Nia: Thank you everyone for being here today. This workshop is called Your End-of-Year Checklist for Nonprofit Success. This free grant workshop is one of our Instrumentl educational webinars, and our goal is to focus on challenges grant writers are trying to solve while identifying tools and sharing resources to support grant seekers along the way. And for any of our first timers, I know there's quite a few of you in the room today.
Instrumentl is the most loved all-in-one grants platform for prospecting, tracking and management. And we currently help almost 4,000 nonprofits and grant consultants save time in finding and applying for more grants. So, we've grown quite a lot over the last few years. I love it when we made the pivot in the script from saying 3,000 to 4,000. That was a big day for us.
But today's event is actually about way more than just grants. We'll be covering everything from communication strategies to general nonprofit success tips to help you make the absolute most of the last eight weeks of the year. So, this is a really valuable stretch of time for nonprofits. You know, the year is coming to a close. There's key deadlines. Those reports are due. And, of course, in the spirit of the holiday season, giving tends to be at an all-time high. So, we're going to do our best to equip you to really take advantage of the last few weeks of Q4, and also set yourself up for success in 2025.
For anybody who's just trickling in, hi. It's lovely to see you. And I'm going to introduce myself very quickly. Although I am not the one presenting today, I'll get to our fantastic speakers in just a second. But my name is Nia. I'm one of the newest team members here at Instrumentl. I am an events and community manager, and my job is to develop helpful and educational events like this one to share with our community. And I actually, like I mentioned, come from the nonprofit world. So prior to this, I worked at a rainforest conservation and research nonprofit, which is very exciting. So, I love doing these events because I get to be in a room full of nonprofit professional. And this is really like, I love my people. This feels like home to me." So, thank you all for taking your morning or your afternoon to be here with us.
Some quick FYI. This event is 90 minutes long, give or take a couple. This includes our panel discussion with our experts, a live Q&A, and then we'll also have a hands-on workshop. It is being recorded, so you'll get the recording delivered straight to your inbox tomorrow along with a ton of other resources. And I know we're all super busy working hard. So, thank you first of all, again for being here with us. But I also want to make sure you feel free to take care of your personal needs during our event, whether it's grabbing a snack, getting a little break. You do you. We'll be right here.
I do want you to stick around till the end though because we always have a couple people win coffee on us, and also our experts are going to be sharing some really valuable free resources and opportunities towards the end that we'll shout out for you. And that's not all you'll be leaving with. Give me a thumbs up or let me know in the chat if your organization could use a couple more good fit grant opportunities or funders on your radar. I feel like, "Why not?" You can never have too many, right? If you're a US-based 501c3, then you'll have a chance to roll up your sleeves in today's workshop in the second half of our event to be able to curate that list of brand new funders and active grant opportunities that have been custom matched to you.
So with that, let's talk about where we're headed just quickly cover our agenda. We're going to explore all things Q4 with our amazing panelists. You'll meet them in just a moment.
We'll start by exploring the opportunities for fundraising that exist at this time of year. We'll look into strategies to get the attention of donors and stakeholders and how you can be using your communications to further set yourself up for success. And we'll talk a little bit about reporting best practices. So, this is a time when a lot of reports are due, maybe you have projects or grants wrapping up. And the way you close those out can actually set the stage for what comes next. So, compliance and effective reporting is super important. And then we'll touch on grants and how you can be winning more of them in 2025. And like I said, we'll wrap up with our hands-on workshop so we can send you away with new funders grants to explore ahead the new year.
And finally, let's go ahead and open up those workbooks. So, I'll paste a link in the chat. This link is going to make a Google doc copy. So, it's owned by you. I can't access it. I can't see it. It's yours to use as you like. You'll own it forever. So if you click that, it'll make a copy in your Google drive. If you don't have access to a Google Drive, I'll also put in a PDF version in the chat. There you go. And this is what it looks like.
So as we move through these topics, I encourage you to take notes on the strategies that resonate with you. You can start thinking about how you'll implement these or, you know, who on your team might own the task. If you have any ideas, you can jot them down as we move through these topics and anything that'll be helpful for you to reference back in the coming weeks. And at the bottom of the workbook, there's a space for a to-do list so you can actually write down the specific items you want to tackle to help you build these strategies into your nonprofit. Let me know if you have questions in the chat about the worksheet.
If you scroll up just a little bit in the chat, you'll see both the Google Doc version and the PDF version. So, open that up and follow along. And finally, with all of that out of the way, I want to jump to the good stuff. We have three incredibly knowledgeable experts in the room with us today to share their best practices. I want to give them a huge shout out, first of all, for taking the time to be here today and for being so generous with their expertise. I pretty much -- when we were planning this event I pretty much ask them to, you know, "Can you just share your secrets to success? And they're kind enough to not not just divulge that info but actually be here in person to walk you through what those tactics look like. So, I'm going to turn it over to Teresa, to Chad, to Sheleia to introduce themselves and share a little bit about the work they do before we dive into our end of year strategies discussion.
So, Teresa, why don't you start it us off?
Teresa: Sure. Well, thank you so much for creating this space and having this event today. I'm so excited and it's always fun to collaborate with other nonprofit pros. So, this is a great time of year to be doing it.
So, I'm Teresa Huff. I host the grant writing simplified podcast. I'm a nonprofit strategist. So, I've done grant writing for about 20 years. Before, that was a special ed teacher and then just kind of the journey takes turns in ways we don't expect and realized that the nonprofits I worked with that were successful with grants had more of that strategic piece in common. So now, I work with non-profits on building their grant readiness being more strategic about how they approach grants and then training grant writers to be more competitive as they're helping nonprofits whether as clients, you know,
with consulting or if they are working in a nonprofit as an employee. So, it's really a lot of fun to see so many different causes.
I love reading the chat where everyone's from and the kinds of things everyone's working with. That's my favorite part is just the variety.
Nia: Yeah. Absolutely. The chat is one of my favorite parts of all of these events. Sometimes I'm sad when I'm the one running the event because I can't really be in the chat. So, I love when we have other people come on to speak and then I'm, like, all in the chat.
Sheleia, why don't you go next?
Sheleia: Awesome. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. My name is Sheleia Phillips. I am the founder and principal of SMP Nonprofit Consulting. You may also know me as the grant writing coach from social media. I've been in the nonprofit grant writing side for about 10 years now. I'm -- actually, my story or journey is very similar to Teresa. And that I started out as an intern, actually a biology and public health intern, and wearing many hats, internships and all the other goody stuff. Somehow turned out to be a grant writer and work myself into a full-time job and never left. So, I tell folks all the time, "There's no particular degree or space that you have to be in to be a grand professional." All of us bump our heads along the way. So, we're here to share those gems of wisdom with you.
I'm always excited to share the stage with you all because not only am I learning with the audience, but I'm learning from our panelist. So, super excited to be here. I'm grateful for this opportunity. And also, y'all pick our brains. Tonight or today is going to be such a good session. Be generous in the chat. If you see something or hear something that resonates with you, please write it down. And also, reach out to us. Just as we're generous here today, reach out to us on social media or email, or whatever. The communication channels are going to be in the chat, and we'll be more than happy to talk with you.
Nia: Thank you, Sheleia. And, Chad, let's go to you.
Chad: Yeah. Great to be here. Thank you for the opportunity. I'm Chad Barger, fundraising trainer, coach. It's the only thing I've ever done. So, I had a 20-year frontline fundraising career and then kind of fell into this training, coaching world, which is kind of weird, but kind of amazing. And so, my passion has just shifted from fundraising for what I care about to helping other people fundraise for what they care about and just seeing that that leverage has been amazing. So, yeah, you might know me as Fundraiser Chad Online. I have webinars, YouTube, all this stuff, you know. We get too busy with all of that.
But basically is trying to get practical tips out there to small to midsize nonprofits so they can focus on what actually
matters and not just all the noise. And I'm not a grant writer. I have written grants, but I always tried to outsource it as fast as possible. So, I think I'm the alternative viewpoint here today. So, we'll see how that plays out.
Nia: You know, outsourcing a grant is still writing a grant. It doesn't really matter what you do to get there, as long as you get it in, right? I love hearing the way that the folks, like the true experts in this space, when you all share your stories I love hearing about how we all ended up here, which is always like, well, it wasn't really -- it wasn't point A to point B, right? Point B was never even on the radar. So it was -- I love hearing that story. So, I want to just go ahead and jump right into the content for today.
