Category Archives: Derek Link

Learn When to Say "No!"

Non-profit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, shares some thoughts on risk taking and when to say “no” to a client:

Grant writers who make a living doing freelance work take a big risk in doing so. It’s also tough because the nature of grant making, especially in poor economic conditions, is highly competitive. Your reputation can be injured with a client if the grant you’ve written fails to get funded; so, it’s important to know when to say “No, thanks” to a grant writing contract.

Not all grant clients are created equal, in each grant competition, some clients are more likely to be funded than others. This fact means you need to have a full understanding of the grant writing opportunities presented to you in terms of:

  1. Funding Levels – How much money is available in a particular competition? If it’s a national competition and there’s only 12 grants available, it’s important to consider how qualified your client is in other areas.
  2. Geographic Distribution – If your client is rural and the funding source only allocates a small percentage of the funding toward rural projects, then it’s important to look at other considerations to estimate likelihood of writing a successful proposal.
  3. Demographic Preferences – If your client serves only English fluent adults and the funding agency has a preference for funding programs serving immigrants who speak a foreign language, then it’s important to look at other factors to consider the likelihood of funding.
  4. Organization Preferences – If your client is a public agency and the funder previously has shown a strong preference for community-based organizations, then it’s important to consider as you evaluate their “fundability”. Maybe there is a CBO that can apply with your client as a partner, or maybe your client just needs a CBO partner to be a viable applicant.
  5. Program Preferences – This is the old round peg in a square hole thing. If your client is trying to stretch the truth, or if they are trying for funding that clearly is outside of what you know the funder wants to give grants for, then you need to be very honest with the client about that.

Free lance grant writing is a tough business and the financial risk of running your own business is always a little scary. But saying “No” to a client who is clearly a bad candidate for a particular grant is thousands of times better than saying “Yes,” taking their money, then having to explain why the grant wasn’t funded. Protect your reputation as a grant writer by learning to say “No” when you have to.

Related Posts:

Are You a Risk Taker?

How Competitive is TOO Competitive?

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Gain access to the largest collection  of grant seeking, grant writing, program evaluation, and non-profit organizational development resources on the web!  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Learn When to Say "No!"

Non-profit consultant and grant writing expert, Derek Link, shares some thoughts on risk taking and when to say “no” to a client:

Grant writers who make a living doing freelance work take a big risk in doing so. It’s also tough because the nature of grant making, especially in poor economic conditions, is highly competitive. Your reputation can be injured with a client if the grant you’ve written fails to get funded; so, it’s important to know when to say “No, thanks” to a grant writing contract.

Not all grant clients are created equal, in each grant competition, some clients are more likely to be funded than others. This fact means you need to have a full understanding of the grant writing opportunities presented to you in terms of:

  1. Funding Levels – How much money is available in a particular competition? If it’s a national competition and there’s only 12 grants available, it’s important to consider how qualified your client is in other areas.
  2. Geographic Distribution – If your client is rural and the funding source only allocates a small percentage of the funding toward rural projects, then it’s important to look at other considerations to estimate likelihood of writing a successful proposal.
  3. Demographic Preferences – If your client serves only English fluent adults and the funding agency has a preference for funding programs serving immigrants who speak a foreign language, then it’s important to look at other factors to consider the likelihood of funding.
  4. Organization Preferences – If your client is a public agency and the funder previously has shown a strong preference for community-based organizations, then it’s important to consider as you evaluate their “fundability”. Maybe there is a CBO that can apply with your client as a partner, or maybe your client just needs a CBO partner to be a viable applicant.
  5. Program Preferences – This is the old round peg in a square hole thing. If your client is trying to stretch the truth, or if they are trying for funding that clearly is outside of what you know the funder wants to give grants for, then you need to be very honest with the client about that.

Free lance grant writing is a tough business and the financial risk of running your own business is always a little scary. But saying “No” to a client who is clearly a bad candidate for a particular grant is thousands of times better than saying “Yes,” taking their money, then having to explain why the grant wasn’t funded. Protect your reputation as a grant writer by learning to say “No” when you have to.

Related Posts:

Are You a Risk Taker?

How Competitive is TOO Competitive?

——————————————-

Gain access to the largest collection  of grant seeking, grant writing, program evaluation, and non-profit organizational development resources on the web!  Become a member of GrantGoddess.com!

