energy. Here are a few ideas for ways to hit the restart button on your creativity:

1.            Walk around the block. Instead of spending that walk thinking about everything you have to do, want to do, or wish you had done... find 10 beautiful things. Colors, scenery, textures, sounds. 10 things.

2.            Leaf through a travel magazine. Rip out a page or two, and post them next to your writing space.

3.            Smell something. Anything.

4.            Eat one square of a chocolate bar, or one m&m. Let it melt slowly in your mouth. Notice how it tastes, smells, and feels.

5.            Stretch left. Then right.

6.            Sing your favorite song from elementary school.

7.            Notice your breath. Don’t alter it, by breathing more slowly or more quickly. Just notice it.

8.            Give yourself a scalp massage.

9.            Make a paper airplane. Fly it.

10.            Notice how many things you can hear right now. How long of a list can you make?

11.            Eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Does it remind you of anything?

12.            Come up with a name for a new Ben & Jerry’s flavor.

13.            Do a headstand. Or a cartwheel. Or a sommersault.

14.            Make a “painting” out of the next five things you can get your hands on: White out? Nutella? Shampoo? Orange juice? Lipstick?

15.            Draw a maze.

16.            Make up your own palm reading, for your own palms.

17.            Check out the clouds. What do they look like?

18.            If you had to name the color of the sky right now, what would you name it?

19.            Find something hot. Find something cold.

20.            If you made an autobiographical album, what would it be called? What would be the names of the songs on it?

21.            Tap dance. Tap shoes not required.

22.            Pick a song, and play air guitar.

23.            Try to name all of the characters in your favorite movie.

24.            Feel something soft.

25.            Come up with five other items for this list.

Of course, the Writing Prompts I’ve described also can do the trick! But sometimes the best thing you can do is to get out of that part of your brain. When you activate other parts of your mind, everything can come alive again.

Lauren Brownstein has worked in the non-profit community for more than 20 years as a fundraiser, educator, and program manager. She specializes in: helping grant seekers develop meaningful partnerships with funders, crafting outstanding grant proposals, and working with individual donors to help them make philanthropic contributions that reflect their interests and passions.

Learn more about Lauren’s fundraising and philanthropy work at www.pitchconsulting.com. Purchase her e-book, Grant Writing Quick Tips, and her audio file, Grant Writing for Creative Souls, HERE.

Writing Prompts for Great Grant Writing (or any nonprofit writing)

It’s a crowded marketplace for grant proposals. Many foundation program officers have dozens (if not more) proposals to consider, and they have to make tough choices about which ones to pass along to their trustees. How can you make your grant proposal “stick”? How can you make it more memorable, so that it will stand out from the pack?
Based on my more than two decades experience working in philanthropy, I firmly believe that part of the answer is in an unexpected source: CREATIVITY. Telling stories, using unexpected language, and crafting a fresh approach engages the reader (a foundation officer or trustee) and can help your proposal float to the top of the pile.
I also know, from years of experience, that my own writing can sometimes get stale. I may find myself writing the same sentences, using the same phrases, and constructing proposals in the same ways, over and over. Even I can get bored with my own writing! That’s when I turn to creative writing prompts to shake things up. Here are a few prompts – focused on nonprofits and grant writing – that will enliven your writing and your creative spirit.
Grant writing creative prompts:

1. What if the need for your program didn’t exist?
2. Set a timer for 60 seconds. Write as many words as you can think of that describe your organization. No phrases, just words.
3. What would one of your organization's clients write in this proposal?
4. Someone says “I didn’t know your organization did that!” Why did they say it?
5. Write a testimonial quote from a disgruntled client or supporter.
6. Your organization is releasing an album. What’s the album title, and what are the titles of five of the songs on the album?
7. Five words that best describe how your organization’s beneficiaries feel.
8. Start/Stop list: Five things your organization should start doing, and five things it should stop doing.
9. Tweet your proposal: sell the idea in 140 characters.
10. Find a magazine. Open it to a random page, which has a photo or other image. How does that image relate to your cause or organization?
11. Write five one-syllable words that describe the cause/need your organization addresses.
12. What’s the first thing your organization should spend $100 on?
13. What does your organization have in common with winter? With summer?
14. Write an online dating profile for your organization.
15. Write an obituary for your organization.
16. Fast 15: Five sounds, tastes, and smells that describe what your organization does.
17. What should be the last sentence of this proposal?
18. Finish this sentence from a donor/supporter: I support this organization because...
19. Nonprofit haiku: Write a 5 syllable/7 syllable/5 syllable poem that describes your organization or cause.
20. Talk to me like I’m 5: Explain your organization’s work to a five year old child.