And I had promised everybody that we're going to talk about year end fundraising tactics. I think as nonprofit professionals fundraising is always top of mind. And this quarter is historically a very concentrated time for fundraising, you know, between the holidays, giving Tuesday, the year wrapping up, planning for 2025. Everyone is on high alert, you know. What are those opportunities that we can tap into? So, our first question is, and Chad, why don't you go ahead and get started with this one is? What are ways to maximize fundraising at this time of year? You know, what's your top tip for Q4 fundraising?
Chad: Well, I always look at quarter 4. I call it the Fundraising Super Bowl. Right? Like, it's just when a lot of it happens. So when we look at the statistics, 30% of all giving happens in the last six weeks of the year, 12% of all giving happens in the last three days of the year. So, and usually, like, you know, we get to mid November here, like, grant works kind of done for the year. Like, maybe we have some reports, but the applications are all in. So, we're kind of turning to the other verticals of, you know, what's going on. So, my rule of thumb here is you got to get something in their postal mailbox in the last six weeks. Right? Something that actually asks for money. Yes. We do that.
And you actually, you have to have something in their email inbox in the last three days. So, like, this is just kind of my easy go to sequence for a small nonprofit is like, "Let's drop a fundraising appeal letter, you know, around cyber Monday, like, just after Thanksgiving. Let's do a follow-up email, like 10 days later. And then can we have a super short, easy email like on the 29th and the 31st?" If you do that at a minimum, you know, you've kind of covered end of year outside of the grant's perspective. I said I'm not the grant writer. So, I'm giving you the other pieces. So, that's my easy end of year formula. And I'll give you some plugs at the end with some samples.
Nia: I love that the formula comes with dates, you know. Sometimes you get a formula and it's kind of like when you're looking at a -- you're looking at a recipe and it's like, "Oh, a pinch of salt," and you're like, "Mmm. I don't really know what a pinch is." But I love the date shout out and the 10 days later. I think for any of you who have your workbooks open make sure you're taking notes there. Teresa, let's go to you.
Teresa: Sure. And I know a lot of us are feeling that pressure if you're in the grant space at all because it's either applications, that second wave kind of hits at the end of the year, or all those reports and the deadlines trying to juggle that. And those can be easy to forget and overlook. And so, with that, I love Chad's quantification of that.
My tips are kind of the opposite of remembering that whatever it is, whether it's a report, a grant, fundraising interaction, it's always about the people. And so, remembering that relationship building peace, there's a person on the other side of every email, every application every report that we write. And so, write those from the heart for the people. On the other side, it's not a transaction. And I know there can't be a lot of pressure to hit the goals, hit the metrics, whatever those are, as far as fundraising, but we're planting seeds. And some seeds are going to harvest now. And by the end of the year, we'll raise money. Some seeds maybe won't come for another few months or next year or down the road. But still, it's about the people.
And so, just because we're building a relationship now, that doesn't result in a donation doesn't mean it won't pay off down the road, but it's still a person whether or not they give. So pace yourself, give yourself a lot of grace. Even if you're feeling that pressure, I think that's really important to remember to just breathe, take some time to just really, you know, keep that pace so you don't burn out and you can also enjoy the holidays and your family and everything else going on. So just building those relationships before you need them, enjoying the journey of the relationship building process just as much as trying to track some of those metrics and wins.
Nia: Yeah, for sure. And I love Chad also liked that he shouted out in the chat box. But that call out about self-care, right, it's a busy time of year and it's very easy to burn out. And there's a lot we have to keep track of. So, I love that. That was a part of your tip as well.
Sheleia, let's hear yours.
Sheleia: Yeah. I echo both Chad and Teresa's thoughts. And that it's a strategic time, but we also have to take care of ourselves. If you have been in any room with me, I always say that we are human beings, not human doings. So, balancing the work that we do in and throughout the year with the end of year rush can be a delicate balance. But it's doable especially when you're in community.
In terms of, like, end of year fundraising tactic, Teresa spoke very beautifully about the seed, time, and the harvest of those relationships, particularly newer ones. But one, I guess, kind of special sauce, that has been working for my clients more recently. I would say in the last year or two is for those existing relationships. So, they've been a consistent or multi-year grant funder for a particular client. There's always some type of, I like to call it like money behind the closed doors. That's like a surprise. We have extra couple thousand dollars that we need to get out the door before the end of the year.
You all are already a grantee. Like, these are typically how those conversations go. We don't need an actual grant application. We just need you to report back. And nine times out of 10, those report backs aren't formal. Let me say this. As we go more into a progressive space or way of doing things or community centric way of doing things, I've seen funders like scrap the reporting. Not all, but some for more of a conversation. So, you want to -- if you have a portfolio of grant funders our partners, investors that are already investing in your organization, you have a good mutual and working relationship. You'll be surprised to see if there are additional or extra resources that you can capitalize on before the end of the year. So, don't forget to just focus on those. But not negating or neglecting new relationships but, you know, just -- it doesn't hurt to see, to pick up the phone and to see if there are any opportunities to share impact and things like that before the end of the year. And you may be surprised.
And if not this year, definitely start building your momentum and planning those Cs for next year.
Nia: Yeah. Thank you so much. We actually just had somebody requested to start questions in the chat. I would encourage everybody who has questions. Please just drop them in the chat. I'm keeping notes.
And so, I'll bring them back up at the end. So, just do it in the chat because that's a lot easier for me to track. So, Sheleia, I actually want to come back to you because all three of you touched on this element of, you know, the end of your fundraising being so dependent on the humans on both sides of that conversation, right? So, I want to pivot to talking about holiday communication strategies, end-of-year communication strategies just because we're transitioning very smoothly into that. There are a ton of opportunities here to be getting your messaging out there. But again, it's a very busy time of year, right? So you want to be standing out to donors, to funders, to stakeholders. So, I would love to hear you guys dive a little bit deeper into that -- your actual tips for when you talk about the human-to-human communication there.
What are some tips you have, you know, to stand out effective CTAs, key moments to not be missing? Let us know.
Sheleia: Yeah. So, I would say the goal of any communication when it comes to our partners is to share those impact stories. So, this isn't something that you should be doing or rushing to do at the end of the year. It's something that we encourage our clients to do all throughout the year and share those out through reports or if you have an active email list that your grant partners or investors are on to make sure that that's consistent. But the end of the year is a special time simply because we're all in a festive mood. It's, you know, the -- how should I say?
The culture of it all so they kind of expect that end of year rush. So, this is a really key time to highlight stories not only for your clients but the community and just outcomes as a whole. But not in a way that is -- so I don't want to say cut and dry, but in my line of work sometimes it could be very cut and dry. Metrics and KPIs, and things like that. But really, highlight the nature of the story or what's the impact has been in a way that gives a depth and the richness to it. Anytime you can use photos and videos would be great. And sometimes we can't do that in a grant portal or in a Google doc.
So one strategy that I've seen more recently as well is like funder lunch and learns or these virtual events where nonprofits are actually inviting current and perspective grant makers or folks that they want to partner with to a 30, 45-minute Zoom chat to talk about outcomes what they're doing, what the vision for the future is. And if there's time in it and it, can I say gels well with the tone of the day, you know, here are some ways that you can partner, and I find that very, very, very effective simply because we're not bogged down by different -- excuse me, by a long moves management sheet. Like, we need to call this person, send the mailer to this person, which works sometimes. But, you know, in the grants world, sometimes we won't even get a call back or an email back.
But if you have these Zoom sessions that are very short, offer some type of cup of coffee. "Here's a virtual link on us," something like that. That also works. And for those of us who are introverted in the room, it cuts down on all of the energy that I have to do about making a million calls. If I can just get 30 minutes in the Zoom room, I got to say it, once I gotta, you know, put on the -- not the best show but I can devote my energy very strategically versus having all of these touch points. So, consider that both for your organization and for you as a professional because we're all about selfcare.