Superman, Where Are You?

We are facing a big deadline this week.  We have multiple grants due at the same time and everyone has his or her head down and nose to the grindstone, but we can always count on Derek to help us see the humor of it all.  Here are some humorous thoughts from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, on slowing down time when deadline time is racing closer.

Time flies when you’re approaching a deadline. I’m pretty sure that Superman is the only being, real or fictional, who can turn back time. If you’re approaching a deadline – mere mortal that you are – here are a few places you can go where in my experience time can actually slow down.

  1. The DMV.
  2. Customer service calls to the phone company.
  3. Jogging on the indoor track at Sun City.
  4. Meeting with an IRS agent.
  5. A long line at the grocery store with a rookie cashier, a bad receipt tape, and a customer who’s using their debit card for the first time while arguing about the amount her single tomato was discounted.
  6. The post office at lunch.
  7. Watching the calendar after hiring a building contractor with a bunch of Better Business Bureau complaints.
  8. Technical support calls from – or to – India with “Roger”, “Jason”, or “Howard”.
  9. Auto dealerships after giving up your car keys.
  10. Driving and waiting for the “Code 3” police car to pass you knowing you were five mph over the limit.
  11. Waiting for a copier repairman or anything else on grant deadline day.

So if time seems to be going too fast and your deadline is staring you down like an angry railroad union member at the helm of a locomotive, take yourself away to a place where time slows down. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could merge these time warps and make it slow down for important stuff and speed up for annoying stuff? Oh Superman, where are you!?

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Related posts:

Grant Writing and the Space/Time Continuum

Stress Relief through Laughter

———————————

Don’t forget to visit GrantGoddess.com for tips and ideas to improve your grant writing skills!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Superman, Where Are You?

We are facing a big deadline this week.  We have multiple grants due at the same time and everyone has his or her head down and nose to the grindstone, but we can always count on Derek to help us see the humor of it all.  Here are some humorous thoughts from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, on slowing down time when deadline time is racing closer.

Time flies when you’re approaching a deadline. I’m pretty sure that Superman is the only being, real or fictional, who can turn back time. If you’re approaching a deadline – mere mortal that you are – here are a few places you can go where in my experience time can actually slow down.

  1. The DMV.
  2. Customer service calls to the phone company.
  3. Jogging on the indoor track at Sun City.
  4. Meeting with an IRS agent.
  5. A long line at the grocery store with a rookie cashier, a bad receipt tape, and a customer who’s using their debit card for the first time while arguing about the amount her single tomato was discounted.
  6. The post office at lunch.
  7. Watching the calendar after hiring a building contractor with a bunch of Better Business Bureau complaints.
  8. Technical support calls from – or to – India with “Roger”, “Jason”, or “Howard”.
  9. Auto dealerships after giving up your car keys.
  10. Driving and waiting for the “Code 3” police car to pass you knowing you were five mph over the limit.
  11. Waiting for a copier repairman or anything else on grant deadline day.

So if time seems to be going too fast and your deadline is staring you down like an angry railroad union member at the helm of a locomotive, take yourself away to a place where time slows down. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could merge these time warps and make it slow down for important stuff and speed up for annoying stuff? Oh Superman, where are you!?

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Related posts:

Grant Writing and the Space/Time Continuum

Stress Relief through Laughter

———————————

Don’t forget to visit GrantGoddess.com for tips and ideas to improve your grant writing skills!

Some Grants Are Like Peanut Butter

Here we go again….. Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares yet another food-related grant writing analogy.  What do you do when the words just get stuck in your head?

In all the time I’ve been writing grants, I find that some grants flow easily out of my brain to my computer and others get stuck to the roof of my mouth like a spoonful of peanut butter. I sit at the computer during those times like my old German Short-Haired Pointer “Tucker” eating peanut butter, just gumming and gumming and gumming but not able to free up the narrative.

It’s hard sometimes to figure out why I’m stuck with a grant, but often it’s because I don’t have a clear picture of the program I am writing. Oh, I know what the program is about, but I just can’t explain how it’s going to work. Here are a few things I try to get the narrative “peanut butter” off the roof of my mouth.

