That describes over 500 grant programs (awarding hundreds of billions of dollars), is a great place to get an overview of every grant program administered by the federal government.
The CFDA provides a full listing of 2,110 federal programs available to state and local governments, Indian tribal governments, territories and possessions of the United States, nonprofit organizations, and individuals.
The top five grant programs by Department are:
• Health and Human Services (417).
• Agriculture (229).
• Interior (217).
• Education (170).
• Justice (125).
On the CFDA Web site, you can use the search engine to identify grant programs by agency or by general topic; and, grant programs on that site are classified as either:
A formula grant… which is federal money distributed by a state agency
— based on some kind of formula.
A project grant… that comes directly from a federal agency.
The Federal Register
(www.gpoaccess.gov/fr) is a major resource for specific information about available grants. Published by the National Archives and Records Administration, this is a daily publication of the rules, proposed rules, and notices about grant programs of federal agencies that is searchable by date of announcement or by topic.
Although the Federal Register is very wordy, there is a very good reason to use it. The advance notices you can receive about federal grant opportunities will enable you to begin preparing your grant application before the official notice appears.
Grants.Gov
Perhaps the handiest way to find grant opportunities is through this website (www.grants.gov), which lists all current and upcoming grant opportunities by agency, number, and by topic. Clicking on a listing leads you to the grant guidelines, deadlines, eligible applicants, the amount of money available, and the estimated number of grants to be awarded.
For example, under “family planning” there are over 100 federal grant and contract opportunities in the area of contraception, family planning services, HIV/AIDS, and STIs.
Become a Tracker!
Once you have identified federal grant programs of interest, you should begin monitoring them (on a daily basis) in the Federal Register or Grants.Gov. That’s the only way you will know when grant funds become available. A successful application often depends on how ready you are to pounce on a grant opportunity.
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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, the founder and president of The Development Source, Inc. helps nonprofit organizations develop proposals to government agencies, foundations, and corporations. He can be contacted at Jayme Sokolow.
Recently, I attended the TEDx Manitoba event at the Park Theatre here in Winnipeg.
The first speaker, Robert Sawyer, who is a science fiction writer, gave an excellent presentation about the emergence of consciousness in humans and the projected emergence in non-human intelligence.
Sawyer’s presentation made me think about how the non-profit sector’s work is resulting in the emergence of consciousness in their target populations. After more than 12 years in the non-profit sector, I have personally witnessed this type of emerging consciousness.
Clients that I have worked with came to us with limited awareness of resources available to them and limited consciousness of external factors impacting their lives. Through their personal journeys of emergence, I saw them begin to identify their own personal goals and strive to educate themselves about resources available to them. Then they began to grow an internal confidence that allowed them to begin to tap into these resources.
Without this emergence of awareness, thirst for knowledge and faith in their own capabilities, capacity building would not be possible.
What kind of emergence have you witnessed in your capacity building efforts?
By Ingrid Zacharias, Managing Director, Envisioning the Future International, http://envisioningthefutureintl.ca/ Email: izacharias@envisioningthefutureintl.ca
Many coaches and clients find that work, family and community commitments take up the majority of their time. There seems to be little time left for themselves and their self care. They end up choosing to go with less sleep in order to manage their demanding schedules or they try to sleep and cannot.
Quality sleep reduces stress, provides growth and repair for the body, and improves your thought process. Sleep deprivation causes changes in mood and impairs decision making. Adequate amounts of sleep may vary from 6 to 10 hours depending upon the individual. More importantly, the quality of your sleep is more imperative than the quantity.
Here are tips to improve the quality of your sleep:
Avoid alcohol, caffeine and meals before bedtime
Allow yourself time to wind down before turning in
Take a hot shower before going to bed
Control your sleep environment (temperature, noise, lighting)
Learn and practice relaxation techniques
Stock up on sleep in preparation for future sleepless periods
Turn your clock so you can’t look at it during sleepless nights
Go to bed on a regular schedule
The result will be improved physical and mental energy that will take you to the next level.
You have heard it all before every time business goes through a rough patch.
“It’s time our leaders got creative.” Actually, it’s time we all got creative.
“Creative people just drive you crazy.” “They have no social skills–well limited ones.” However, you know creative people so you have to watch getting them angry. “They could do creatively bad things to you.” I’m kidding, of course. I doubt if anyone actually says that, but…
It’s almost as if being creative is a bad thing. We like what creative people can do for us. We find it most entertaining, but when it comes to leadership, we want serious business. It seems it’s always been that way.
There are actually people who think “the creative people I work with are nice and can be fun to work with, but they are not detail-oriented and it drives me nuts! Let them tilt at windmills, but don’t ask them to draw a detailed map to the windmill because you’ll never get there – even if you stop and ask for directions…”
It’s almost as if being creative is a bad thing. We like what creative people can do for us. We find it most entertaining, but when it comes to leadership, we want serious business. It seems it’s always been that way.