Nia: I love that. And Stephanie in the chat actually says they were able to do an in-person partners, an impact luncheon in October. So, there's that in action. I think maybe this is just me or, like, the folks that I've been interacting with. But it feels like especially after the pandemic, the idea of getting face to face even if you're not in person has been kind of intimidating. But it's such a high value opportunity that we shouldn't be missing out on, you know. There's -- I mean you can personalize an email, but it's so different to just getting face to face with someone, right? So, I think that's -- there's a lot of value in there.
Teresa, do you want to share your tips?
Teresa: Sure. Yeah. And, Sheleia, I so resonate with the introvert tips and having that bandwidth. It was a game changer for me of recognizing that about myself. And I talk about that a lot on the podcast too of, like, understanding and pacing what's a healthy pace for you as a grant writer and a consultant. And so, I'm glad you brought that up.
My recommendation kind of piggybacks off of that is to be as I recommend for grants as well, to be clear, concise, and compelling. So whether you're telling those impact stories or the data and metrics, I've seen way too many nonprofits so passionate about their cause and what they're doing that they basically just mission vomit on people. And it's more of a deterrent than an attractor. And they love it so much it makes me sad because it's like, "Okay, if you would just dial that in and get super crisp about your messaging, again clear, concise, and compelling, it would make such a difference and they would be shocked at the transformation. And that's so hard to see for ourselves sometimes. We might need an outside perspective to help us realize, "Oh, wait, this is a lot for people who aren't working in it every day. Maybe we need to put this in smaller doses."
And again, back to what I said earlier about the people first and really thinking about what's best for the people we're speaking to, how much information do they need to make a good informed decision without smothering them. So having that balance in your communications is important, especially where they're probably inundated. Not probably, but this time of year they are inundated with commercials, and ads, and promotions, and donation requests, and everything going on. Just keeping that in mind and helping them have a good pace too. And that'll make you stand out.
Nia: Yeah, 100%. I look back at some of the communications that I was in charge of when I was at my nonprofit before I had experience, you know, from this side working with grants and, you know, speaking to so many experts. And I look back on that now and I'm like, "This is about a thousand words." Too many. Like, no one on earth knows this much about rainforest conservation. And they just, you know, they're not going to care. It's too much. So, I totally resonate with being clear and concise. And it's sometimes hard because, you know, you really do care about your mission and all of it feels important to you. But you want to make sure you're hitting that balance where, you know, they're actually reading all the way through to the end, right?
Teresa: Yeah, as much as we sometimes don't -- sorry. As much as we don't like some of those constraints of the word count or character counts, that actually forces us to really decide what's the most important information here. So, it's a forcing function for us.
Nia: Yeah, for sure. There's no pressure like that when you've written the most beautiful thing and then you realize you're 50 characters over word count and you're like, "Well, which 50 do I like the least? I guess."
And, Chad, I want to go to you because you were so formulaic in your first answer. I wonder if you have a similarly formulaic answer here, or if you're going more.
Chad: No.
Nia: No. Let's hear it.
Chad: No. We're gonna go old school. Like, we have all these tech tools and, like, yes, we can email them, we can text, we can do all these things. But what I've seen a lot of success with late in the year. So especially, like, you get to like December 10th and the world just kind of starts slowly shutting down. And, like, nobody's going to reply to anything and you're like, "Well, I still have 10 days to work. What do I do?" I've had a lot of success with organizations making or creating something tied to their mission and hand delivering it to the donor or the funder. So my classic example here is, I have an organization that helps individuals that are experiencing disabilities, and they have a job training programming that is cooking focused.
So from, like, mid November through mid December, they bake all these mini loaves of bread. And then come December, the executive director takes one of the individuals and they make a little package and they just go hand deliver this bread and have a conversation with the donor, like, on their front porch. And this doesn't sound Grant applicable. But guess what? Every grant program has a person behind them. We forget this all the time, right? There are human decision makers behind it. You know, whether it's a trust that has a banker that's administering, there are people. And even if we don't actually see them, like, just go to their office and leave it with the receptionist and, like, it's just this unique little moment.
And it's also like they're teaching life skills to the individual at the same time. Like, of having conversations and all these things. So, like, just what does that look like for your organization? Is there something we could do is there something tied to our mission that makes sense that we could somehow get to people and just not be so techy all of a sudden because I feel like that time of year too we're all nostalgic, like we're just craving that human contact and touch. So, just something I've seen work. I'll throw it out there. Let it resonate. What's that look like for your organization?
Nia: I think there's another worksheet moment there for everyone. You wrote down the strategy. Now start thinking about what it is that you can bake, knit, create, conjure up that's related to your mission. And then, you know, find that 990 form, find that address and go on and deliver it, right? I love that. And I mean bread, baked bread what could be a better delivery, right? That's perfect. I'm actually going to pivot us to our next topic. And this is maybe going to be a little less exciting and a little less creative, but I think it's really important that we talk about reporting best practices, right? This is kind of a tricky one because I think reporting is probably the bane of many nonprofit professionals existences. But it's so important in setting your organization up for future funding success, right? Being transparent and proactive. And reporting can be a complicated process, you know, with different compliance terms varying from funder to funder or even if we're not talking about a grant report.
You still want to make sure you're sharing out your impact in a way that's effective. So give us some of your best practices here. Sheleia, let's start with you.
Sheleia: Awesome. So I am going to plug Instrumentl here in, one, making sure that your trackers are up to date. I love, love, love Instrumentl because it gives me those automated updates through -- not only just during the end of the year, but all throughout the year so that I can have a heads up in that integration with the Google Calendar. So, that's from a very practical standpoint. Keeping track of those deadlines so that you can know what's coming. And if you are overwhelmed to any extent, you can reach out for help. So when I was working inhouse while I was the only grant writer, I also engage the help of, like, program folks, finance folks who help me complete reports in a way to help me keep all my hair on my head, if you catch my drift. So, I believe that every good grant professional never works in a silo or by themselves. It's a group and it's a team effort. So find some folks that are dependable, that know your programs. They can help you out along the way.
When it comes to the reports themselves, of course, quantify those outcomes as best you can. Anytime that you write a grant, I like to say grants in my mind or a lot like contracts. And sometimes we do have those grant agreements that are contracts. And we have for a set of outcomes or a set of strategies, we expect to do this for an investment of XYZ. But things don't always go to plan. So, quantify and share out what you can. But in that, it's always an opportunity to highlight your challenges and lessons learned alongside that because sometimes funders use our reports as feedback on what those expectations are. So, this was years, years back and I'm speaking more locally, of course, so local private foundation grants. There was a funder here based in St. Louis where the actual -- we were able. I was working at a boys and girls club at that time. We were able to, I guess, let me say this. The expectations were so high in terms of, like, "Here's our logic model. Here's" -- like we want all grantees to hit this 80 and 80% and above benchmark. But very rarely did any of the grantees meet that. So, that helped them adjust their expectations because, again, there's always a person on the other end. Rather, you're a grantee or a grantor. So, those are always useful. And then those personalized reports help, help us to know that the work that we're doing is effective and it also is very beneficial if you want to renew that funding in the years to come. So, don't neglect reports.
Again, as we start to move to a more progressive space and grant making, I've seen a lot of funders actually throw out the actual black and white or written report for more conversations, which makes it easier. But still the core concepts remain the same, making sure you're quantifying your outcomes, telling the stories, highlight challenges and lessons learned, and know that your feedback as a grantee does make a difference even if you don't see it at first. So just being very mindful of that and being confident that you're not only a grantee but you're partner and you have a voice. Therefore, have a voice in mobilizing resources differently and for more impact, not just for yourself but for others.
Nia: Yeah. Absolutely. I think that's something that we don't focus on enough is the fact that a funding relationship is really a two-way relationship. The funder is implementing their mission through the nonprofit that's doing the work, right? So it's not like they're doing you a favor by giving you the funding. It's really a two-way relationship there. Teresa, I'd love to go to you next so we can get the grant writers' perspective and then we can go to Chad.
Teresa: Sure. Well, I love Sheleia's breakdown of all the elements that are typically in a report. And that's so important. And it's like with writing a grant. It's just like with the report, follow the instructions. If they've asked for specific things, go through the reporting guidelines. What do they want to see? And when in doubt, ask them. They're there to help. And I really think the reporting process, I've seen a lot of nonprofits wait until the day it's due or the day before and they're scrambling. It really begins as soon as the grant is awarded. When you find out it's awarded, you need to be looking at that program saying, "Okay. What are we going to be accountable for here? In 12 months when this report is due, what do we need to be tracking along the way?" And then as she mentioned as well, they know things sometimes go off track, and that it's not going to be perfect. But if you are in communication with them, they want to work with you. They want to see you succeed. And I'd say, be proactive.