These prompts can help anyone in your organization (marketing team, Executive Director, board members, and more) think creatively about how they describe your organization and its work. Take a few of them for a spin, and see if they set off some creative sparks!

Be Better than the Gap - Choosing Words that Say What You Mean

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Let me start by saying: I have nothing against the Gap. I have lots of clothes from the Gap. As far as I can tell, Gap, Inc. is a solid company that sells things that almost everyone I know has, or had, or will have.

But this post isn’t really about the Gap.

I recently was editing some web site and other collateral content for a client, a personal and professional coach who is rebranding her business. She is deeply talented, highly trained, and a superb motivator. I would hire her in a heartbeat. However, some of the language for her web content was just too blah, too bland, too pedestrian to reflect the inspiring, transformative work she does with her clients.

For example, the word “awesome.” It’s one of those words that is so overused that it has lost all of its meaning. It no longer has any punch. Do people typically use the word “awesome” to describe a state of being filled with awe? No. My eleven year old daughter typically uses this word to describe a plate of mac n’ cheese.

My feedback for the client was: “ Don’t say ‘awesome.’ You’re better than that. Be better than that. (cut to Ryan Gosling telling Steve Carell in ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love.’ to ‘Be Better than the Gap.’)”

In “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” Ryan Gosling’s character helps Steve Carell’s character bounce back after an unexpected divorce. He takes Steve Carell’s character shopping, encouraging him to shift from white sneakers and “mom jeans” to stylish man-about-town. When Steve Carell’s character, after a long and expensive day of shopping, balks at the price and style of new designer jeans and says “Can’t we just go to the Gap?” Ryan Gosling’s character holds Carell’s face in his hands, looks deeply in his eyes, and says “Be better than the Gap. Be. Better. Than. The. Gap.”

Sometimes, you shouldn’t just use your default choice or take the easy way out. Sometimes, you have to dig deeper.

• Do you really want to say “awesome”? Or do you want to say “inspiring” or “revelatory”?
• Do you really want to say “improve”? Or do you want to say “elevate”?
• Do you really want to say “unique”? Or do you want to say “singular” or “unparalleled”?

Notice which words you use over and over, and ask yourself if you can dig deeper. As yourself if the words you are using are really revealing the deepest truths about what you want to describe.

Be better than “awesome.”

Lauren Brownstein has worked in the non-profit community for more than 20 years as a fundraiser, educator, and program manager. She specializes in: helping grant seekers develop meaningful partnerships with funders, crafting outstanding grant proposals, and working with individual donors to help them make philanthropic contributions that reflect their interests and passions.

Learn more about Lauren’s fundraising and philanthropy work at www.pitchconsulting.com. Purchase her e-book, Grant Writing Quick Tips, and her audio file, Grant Writing for Creative Souls, HERE.

Tell your story!

I just read about this resource in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and I can't wait to share it with all of my great nonprofit pals!

It is "a web platform to help organizations gather, curate, and use stories to effect change." Check it out here:

http://www.stori.es/

Storytelling is having a moment. For years, research has shown that people (i.e. potential donors) respond more, and more generously, to the story of ONE person who is being helped by a nonprofit's work, rather than a barrage of statistics - even if those statistics are really impressive. 

Now, it seems like storytelling is everywhere:

The Meyer Foundation and the Georgetown University Center for Social Impact Communication just released Stories Worth Telling: A Guide to Strategic and Sustainable Nonprofit Storytelling.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy's November 6, 2014 edition included a major spread on nonprofit storytelling (sorry, most content is currently limited to subscribers, but that will likely change).

A Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in Seattle earlier this month was completely sold out.

NPR correspondent Shankar Vedantam (yes, I'm a superfan) recently told us "Why Your Brain Wants to Help One Child in Need - But Not Millions."