  1. Develop a logic model for the project. This forces you to outline your thinking in a sequential (and logical) way.
  2. Do a little reading about the topic area you are writing about. Sometimes that gives me the spark I need.
  3. Talk more to the client about the program design and get them to expound on how they see it working.
  4. Try to write the abstract. If you can’t write a summary of the project, this may explain the parts of it that you’re stuck on.
  5. Revisit your goals and objectives. Sometimes your objectives are just activities and if they are, you’ll get stuck because you won’t have anything new to write about in the program section.

So when you’ve eaten a big gob of peanut butter and its stuck to the roof of your mouth and you’re sitting at the computer trying to get unstuck, try one of these five ideas. Hope it helps!

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Related Posts:
 
Facing the Blank Page (Or, Beginning to Write)
 
Try a Change of Perspective
 
Some Thoughts from the Coach on Setting Your Intent
 
A Few Words from the Coach about Focus
 
 
Want more tips?  Visit GrantGoddess.com!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Some Grants Are Like Peanut Butter

Here we go again….. Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares yet another food-related grant writing analogy.  What do you do when the words just get stuck in your head?

In all the time I’ve been writing grants, I find that some grants flow easily out of my brain to my computer and others get stuck to the roof of my mouth like a spoonful of peanut butter. I sit at the computer during those times like my old German Short-Haired Pointer “Tucker” eating peanut butter, just gumming and gumming and gumming but not able to free up the narrative.

It’s hard sometimes to figure out why I’m stuck with a grant, but often it’s because I don’t have a clear picture of the program I am writing. Oh, I know what the program is about, but I just can’t explain how it’s going to work. Here are a few things I try to get the narrative “peanut butter” off the roof of my mouth.

  1. Develop a logic model for the project. This forces you to outline your thinking in a sequential (and logical) way.
  2. Do a little reading about the topic area you are writing about. Sometimes that gives me the spark I need.
  3. Talk more to the client about the program design and get them to expound on how they see it working.
  4. Try to write the abstract. If you can’t write a summary of the project, this may explain the parts of it that you’re stuck on.
  5. Revisit your goals and objectives. Sometimes your objectives are just activities and if they are, you’ll get stuck because you won’t have anything new to write about in the program section.

So when you’ve eaten a big gob of peanut butter and its stuck to the roof of your mouth and you’re sitting at the computer trying to get unstuck, try one of these five ideas. Hope it helps!

——————–
 
Related Posts:
 
Facing the Blank Page (Or, Beginning to Write)
 
Try a Change of Perspective
 
Some Thoughts from the Coach on Setting Your Intent
 
A Few Words from the Coach about Focus
 
 
Want more tips?  Visit GrantGoddess.com!

Grants Are Like Sausage

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, must be hungry.  Last week, he shared with you how Grants Are Like Donuts. This week, he writes that grants are like sausage. Enjoy his post about the importance of processing and editing your final grant proposal:

Like making laws, writing grants is sort of like making sausage, a messy process not too appetizing to watch. Processing a grant, like making sausage, involves lots of parts getting thrown together, with tons of information being ground up into a palatable chunk of copy.

Have you ever chomped down on a piece of cartilage in your sausage? Kind of slows you down doesn’t it? But when sausage is properly ground, you probably don’t ever come across anything too chewy! Reading a badly written grant is kind of like that piece of cartilage that you have to stop and chew on a while.

Here’s a piece of copy from an actual grant that, in my opinion, represents chewy cartilage. This kind of chewy writing makes your brain do a lot of unnecessary and unpalatable mental chewing.

“LEP students at J. Doe elementary school have a high level of psychomotor and spatial/mechanical skills that will be utilized through computer assisted instruction to enhance language learning activities. In selecting LEP students for participation, attention was paid to the Special Education criteria required by the State Education Agency. Special Education students are diagnosed using appropriate instruments and will be served accordingly.”

I have to guess at what they were trying to say, but it sure was chewy! This grant should have been processed more, and by that I mean edited, reviewed, commentary invited, revisions made, and re-edited – then edited once more. Chewy grants don’t score well and don’t get funded. So be sure to process-process-process!

———————–

Related posts from the archives:

Trust the Grant Writing Process

How Can the Grant You Just Finished Help Make You  a Better Writer?