If you see things are getting a little out of whack from the original plan, let them know why, make adjustments along the way so then it's not a shock when they get the report and see, "What? You didn't do half of the stuff?" So, that way they're a partner with you and you're building that collaboration. And I would also say too, as I see this common thread today of always show the human side as well. Like, even if they don't ask for it, I include a sincere note from the board or from someone in the organization about your support has meant the world to us this year. Thank you. It's made a difference in XYZ, whatever. Like, just show something sincere, even a handwritten note. Or if you work with kids, have some of the kids draw a picture or, you know, just something unique to stand out that, you know, maybe they'll pin it on their bulletin board or in their office and just to have a little token that is just a different appreciation that appeals to the human side of that, as opposed to just popping in the form to call it done and check it off the list. How can you show that deeper level of appreciation? Whether it's baked bread which, you know, I think sign us all up for that, Chad. We're good to go. Or something else what can you do to truly show and appeal to that human piece of that as well.
Nia: Yeah. And I think one really good point that you make is that a report, or anything that you submit to a funder or really any stakeholder, it's an opportunity not just to share an outcome, right, or the impact, but it's also an opportunity to show who you are as a collaborator. So, being proactive and transparent. And that's equally as important, right, as the actual outcome that you're going to be sharing about. So like you said, if things go array, that's fine. But just be proactive about it and be transparent. That's one of the tips that I think really changed my experience in grants was understanding that. It's not like middle school where you have to submit a report and you either pass or fail. It's more so about what's the process, how are you going to pivot when you realize things aren't going to plan and being in constant communication there. So, Chad, I'd love to hear from you now as the non-grant writer in the room about your reporting best practice.
Chad: Yeah. So, I've never written a grant report in my life. I've always hired people to do that for me. But as we're going to get to trend of my comments going out from here are you can outsource grant writing, you can't outsource grant relationships. So, that is still like on you. You have to manage that. And Instrumentl is a great tool to help you do that. But -- so grant reporting, like, the report goes and you hear nothing. Right? Like, they get it, you know, they check the box, they submitted their report on time. Did they read it? I don't know.
I always love to follow up. So, like, 15 days, you know, a couple weeks after the report came in, just a random call like, "Hey, just checking in. I know our grant report came in. We felt like we had a really good year. What did you feel about our -- were you happy with our results? Did we follow everything? Are we doing what we need? And the shock I would receive from these grant administrators, like, they don't get a lot of these calls. So just be like, "Well, yeah. I read it. Like, everything seems good." And I'm like, "Well, do you have any constructive feedback? Like, what can we do better next year?" A lot of folks, you know, the common advice is, if you get rejected, call them to see, you know, "Are we a good fit? Should we try again? You know, what can we do better?" They're used to that. But just a call from a random fundee that just, you know, "Did we do everything we needed to do? Is this relationship going down the right path? Can just kind of lead to some good conversations and deepen that.
And then you have to remember, like, they're your advocate in the room. Like, so the administrator gets the proposal, they pre-read it. If everything qualifies, it goes into the review pile, and then it'll pop up during the agenda at the review meeting and they say, "Yeah, this organization, we've been working with them for 3 to 5 years. They're very proactive. They reach out to me to see what they can be doing better." Like, make that person your advocate. Like, just, you know, do that. It just takes being human having that conversation. So, reach out. This, you know, it seems overwhelming in December. So maybe, this is even like a January technique. Like, you know, January is a little calmer. Like, reach out to your grand funders. How did this past year go? What do you is there anything changing for the next year? Try to get an edge on what's coming up. But be human. Reach out. Have a conversation.
Nia: Yeah. I think one thing that's super important there is that, you know, this is somebody that you already have an in with. So, it's going to be such a different relationship also, a different experience for you cultivating and nurturing that relationship versus trying to cold call someone and start from scratch, right? So everything you can, you know, being intentional with those feedback loops. Chad, what you were talking about. You know, really seeking out feedback even if they're not being proactive with it starting that conversation, I think, is a really valuable thing that you can leverage because you have that opportunity. You already have this relationship. And now, you just have to grow it and sustain it, right? So I want to --
Chad: Grant administrators are also introverts. So, you have to prompt them. Yeah.
Nia: Yeah. It sounds like a common trend here across all four of us up here. And it seems like a lot of folks in the chat is maybe a lot of introverts in this space. And yet, here we are right? So it's all about, you know, fake it till you make it, right? So, I want to quickly pivot to talking about grants. And, Chad, I want to start with you just because you've been very clear that you're not a grant writer. But you work with a lot of nonprofits and you have a whole lot of experience in this space. So, you might have a really unique take here. But for our final topic, I want to go kind of back to basics at Instrumentl. Our expertise is really grants and grant funding. So, this is the part that I'm always really personally eager to hear different expert's best practices around, whether it's about respecting or funder research or writing proposals. Chad, do you want to kick us off with this one?
Chad: Sure thing. I'm real simple here, like, especially if you're a small nonprofit, you know, you're an executive director trying to do it all, you're a development director, you're a team of one. You have all these other things. Like, you don't have to do it all and looking for partners out there. So, I've mentioned outsourcing, grant writing a couple times. I always think it's something look into for a small nonprofit, especially. Like, if you're in a big shop and your title is grants director and your job is to write grants all day. Okay. Yes, write grants all day. But other people, like, grants so often, you know, when we look at where does all the money come from, about 20% comes from foundations and government sources. So, that's the amount of time that you should probably also be designated to it. So if grants are taking up 50% of your time, maybe you need some help there. Or maybe, like, you're good at writing them, you just need some help finding them, or, you know, you need some help with reporting, those kind of things. There are qualified people in your community. And the true value here is that they know the local foundation scene. Right? They write for 10, 15, 20 other organizations. They know exactly what that foundation wants. So, yes, you know how to tell your story best, but they can take that story and customize it for exactly what that foundation is looking for. So, it's just kind of a thought of, "You don't have to do it all. You don't have to do every piece. You can kind of, you know, pick and choose."
But as I alluded to earlier, the one thing you do have to do is manage the process. The deadlines are still on you. Is this happening? Even if I've sent it to this person, are they on top of it? If a grant deadline gets missed, it still comes back to you. So having a tool like Instrumentl, or something, to make sure you're on top of it is really essential whether you're doing the writing or not.
Nia: 100%. Like, you really want to be setting up your team for success because that's really going to reflect on you. It's going to reflect on the impact, right? So, I think that's super important And I love that, that tip about, you know, outsource where you can and if you can. And if it makes sense for you, you don't have to do it all, right? I think a lot of nonprofits or maybe this is my own experience projecting here. But a lot of nonprofits really bootstrap it, and you start doing things that you have no experience in, you're just going to learn as you go. And I mean, of course, you can't always outsource. That's going to require some sort of funding, some sort of investment. But you really want to calculate, you know. Maybe it's going to actually be a really good return on investment if we do outsource this specific thing, right? So, I think that's a really good call out there. Teresa, do you do you want to take on grant's tip?
Chad: Yeah. Sure. Of course, I do. Always fun. Yeah. And just to add to that with the outsourcing, I'm seeing more and more nonprofits that we've been doing a hybrid of outsourcing where maybe they have somebody in-house wanting to learn, willing to learn, has the bandwidth but just no experience with grants. So, we've done a combination of outsourcing plus coaching to help build their in-house capacity, which is also a really good approach because then they can do that with guidance and build their own in-house, like, capabilities and relationships as well with the grant makers. And then the third part of that equation that we haven't really touched on yet is how much do you incorporate AI and the tools that are out there? And I think that's going to become more and more of the discussion over the next year and beyond. It's not going away. So, how can we use that tool effectively?