Through Consumer Union's stori.es, your organization can gather stories through the use of questionnaires, curate the answers, and develop meaningful stories to share with your stakeholders, including potential donors.

All nonprofits know that they have to do this - gather and share stories - but they don't know how, don't have the staff to devote to the task, can't get organized, etc. Hopefully, this new resource will make it easier to tell the world about the great work you do!

My own resources on creative grant writing, which can help you tell your organization's stories in more compelling and impactful ways, can be found HERE. Check out Grant Writing for Creative Souls.

Happy storytelling. Once upon a time...

Foundation giving hits an all-time high

A new report from the Foundation Center, among other things, foundation giving in the US has reached a record high of $54.7 billion. The report estimates that foundation giving will continue to grow at a few points above inflation in 2014, with independent and family foundations showing an even higher rate of growth. According to the report, in 2012 the US was home to more than 86,000 foundations.

The link above will take you to a one-page infographic/summary. From there you can download the 8-page report, which is also very graphic-heavy and easy to digest.

I put less stock in the numbers related to how/where foundations are giving (e.g. to education, health... or to economically disadvantaged, women and girls...), mainly because the sample size was relatively small - 1,000 larger foundations. However, I do think that the scope of the foundation world, the total amount of foundation assets, the rates of growth, and other statistics are interesting, revealing, and even surprising.

In my own work with foundations, I haven't necessarily seen that foundations are giving more, or are giving more easily. Securing foundation gifts still requires a skillful approach to cultivation and solicitation, ideally a partnership between foundation and grantee. While foundations may be giving more, my sense is that they are giving in a more focused, specific way, and there are more organizations out there doing the asking, which makes for a highly competitive field.

 

Your Grant Proposal is Boring. What Can You Do About It?

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After nearly 20 years of writing, editing, reviewing, and evaluating grant proposals, I’ve seen my share – the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Some grant proposals leap off the page, painting a vivid picture of the problem at hand and the proposed solution, while also providing an elegant, accurate (and not overwhelming) description of how, when, and why the solution will be carried out.

Some grant proposals get the job done, but don’t do much more than that. They answer the who, what, where, when, and why, but they never draw the reader in. They are the workhorses of the grant writing world: efficient, but forgettable.

Some grant proposals are real clunkers. There’s just no better way to say it. Not only do they not give the required information, explain the problem or the solution, or draw you in, but they are just... limp.

If you don’t activate the reader’s interest with your grant proposal, someone else will. Most individuals who are reviewing grant proposals and deciding what to fund, or deciding what to pass along to their boards or grant review committees, are reviewing myriad grant proposals. You must be memorable in order to not be forgotten.

In the preceding paragraph, I’ve broken one of my own rules about how to write a better, more effective, more engaging proposal. Read on:

1.            Tell a Story About One Person, One Program, One River, One Bird...

Storytelling is having a moment. Most grant writing books, blogs, and articles advise telling a story in your proposals, in order to help the reader envision your program. Research has shown that people remember stories more than statistics. Fundraising letters and appeals that tell the story of one person are more effective in raising funds than letters that assault the reader with a barrage of statistics, even when those statistics are compelling. Storytelling humanizes a proposal.

To make your proposal more interesting, creative, and lively, tell the story of ONE. One child who will be fed by your soup kitchen. One immigrant whose job training helped her transform her family’s life. One block in one neighborhood. One bird species. One river in a watershed. Drill down; get small in order to have the big impact.

2.            Throw Away Your Thesaurus.

Enough with the S.A.T. words, OK? Please stop saying “myriad,” as I did, above (and while you’re at it, if you MUST use that word, please learn how to use it properly). Proposal writing is like poetry; every word counts. But big words are not necessarily good words. In fact, throwing a big word into a sentence in order to sound smart can be like a tranquilizer dart to the head. Isn’t the preceding sentence more interesting than: “Use of advanced vocabulary to create the impression of intellectual prowess can have deleterious effects.”

Choose good words, not big words.

See more of my tips on what never to write in a grant proposal HERE.

3. Make It Shorter. Yes, Even Shorter Than That.

Writing long is easy. Writing short is hard.

Every grant writer knows that staying within an RFP’s page limit can be difficult, even maddening. When you do not have a formal page limit, it can be like driving on the highway with a full tank of gas. Freedom! You can keep going and going and going!