Good Grant Writers Are Like Wedding Planners

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Grants Are Like Sausage

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, must be hungry.  Last week, he shared with you how Grants Are Like Donuts. This week, he writes that grants are like sausage. Enjoy his post about the importance of processing and editing your final grant proposal:

Like making laws, writing grants is sort of like making sausage, a messy process not too appetizing to watch. Processing a grant, like making sausage, involves lots of parts getting thrown together, with tons of information being ground up into a palatable chunk of copy.

Have you ever chomped down on a piece of cartilage in your sausage? Kind of slows you down doesn’t it? But when sausage is properly ground, you probably don’t ever come across anything too chewy! Reading a badly written grant is kind of like that piece of cartilage that you have to stop and chew on a while.

Here’s a piece of copy from an actual grant that, in my opinion, represents chewy cartilage. This kind of chewy writing makes your brain do a lot of unnecessary and unpalatable mental chewing.

“LEP students at J. Doe elementary school have a high level of psychomotor and spatial/mechanical skills that will be utilized through computer assisted instruction to enhance language learning activities. In selecting LEP students for participation, attention was paid to the Special Education criteria required by the State Education Agency. Special Education students are diagnosed using appropriate instruments and will be served accordingly.”

I have to guess at what they were trying to say, but it sure was chewy! This grant should have been processed more, and by that I mean edited, reviewed, commentary invited, revisions made, and re-edited – then edited once more. Chewy grants don’t score well and don’t get funded. So be sure to process-process-process!

———————–

Related posts from the archives:

Trust the Grant Writing Process

How Can the Grant You Just Finished Help Make You  a Better Writer?

Good Grant Writers Are Like Wedding Planners

Donor Appreciation – It’s Magical

Here are a few thoughts on donor appreciation from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link:

My Aunt told me a funny story about her little grandson to whom she had given a cookie She didn’t get a “thank you” from him and wanting to remind him of his manners, she said to him, “What’s the magic word?” to which he said earnestly, “abracadabra?”

Being on the same page with your supporters in terms of gratitude is important. Showing appreciation needs to be communicated carefully and with meaning. People give to nonprofits because they want to feel good and often that means they are acknowledged for their gifts.

I was talking recently to a friend of mine who has been volunteering with a local nonprofit organization for many years. He owns an art gallery and a few Saturdays ago he was working on some table decorations for a big event. I stayed around to help for a while because he was working all alone.

Last week I saw my friend again and asked him how the event went. He said that the event was fine but he was discouraged by the response he received from the nonprofit for all his hard work. The nonprofit recognized his gift of time, materials and effort with a form letter that didn’t even have an original signature on it! My friend was unimpressed.

Like my Aunt getting “abracadabra” instead of “thank you”, my friend felt as though there was no real appreciation for his effort. Saying thank you to supporters of your cause doesn’t have to be spectacular, but it does need to be communicated in a “language” they understand and value, one that communicates meaningful appreciation.

Saying thank you and meaning it is magical.

———————————————-

Become a member of GrantGoddess.com for even more suggestions about successful fundraising.

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Donor Appreciation – It’s Magical

Here are a few thoughts on donor appreciation from non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link:

My Aunt told me a funny story about her little grandson to whom she had given a cookie She didn’t get a “thank you” from him and wanting to remind him of his manners, she said to him, “What’s the magic word?” to which he said earnestly, “abracadabra?”

Being on the same page with your supporters in terms of gratitude is important. Showing appreciation needs to be communicated carefully and with meaning. People give to nonprofits because they want to feel good and often that means they are acknowledged for their gifts.

I was talking recently to a friend of mine who has been volunteering with a local nonprofit organization for many years. He owns an art gallery and a few Saturdays ago he was working on some table decorations for a big event. I stayed around to help for a while because he was working all alone.

Last week I saw my friend again and asked him how the event went. He said that the event was fine but he was discouraged by the response he received from the nonprofit for all his hard work. The nonprofit recognized his gift of time, materials and effort with a form letter that didn’t even have an original signature on it! My friend was unimpressed.

Like my Aunt getting “abracadabra” instead of “thank you”, my friend felt as though there was no real appreciation for his effort. Saying thank you to supporters of your cause doesn’t have to be spectacular, but it does need to be communicated in a “language” they understand and value, one that communicates meaningful appreciation.

Saying thank you and meaning it is magical.

———————————————-

Become a member of GrantGoddess.com for even more suggestions about successful fundraising.