And really, what I think it boils down to is we still have to be authentic and strategic no matter what tools we use. Whether it's an credible tool like Instrumentl and the research, or AI tools to help us with the writing, we still need to step back and be strategic about it and look at it creatively. How can we stand out and be different? And how can we make it sound like we wrote it in our voice, in our tone, not robotic, you know, whatever it may be. And so, really, whether it's like we were talking about before with building funder relationships or with going into next year, really approaching foundations with, "How can we serve them and take a sincere interest in their work?" I mean, I'm sure they get calls all the time of "We're looking for this funding. How can we get a grant from you?" Kind of like the teacher in class where the kids just always need something, but how many students ever come up and say, "You know, Ms. Nia, how's your day going? How are you doing today? Can I help you?" No students do that. And so, with grant makers, it might really surprise them if you were like, "Hey, I would love to learn more about your mission and what got you into this work in the first place. Why are you here?"
And just showing that not with the goal of, "How can we get money?" but just truly learning and how can we support you in your foundation. That can really shift the conversation and the relationships. And that takes even with AI tools and automations in the mix, that takes the relationships to a whole new level that I think will become more and more vious which ones truly care about that and which ones are just popping into AI to crank out grants. That's going to be a big differentiator going forward.
Nia: For sure. And we had a lot of questions actually come in the chat earlier about, you know, how can I be reaching out to funders? What can I ask them if I'm not specifically asking for money at that moment? So, I think that was a really good tip there. Workbooks out, everyone. Sheleia, do you want to go ahead with your tip?
Sheleia: Yeah. So, I want to go back to the point of both -- that Chad and Teresa made about outsourcing. And what came to mind, I call them light bulb moments is when I started out full-time consulting. I had -- you have to make a couple of decisions. What do I do with -- if I have a lot of time and what do I do when I have a lot of money? So anytime where we're talking about outsourcing, I find especially newer nonprofits aren't prepared for the level of investment that comes with hiring a consultant. So, I really love how Teresa said, "We have a hybrid approach," which is something that I do hear at SMP a lot. That helps make that cost not so strenuous. But then I also want to encourage the audience to think about if you don't have the resources at the moment for long time or, excuse me, long-term engagements or a long-term coaching. What you could do are what we call like short term or special projects to build something similar to a master grant application or a language repository. So, I share that because not only does that help you save time, but you can constantly refine that language and that messaging in your attachments while you're building up your capacity to outsource. So, rather that includes like common language for the major sections of a grant.
And, of course, like you all hear me out, please do not copy and paste the same answer for every grant. But be sure to revise, edit, and modify the language to meet what the funder is asking for. And be sure to replace the funder's names in the language, you know. Don't just copy and paste and think that that's it. It just -- trust me, we don't want to do that. But what I am going to encourage you to do is that it gives you a base. Anything that you do, you always want to have a strong foundation and strong base to work off of until you have an excess, or at least enough capacity to share out financial resources. So when you have a lot of time, it's a lot of ways around it that you can save money, including AI tools that can help you refine that language. But it just takes more of our investment internally before we try and outsource it.
Another piece that I want to share about AI that, you know, we've had conversations around before. It's like, "Will AI ever replace us?" And it's absolutely not. I like to look at any AI tool as a research assistant. And as you all are working inhouse or even if you're a new consultant, think about the implication. So while we love technology, we still need to use it wisely. And I like to share this reminder. Anytime I'm on a platform and talking about AI, any large language model that you share content with, that information is public knowledge. So internally make sure that it's okay with your leadership that you're sharing proprietary information if you -- I'm going to give you all a trick. This is just on me. Redact the information and see what kind of language ideas comes out so that your particular name or your particular function or, you know, your special sauces and just out there in the LLM somewhere But then also, be mindful. I think someone put it in the chat, of the type of language that it's going to output. So as you're looking at it and you're just like, "Hey, all right. This is great," have a second pair of eyes so that your proposal doesn't sound so AI-ish. And we all know what that sounds like. So, modify.
It's great for social media because it helps us save time, but it's not necessarily the best in telling your story all the time when it comes to grant proposals. You still have to go back. So, that's my two cents on just foundational fundraising strategies in the new landscape we're all finding ourselves navigating right now.
Nia: I love that. That was a lot of really, really good insights. And I think the master grant application got a lot of folks chatting. In the chat box, we did have a question that says, "What is a master grant application?" And Teresa just answered it. But Sheleia, if you want to take a step at just answering that so everybody who's not following the chat can hear what that is.
Sheleia: Of course. And thank you, Teresa, for having my back in the chat. So, it's a boilerplate of information, language, and content, or what we like to call assets, that you find -- commonly find in every grant proposal. So your description of your organization and history, your problem statement or statement of need, program description, logic models, budgets. Those tend to change year over year. Anything with your master template or library needs to be updated every year. Your evaluation plan outcomes all of that that you find. If you're ever sitting down at a computer and you're like, "Oh, I've written this before. Let me go back to this." It's nine times out of 10 going to land in your boiler plate or your master template. If you're new newer in the grant space, you may not have a lot of language. But what you'll find is that the more grants that you apply for, the more language that you can use and refine. And as you build that up again, make sure that you're updating that information year over year, of course.
But then you're also making sure that you're building upon the foundation for every grant. So, it's not a copy and paste swiping my forehead, "Oh, I'm done," but using it to frame your thoughts. If you want a professional to review or to create that language for you that's something that we do at SMP. But that's also an option. But if you have existing assets that you just want us to look at and look at it as a grant review with -- I'd like to call it it's a grant review without a deadline to amplify the language. That's an option as well. And that cuts down on the cost. You're still working with the external grants consultant, but it cuts down on that cost of having us on a retainer or this large 20 -- and if it's a federal grant 100 or 150 hour grant proposal but you have something to start with. So, yeah. Small investment before a significant change while you're building your capacity.
Nia: Thank you, Sheleia.
So with that, I mean I sort of already transitioned us to the Q&A. But I've been keeping notes about all of the questions that have come in the chat, and there have been a lot. So, we will absolutely not have the time to get through all of them. But I just want to go through some of the ones that were repeats that came up several times or some of the ones that got a lot of emoji reactions. And I'll just throw these out to one of our panelists and then feel free to hop in if you want to add anything else. I want to start with Chad because you had spoken about the feedback loops, right? And so, one of the questions that came in was, "What are the best ways to get feedback after a grant isn't approved?" Or I think we could expand this question further just like what are good ways to be seeking feedback in that grant relationship.
Chad: Yeah. I mean, I think it's a classic situation where we're -- we let our mind get to us. Like, we let our confidence go like, "Okay. Like, they said no." Like, it's not the end of the world, right? Just something wasn't right. No doesn't mean I hate you. No means like it just didn't work. They ran out of money something didn't fit. So, just that simple human outreach. Send an email, send a -- make a call, send a letter, whatever you have just, "Hey, we would love some constructive feedback on, you know, what wasn't right this time around. You know, we don't want to waste our time or your time moving forward. And which -- what's going on?" Right? Just that simple request. They respect that and go from there. So, like, yeah, I don't want to go too deep. Just, you know, reach out. Be human.
Nia: Yeah, that's a good reminder. Grants are complex. But not every part of it has to be a very tricky challenge, right? You can just be straight forward. Teresa, I want to come to you with this question. Somebody asked, "What are the best ways to begin to build the relationships for funding? Would you recommend LinkedIn and inviting them to a quick Zoom call?
Teresa: Yeah, that's a good one. So I would look at it as building the relationship. I look on the website first to find out what I can about them, dig through Instrumentl or other background information on their giving history, expectations for grants to try to gather clues. And then I do like to connect on LinkedIn. But a lot of times, I don't want to just immediately say, "Hey, I saw you offer a grant program. Can we chat on Zoom?" I'd rather build that relationship first and maybe spread that out a bit longer. And then if they have a method of preferred contact on their website, I would start with that. Sometimes they'll post their phone number or email right there. So, that can be a more direct way in addition to LinkedIn to have that also more human approach as well just to say, "Hey we're connected. I would love to follow along here to see what you're doing." So, I think those go hand in hand.
But maybe take a little bit longer with the cultivating of the seeds as opposed to just expecting it to sprout overnight. It takes a bit longer and, you know, just because they don't respond doesn't mean it's anything personal. They just may not have the bandwidth. They may be traveling. It could have gone to spam. Like, don't overthink it. Sometimes we just can't connect. And I prefer to connect if we can, but again doing your homework first so that if you are able to chat with them, you can ask better questions. You don't want to just ask the obvious that's already on their site. If it's something you can say, "I read through this on your website. Could you explain? Or would this be a good fit for what you mentioned there on your priorities? And then that way you can have a better conversation and ask more open-ended questions so that you can do more listening than talking and let them share with you.