Except you can’t.

In my experience, at least quarter of most grant proposals can be cut out. Often, the longer your proposal gets, the more you are repeating yourself. Keep it short, focused, and powerful. Long can be boring. Short can be intense and vivid.

This rule of thumb also applies to your paragraphs and sentences. Watch out for run-on sentences, which seem to be the plague of the grant writing world. Mix it up. Throw in a short, impactful sentence every once in a while, just like I’m doing in this essay. When your reader has to read compound sentence after compound sentence, with no breaks, their mind tends to drift. If you mix it up with shorter sentences now and again, it’s a little burst of energy that makes you take notice.

In the spirit of following my own advice, I’ll close here and encourage you to give some of these tips a shot, even if it seems scary to get out of your usual grant writing groove.

Find more of my tips, including my audiofile, Grant Writing for Creative Souls, and my e-book, Grant Writing Quick Tips, HERE.

August at Your Nonprofit: Gazing Back, Looking Forward

As I spend this August morning working in my favorite local cafe, I realize that I am engaged in some of the same planning and reflection that I encourage my clients to undertake during this time of the year.

On a rare day not filled with deadlines, appointments, and phone calls, I am taking a couple of hours to review and update my annual plan, assess the progress I am making towards my goals, remind myself of new projects I wanted to undertake that seem to have fallen by the wayside... in other words - get energized for the last few months of the year!

August is a great time to review goals, track progress, and get revved up for the fall months. So many nonprofits just throw up their hands at the beginning of August and say "Oh well, we can't get anything done this month. We'll just pick up our fundraising in September." Not so! This is a great time of year to gaze back and look forward. And it is an important time to plan for September, which can be a vital fundraising month. If you don't engage in some planning now, you'll be behind the eight ball come fall. Here's my August checklist for nonprofits:

• Revenue goals: are you on track? If so, can you do more of what is working? If not, can you course-correct?
• Donor stewardship: When is the last time your donors heard from you, not to ask for something, but just to offer an update? Should you send a friendly update in September or October? Can you start writing that now?
• Grant proposal and reporting deadlines: Which of your grants are expiring in the fall or early winter? Should you be planning to reapply? Can you set up a time to talk to the grantor about a reapplication? If you need to gather data for grant reports, now is a good time of year to do that.
• Government grants and contracts: For those nonprofits that get funding from government agencies... the government's fiscal year ends soon, which often means that they will release RFPs in August. Should you be on the lookout for these? Or, better yet, should you be proactively searching for opportunities?
• Twitter and other social media: Imagine your donors sitting on the beach with their smartphones, checking Twitter or Facebook. While they are scrolling through vacation photos or updates from friends, will they see updates from your organization? 
• September milestones: Are back-to-school time or the Jewish holidays important times of year for either your donors or your organization? If so, what do you need to do now to capitalize on that time (late August - early October)?
• Board: When your board goes back to work or back to school in August and September, will they also be turning their attention to the latest accomplishments and needs at your organization? Should you schedule a board conference call, meeting, update packet, or training?

Wishing you an August filled with dips in the pool, cool lemonade, and the pace and expansiveness that allow you to do some great planning for the fall!

Things I'll never write in a proposal again...

After spending the afternoon reviewing writing samples from a client, I am compiling a list of WORDS AND PHRASES THAT I'LL NEVER WRITE IN A PROPOSAL AGAIN. Here's what I've got so far:

Unique (it never is)
Innovative (it rarely is)
As well (always unnecessary)
In addition (as necessary as "as well")

 Do you have anything to add to the list?

Recession Obsession Sale

Times are tough at America's non-profits. Donations are down, and, at many charitable organizations, the need for their services is up. To help non-profits through the crunch, I'm offering a 30% discount on "Grant Writing Quick Tips" - a focused, finely-tuned e-book that offers all of the highlights of a foundation relations and grant writing seminar in one, high-impact resource.

From tips to help your grant proposal stand out from the pack, to guidelines and a worksheet on proposal budgeting, to strategies for finding and keeping donors, "Grant Writing Quick Tips" is a great resource for any non-profit organization (or a great gift for your favorite charity).

Check it out HERE.