Nia: Yeah. And there's a separate question here that I think is a good follow up. But someone asked about tips for getting that first grant. And there's kind of several questions in here. So, I'll read them all out. And then maybe Sheleia, Teresa, Chad, if you all want to chime in. I don't know who has -- who wants to take this one. But it's a loaded question. But any tips for getting that first grant. Is the end of the year a bad time to make that first contact with funders or possible donors? So many funders want to know what other grants you've received. I understand why. But we need to start somewhere. So, Sheleia, if you want to take a stab at that one. I know there's, like, four questions in there.
Sheleia: Yeah. And help me if I forget anything. But for starting with the tips for receiving your first grant, I'll just leave everyone with this. Just being mindful of time is that you won't win grants by pulling on the heartstrings alone, but by the vision that you can articulate. Anytime I am, you know, speaking any -- let me tell you all this. I am one of those folks that -- folks know that I'm a grant writer so they'll find me in the grocery store or at the park and they're like it -- blame my mom. She's like, "My daughter's a grant writer." So, they'll find me. And we're in social spaces or in family and they're like, "I need a grant forward." Right? And it's typically just that. And I'm like, "Okay. Well, can you tell me more about it?" And what I come to notice that's a common thread is that they can't go past that sentence. So if you can't tell me why you're starting this program, that lets me know you haven't done your research on the community that you want to serve. If you can't tell me the "what" or walk me through that -- because I'm, any grant writer I'd like to say that, we're investigators. So, we're not just asking to be nosy. We're asking to hear kind of your readiness before we take a full-blown approach at a grant readiness assessment. So making sure that you understand the major components of a grant and being able to have responses that satisfy those prompt in a way that fully articulates the work that you're going to do, who you're going to partner with, how you're going to evaluate if that was effective, like, start thinking on these things, especially if it's your first grant. Like, it's not something that -- writing a successful grant isn't something that just stays in here because we know intuitively what we want to do. We know our vision. But to articulate to another person who's reviewer who has hundreds upon hundreds of other grant proposals, we have to take the extra mile and make sure that we're being specific in that. I think the next question was we have to start somewhere.
Right. Okay. Yes. So in starting somewhere, there are things called C Grant. And they're not often the most common grant but they are out there. If you want to go after a C Grant, which those funders know it's a smaller investment. But it's typically, it's kind of like play -- I don't want to say play money, but it's money to figure out how we're going to start a program, how we're going to create a program plan, and things like that. And then also another tip and trick I always encourage folks to do is, like, start locally before you start nationally. So when you start locally, nine times out of 10, these are funders that, again, are more I don't want to say more tangible to reach out to, but they know they're familiar with the landscape. You can find some kinship or alignment there just because you're all in the same proximity. And then there's less competition, if that makes sense.
Once you're going national, you got to compete with nonprofits just like yours all across the country. And that's very intimidating for your first time out. So, start locally. Start for more smaller grants. And as you build those relationships, you may even find that your first grant could be a higher award just based on the relationship that you build and the vision that you're fine-tuning being very crisp in articulating to the funder that's them, you know, making their flexibility or finding favor in giving you those additional funds.
Nia: Thank you, Sheleia. That was a loaded question. So I appreciate you taking that one. I'm going to do a couple more questions before we hit time here. Chad, I actually have a question for you. So, we just had Stephanie in the chat talk about having a strong board of directors when applying for a grant. And I think something that we hear in a lot of webinars is folks have a board of directors but they don't know how to leverage them. So, I would love to hear your insights on, you know, how can we be making better use of the stakeholders that we have that are already connected with us and are in our network? How can we, you know, make them -- have them be better equipped and better advocates for us and really leverage them more.
Chad: Well, for sure. I'm always leveraging the board. I like to say I'm a trainer of boards that don't like to fundraise. I do a lot of that. Just try to get them more comfortable. But when we look at grants and foundations, so I mean I'm always trying to focus the board on creating new relationships with individual supporters. Like, you know, we all know about 75% of all support comes from individuals. So, that's where we're focusing them a lot. But some of us forget that foundations have their own boards. Right? They have their own review committees. And that is publicly available knowledge. So it's right on their 990. You can get to it through Instrumentl. Like, everything is there. Just throwing out, like, "Here are the five foundations we're applying to this quarter. Here are all of their board members. Does anybody know anybody? Like, simply putting in that little call of, "Hey, I serve on the board of ABC organization. I know they submitted a proposal this year. Just wanted to make sure you saw it, you know." I mean, I hate to say it, but there's still a little bit of the good old boys club going on here. Right?
You know, like they just know like, "Oh, I know that person. They're serving there, like, you get into the room and it's five people and having a good voice. Some trust. Some, "Yeah, I'm comfortable with this person. They're trustworthy. I know that this organization's on good financial footing." All of that. So, yeah. Just, who knows who? Right? It doesn't have to be super parochial but just finding a way of at least saying because most nonprofits, like, they're applying to 15 different foundations. Their board has no clue who they're applying to. You know, they know all these people. We just don't take advantage of those relationships. So, just making sure we check. Does anybody know anybody?
Nia: Yeah. We just had an echo of that in the chat. So, it's good to see this is resonating with folks and folks are already doing some of this. I want to wrap up with our final question. I know we're at time. But I really wanted to get to this question. And, Teresa, I think this
is a good one for you. But somebody had asked, "As a grant writer who serves a lot of nonprofits," what can they be doing to help clients prepare for end of your giving? Particularly as they approach giving Tuesday was part of this question. But I think more broadly speaking, like, if you're not part of the nonprofit staff, you know, how can you help equip the folks that you're working with?
Teresa: That's a great question. And I'm glad you're thinking proactively. It can be tricky when you're not internal with them every day. So, you're not seeing the ins and outs. But also that's a helpful perspective sometimes because you can see things maybe they don't. And so, I like to check about how can you or where can you hire a system? Like, maybe the staff right now is going to be pretty overloaded and maxed out. You know they're stretch thin with everything going on. So, can you come in as the consultant, as the expert and be like, "Hey, I noticed you're having to recreate that. Here, let me help you build a template for that. Or let's set up an automation. I think, in fact, my interview on the podcast with Gauri from Instrumentl we talked about this of how can you set up those systems to take the weight off your team. And then that way, it frees you up to do more of that strategic higher-level thinking that we've been talking about, and the relationship building piece. So, looking for those places where you can bring in extra value. You can set them up for success. They probably have their heads down looking at quarter four.
So, can you be thinking four generations ahead of like, "What are you building here?" Remember your vision. Let's think big. And if you're doing this now, this can translate down the road. So, just helping them with that perspective and sometimes offloading, or just stepping in sometimes to fill the gap. If they're stretch thin, they may have people out of the office just need someone that knows them and knows their mission to be able to fill some of those gaps. Where can you come in as that value and strategic partner with them?
Nia: Thank you, Teresa.
And with that, we're just about at time for our panel discussion. We will transition to our workshop. So I just got a message confirming the time. We will have about 20 minutes to go into our workshop. Before we do that, I want to give first of all a huge shout out to our speakers. The chat has been on fire. Folks are sharing their experiences. They're asking a bunch of questions. And I think everybody has found a lot of value in everything that's been shared.
I would love later if somebody wants to share their worksheet with me, I would love to see what notes you guys took. This was really -- when we do the worksheet, we're always expecting you know some wisdom bombs. But this was really a straight hour of just strategies and tips. So, that was super fun and also super valuable. I want to give the stage back to our panelists just to give a little closing message shout out where you can connect with them, where you can find them. And then we'll transition into our workshop. So, everybody, stick around. Don't leave just yet. But I'll go right back to Teresa for, you know, your closing message.
Teresa: Sure. Yeah, I would just encourage everyone. This time of year, it's a really good time to be thinking strategically for the short term, but also looking long term of what kind of impact do you want to make and what do you want to help your organization make? So keeping those in mind and helping, again, be that thought partner and strategic partner with that. It all comes back to building the relationships. Excuse me. And really thinking through, "How can I serve the people?" on the other sides of the table. No matter where that is. And so, with that I'm happy to offer free resources on my site. Of course, the podcast, you can find it on any podcast player, and resources@teresahuff.com/free. We've got that in the chat here. So, yeah. Feel free to grab those.
I love supporting grant writers and nonprofits in their work. And it's just -- it's so much fun to see the light bulb moments and to see things start to click and gain momentum. Like, that's why we do it. If we can support your missions, it's just a much bigger effect together. And thank you Nia for being such an amazing host.
Nia: Yeah. Of course. Thank you. You all make it really easy. I don't have to do any hard work here. Sheleia, do you want to go ahead and do your closing message?
Sheleia: Yes, of course. My closing message would be is to not allow today to be one of those webinars that you hear and never revisit again. Take those notebooks. Listen to the recording when it comes out and really put into play the gems of wisdom that we've shared with you all. In this work, again just as a reminder to take care of yourself. And we share so many tips today on how to do that while doing your work as a grant professional. Pat yourself on the back for investing in yourself even just for this short hour, and reach out to us if you all have any questions. Nia, is this one of those ways I can share? Okay. Awesome.
So if you all, just as a token of my appreciation for sending your or spending your lunch hour with me. If you're free tonight at 6:00 P.M. Central Time, I'm actually hosting a free grant writing workshop. To give folks a chance to eat some dinner, get off work where I'll be talking about a lot more -- or excuse me a lot of the topics that we covered today in detail. So, I'll drop the link in the chat. There you go. I would love to see you all again. And, yeah, again if you can't make it tonight, listen to this recording. There was so many gems shared.
But if you have some free time tonight before you log out for the day, I would love to see you. And thank you all for having me.
Nia: Yeah. Keep the learning going, you all. Don't let this be the last webinar of the day. I know Chad's coming off a webinar that was just done earlier. Right? So, this is a long day of learning and teaching for him.
Chad: Five today.
Nia: Five. Okay. Sorry. My bad.
Chad: This is the season. Yeah.
Nia: Yeah. There you go. So, Chad, over to you.
Chad: Yeah, for sure. Just real quick.
Folks, thanks for joining. Thanks for taking the time. I know it's a busy time of year. I have lots of resources available on my site. I have a free resource library.
For today, I pulled together a sample fundraising appeal that's fully optimized and a guide to help you do that. So for those of you that have to do more than just grant writing, like that's that. You know, last six weeks of the year. We got to get something out there. So, that's there. And please folks, you know, just take care of yourselves. Make sure -- you know, it's Super Bowl season, but take a little time, you know. Can you take two hours on Friday afternoon? Or can you at least go take a 10-minute walk around your building just to get this in the right place To let you be a better fundraiser. That's what I'm always all about. Yes, I have tips. But it's about you. And we sometimes give a little too much to our cause and we can be martyrs and -- no, no. Make sure you're there for the long term. So, take care of you. Final advice and tossing it over to Nia.
Nia: 100%. That was the perfect message to end on. I'm gonna actually -- towards the end of our webinar also share our Panelist LinkedIn. So if any of you want to follow them, stay in touch, you guys will have quick access to that. I want to give a huge thank you to Sheleia, Teresa, Chad. This was really a crash course. Absolutely jam-packed our learning, strategizing. It is such an honor for our team to get to have experts like you in the room with us. And we especially are honored when -- you've been on our webinars and our podcast before and you come back and you keep sharing with our community. So, a huge thank you to us all, to you all. And I know our chat has been loving it as well. So, we're going to let our panelists go now. But don't leave, folks. We're going to jump into our workshop. And let's just give some love to Chad, Teresa, and Sheleia before they hop off. Thank you all so much.
And with that, for all of you who are staying with me, we're going to dive back into our workshop. So, I'm actually going to go ahead and share my screen again. All right. Let's get back into it. Can you all just let me know in the chat? Are you seeing my screen? Does everything look good? It should just be a blank purple screen for now. Yep. Okay. Thank you.
So on that note, let's dive into our workshop.
Our workshop is all about grants. And so, to get us started, I want -- well, we're already about an hour in. So, it's not really getting us started but to get us started on the workshop. I want to know how are you feeling about your 2025 grant strategies. Just let me know in the chat. Do you already have some opportunities lined up? Are you pivoting to exploring a new strategy in 2025? Are you maybe a little bit lost? You're not sure what to prioritize or where to find success. Heidi is still figuring it out. Overwhelmed, looking for new strategies. Just launched in August. Congratulations! That's super exciting.
Feeling momentum. Thanks to Instrumentl Pro. I feel really good. I love to hear that. I also love that all of our panelists shouted out Instrumentl. We did not ask them to do that. We love when folks love us. But we do not ask them to shout us out. So, that great. Hard to know what to prioritize. Too many ongoing capital campaigns. Yep. Okay. So, here's what I want to shout out. If you're feeling iffy, if you're feeling a little bit lost, if you're not really sure what to prioritize, you are 100% not alone.
In a survey that we put out to grant writers, 80% said they wanted to improve their grant strategy. And 80% is a huge amount. And this included, you know, enterprise level nonprofits, hospitals, university grant writers, right? All the way down to those, you know, two-person nonprofit. So, this is an issue that, you know, everybody's facing, right? So, I want to make sure that if you're feeling iffy, you're feeling a little demotivated about your strategy, you are not the odd one out. And there are a lot of ways we can tackle our grant strategy. So, maybe it's more organized tracking or better collaboration with stakeholders, better time management. But at the end of the day, right? Our goal is the same. We want to win more grants so we're able to do the work that we're so passionate about. And so, like I said, there's a lot of ways we can be trying to tweak our strategy. So, we're winning more grants. But I think the bottom line, regardless of the cause you serve, or where you're located or how big your organization is, you want to set yourself up for success in your grants process. And you -- the way we want to do that is by identifying and prioritizing opportunities that are truly a fit for you.
So, this is going to be a super personal process, you know. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has gotten an email from my nonprofit boss. He's like, "There's a bazillion dollar grant out from the bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. And we need to apply right now. And it's like, "That would be great," right? We would get a lot of work done with that funding. But is that grant really the right fit for us? Are we going to stand out better than others? Are we going to really be able to prioritize that, right? Chase the money right out. So, this means finding funders who are really aligned with your mission and identifying grants that will give you the type of funding and support that you're looking for. And, of course, this is easier said than done.
Bethany feels me. Yeah. So, you'll get like a text. And it's like Amazon's giving away a trillion dollars. We have to line up. It's like, "Sure. But we have to be strategic about what we're prioritizing," right? So like I said, this is easier said than done. But lucky for all of you, you are at an Instrumentl workshop and Instrumentl just so happens to be a tool that can do this heavy lifting for you. So with the time we have left, I want us to get into our workshop. And I do want to note that this workshop is going to take place inside Instrumentl, which is a platform geared towards 501(c)(3) nonprofits. If you're not based in the U.S., or you're not a 501(c)(3) non-profit, you actually won't be able to dive into the platform for the duration of this workshop. But you can still follow along and see some of those prospecting and research tips that you can maybe then implement outside of Instrumentl. So when we dive into the platform today, you'll be able to get your hands on a list of good fit funders to take back to your team or leadership today. And this is all sourced from Instrumentl's database of over 20,000 active grant opportunities.
So if there's anybody here who currently an Instrumentl customer, sit tight for just a minute. We're going to help others get set up on their projects, and then we'll dive into the platform and explore some best practices together. And then if there's anybody in the room who has already had an Instrumentl trial and it's expired and you'd like to use this opportunity to start one again, you can fill out the form. I'm going to link in chat. And one of our team members will get in touch with you this week. So you won't be able to jump into Instrumentl right now, but you can follow along on my screen and just make notes about the tips we talk about. And finally, for anybody who represents a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit and you haven't used an Instrumentl trial before, you are going to get totally free, no credit card required, two week access to Instrumentl Pro using this link. So, please make sure you use the link I'm going to put in the chat. Do not open Instrumentl.com. Otherwise, you will not get access to the workshop.
So, I'm going to go ahead and paste this link right here. Like I said, no credit card required. There's absolutely no strings attached. We're literally just giving you two weeks access to our entire platform so you can explore, get some, you know, end of your resources and see what kind of funding is out there for you. So, go ahead and click the link in that chat. And you can feel free to minimize the Zoom. I'll actually talk you through this next step. There's going to be a couple minutes where we just set up our accounts and then we'll actually get into looking at those funders. And I'll share my screen and show you some best practices.
It's going to ask some very basic information about your organization to get you started. I'll talk you through exactly what you need to do here. Barbara, you will get the full recording afterwards to see and hear this again. Yes. So, you're going to put in your name and your contact info. It's going to be information about your 501(c)(3) status. Your operating revenue. Just really basic things like that. Go ahead and fill that out. And I'm going to explain the next step and then I'll pause for a minute just so everyone can catch up. Once you fill out that initial screen, you're going to get to this page. It's the option to book a call with one of our grant advisers. These are people who are super knowledgeable about Instrumentl, about grants. They can work with your needs to help you get the most out of the platform.
But because we want you to get those good fit opportunities right now in this workshop, you actually have the option to skip this call. So at the bottom, there's going to be a page that says "skip." You can go ahead and skip that. But I want to highlight that this is only for the duration of this workshop. So if you make an account later, you won't be able to skip this call. I'd really recommend at least getting your account setup right now so you can come back to your grant search quickly whenever you want.
I see some folks are having trouble accessing the link. I'm going to paste it again in the chat. Let me know. Let me know. And also let me know if you did get onto the link just fine. I want to make sure I'm sharing a link that's working for all of you. And I'm actually just going to wait here for a moment for folks to catch up if you are signing up.
Okay. Link worked for Amanda. So it sounds like maybe if you're having some trouble with the link, you might want to try opening an incognito browser. If it's taking you to a login page, it might think that you already have an Instrumentl account. If your trial has ended, I would recommend you scroll up and you can request a trial extension. This link is for anybody who hasn't used Instrumentl before. So once you've gotten to this page, go ahead and click "skip" kickoff call. Or if you want to, feel free to book a call right now for something on your calendar to explore the platform with our grant experts. But I'm going to go through this really quickly just because we're running out of time. I'm going to show you how to set up a project so we can get you those good fit funders.
So we're going to start by picking our location. This will make sure you're not getting funders that are only interested in supporting projects in a specific county in a state that you're not even in for example. So, I'm going to pick LA county for this one. And then you're going to pick your fiscal year. And then you're going to name your project. So, this is going to narrow down the funding opportunities to be really tailored to the specific project you're working on. So, say I work at a museum and I want to find funding specifically for my history education program. That's what I'll put in here. So, the opportunities will be tailored to that specific aspect of my work. And then you're going to indicate what type of organization you are.
So, I'm a nonprofit. I'm partnering with a school and a museum. And then I'm not a faith-based organization. But you can indicate that you are. And then again you'll pick your area. It can also show you opportunities that are national in scope. And then here's after you've picked that, one of our most important things is going to be our fields of work. And this is how we define the focus area of your project. So, you can search for the term and get suggestions or you can browse all categories, find ones that are suitable for your project. You'll want to pick two to five to begin with and then you can come back and refine this. And then you'll also pick your desired grant size after you've done this. So, I see in the chat some of you are getting lost. I know this is a tricky process. I'm moving through it quickly just because we have limited time.
Anita, feel free to scroll up and fill out that trial extension link. This recording will be made available. So, you can go back and reference this. We're just filling out information about our organization and the type of funding we're looking for. So, I'm going to indicate that I want funds for training projects, education, and I want to see funds from all types of funders. And that's it. This is all you need to fill out to get some good fit funders.
If you have a team member that you want to invite to try out Instrumentl with you, you can do that here. And then once I click submit, it'll actually automatically match me with funding opportunities. And so, it's found 316 for me based on the information I just filled out. When you go into Instrumentl and you play around with it, it'll match you as well and then you can go back and tweak your criteria
to get more specific.
But I want to pause right here. I know that was a lot to walk through. There's a couple more things I want to show you, because we promised you a workshop. I know we're kind of running out of time. So, I'm going to move through this quick. You're going to have the recording so you can always come back to this.
But the cool thing about using Instrumentl's database, and this is what Chad and Teresa and Sheleia were referencing when they talked about using Instrumentl in your research, is that it'll actually show you all of this really valuable information about a funder. So, you can see their entire 990. You'll see the average size of the grant they give. You'll see information about, you know, their mission, what their values are. Obviously, you'll see eligibility for the grant. And then in the 990 report, you'll see more information such as how much they actually give, who the key people are.
So if you want to connect with somebody from that foundation, you can actually see their names. You'll see how many grants they gave and the value of those grants over time. Thank you so much, Jordan. You'll see the average grant size that they give out. So, this is really helpful if, you know,
you're prioritizing a $100,000 grant, then this isn't the funder for you. You'll also see where they give.
So if you're located in California. because they give in California and then you'll actually see all of the organizations they've ever funded, which is super, super valuable information. So, this is all within the 990 report.
Now, if you're not using Instrumentl, this is public information that you can find. The IRS collects 990 forms from every private foundation. So, this is all available online. On Instrumentl, it's laid out nice and clean like this. But you can find this sort of information just by searching online. If you're not already looking for 990 forms, I would 100% encourage you to do that, whether it's on Instrumentl or if you're just doing it through Google. It's going to give you so much valuable insight about a potential funder. And so, we actually also just released a brand new feature that adds a whole new dimension
to finding good fit funders. And it's called peer prospecting.
And so, this lets you see exactly who is giving to organizations that are similar to yours, and how much those organizations bring in in grant funding. So, this is like a deep dive on organizations that are similar to yours. And the reason this is so valuable is because keeping an eye on your peers helps you understand how you're performing as a nonprofit.
If super similar organizations to yours are pulling in significantly more money, it might be worth understanding how, you know, from where this can influence your funding strategy. So, I'm actually going to show you really quickly how to use pure prospecting on Instrumentl. If you already have an Instrumentl account but you're not pro, you won't have access to this. But you can fill out this form and a member of our team would be happy to demo those features and show you what it's like.
So, I'm actually going to show you pure prospecting. I'll try to do this in like a minute. I know we're short on time. But I'm going to show you what the process is like. So, this is my Instrumentl tracker. This is the matches. So you should have this as well if you filled out a project. When you go into funder matches, this is showing you the specific foundations you've been matched with.
In filter, you can actually see who gives to your peers. And what you're going to do is you're going to click edit peer list. And then in here is where you can basically build a little library of organizations that you want to keep an eye on. So like I said, I come from a rainforest background. So maybe I'm curious about, you know, a rainforest organization.
Rainforest foundation, for example. I'll actually add them here, and then I can see everything that they've received in grant funding. Organizations I'm sure you all are familiar with this, but also have to file 990 reports, right? So Instrumentl is pulling all of that data. So, I can scroll down and see exactly
what funders gave to this organization that I consider myself similar to. And so, I can see when they got this funding, how many awards they've been given, what the value of that was. So this is super, super valuable if you're trying to, you know, see how you stack up in your space. This is called pure prospecting. It's a brand new feature.
And I just wanted to shout that out. So with that, I'm going to go back to my slides and try to wrap us up in time here. I know we're pushing it a little bit more about pure prospecting. So this is the mission that I set up for you all. It's in your worksheet. If you do these three things, you're going to be off to a great start in terms of finding new funders.
I'm going to paste all of the links that I already shared in the chat just in case any of you didn't have a chance to, you know, start a trial or request an extension. I'm putting all of that in the chat again. And the last thing I want to shout out is we have some more exciting events coming up. So all the way through the end of December, we have a bunch of experts coming in similar to today's webinar. We'll have everything from grant finding workshops to deep dives into best practices with actual grant makers. That's next week.
We have a funder coming on to do a Q&A. So, I'm going to leave a link to RSVP for any of our upcoming events Let me know in the chat, you all, if there's anything I missed. That's the end of our hour together. I want to say thank you so much for being here.
Feel free. I will stay on this Zoom call for another five or so minutes. So if you want to stick around, if you want to ask some questions, feel free to stay. I'm going to see if I can make it so you all can come off mic and off camera. If you've got to go, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate
you taking the time. I hope you learned a lot. My email is right here. So if you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
And with that, I'm going to end the webinar.
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