We expect our leaders to reign with dignity, to relish a vision, and motivate us to do the same–but remain above it all. We don’t expect them to be creative–until we need them to be creative. Someone has to. And we’ve alienated those who–but for fear of getting laughed at or otherwise ostracized–could come to our aid and offer creative suggestions. About that vision we expect leaders to have… Where did that come from? One of the creative members of their staffs? Or, from themselves? I’m guessing the latter.
Okay, this does sound sensible. To a point, but wait for it. I’ve heard it said or read it in a social media comment somewhere:
“For creativity to be appreciated, it needs to be planted, nurtured and cultivated throughout the organization. Relegating it to just the leadership levels creates dreamers who don’t have the resources to execute.”
What no dreamers? If that’s the case, there is no Thomas Edison. No Alexander Graham Bell. No Steve Jobs. I’m a little slow remembering all the creative geniuses who made big changes to our lives, but I’m sure I’m not the only one.
If there ever was a time in the corporate world of business for proactive managers and leaders–and creative energy drives action–that time is now. Haven’t you heard? I read this somewhere recently. All leaders should be creative, passionate, sensitive and self-confident–especially in today’s world market. Most of us would probably agree that creativity is applying an innovative approach to an established view—a view by the way that was probably once thought to be creative itself.
Some would even say for a leader to demonstrate that creativity, he or she loses credibility.
In Part One of this blog, I talked about the study that said the person who demonstrates creativity is not perceived by others (peers, especially) to be leadership material. Just as the leader is not perceived to be very creative. Some would even say for a leader to demonstrate that creativity, he or she loses credibility. I had a leader who used to dress up in a silly costume on Halloween and pass out candy to his employees. I thought the act was silly–humorous even, but I didn’t think it made him someone else. Yup, he was still the boss. And, he is still the-follow-him-anywhere guy.
If we accept the leader should not be creative in practice once he’s laid that creative egg, what’s next? In other words, once a leader has found that creative vision, how can he or she transfer that “creative” vision to the rest of the company without being creative and have it heard. That requires a different skill, or does it?
We train leaders to be creative, but usually only when we need them. What if creativity is inherent, and can’t be trained? Are wasting our time instilling creativity in leaders instead of hiring potential leaders already equipped with that ability?
A little creativity thrown in with normal leadership traits might help. Our perceptions that leaders cannot be leaders and be creative, too, may be just flat wrong. Leaders with vision must be creative and often are in other ways, but that ability to use that creativity in his or her job is restrained by a corporate culture that has determined for years what a leader should look like. Times have changed. The world is more accessible–a mouse click away. Business and market trends change almost instantaneously. Are we seriously in the same position we were years ago?
There have always been signs creativity was necessary in the problem solving arena. Leaders and key staff have retreats designed to bring out those hidden abilities—and in times of trouble we are expected to train them to be even more creative, too. Can you even train someone to be creative? I believe you can to a point. Some leaders show a natural talent for it. Some ability is inherent. If it is, then we should look for potential leaders who already have it rather than try to train those who do not.
I think you can pose scenarios, offer meditation techniques, reflection and observation techniques. Maybe those same techniques can be used to train those who surround the leaders and creative types about tolerance and openness to new ideas.
The training team is hampered by that the norm is to hire “team players.” While this hiring practice sounds reasonable on the surface, in a company built around rigid processes and policies it just breeds conformity. And conformity we know is not a producer of creativity. If you try changing the corporate dynamic, you may find yourself on the list of those who don’t deserve the company’s attention any more.
This is why companies built on a foundation of creativity and ingenuity are making us all take notice. Maybe they’re doing something right.
I’m afraid this is the Computer Age no longer–but the Age of Innovation. We need innovation as well as creative ideas to gain and hold consumer attention.
Obviously, there are companies that are creative by nature—they deal in artistic and graphic art representations, marketing products or services, or problem-solving for others… That’s still most of us!
While we are debating the merits of training creativity to our leaders or training our creatives to be leaders, maybe we should be training tolerance and acceptance of all the roles people play in an organization—each being important in its own way.
Let’s not forget that companies that succeed in the first place began and thrived because of a whole lot of creative spirit, an attitude that stood the company apart from other companies. Creativity began the day; it can save the day. Unique solutions to company problems, unique attention-getting communication to the public about who we are and what we can do for them will save the day.
Even more creativity is going to be needed if we are to continue thriving in the business market. According to IBM’s Institute for Business Value, a survey of 1500 CEOs revealed that “creativity is the single most important attribute to lead a large corporation.”
Training our creative corporate staff how to lead and our leaders how to be creative and innovate to increase productivity must be high on our list. To get there we need the best of creative types–especially in our leaders; however, a recent study by Jennifer Mueller, a professor at the Wharton School of Business, Jack A. Goncalo of Cornell University, and Dishan Kamdar of the Indian School of Business conducted a series of experiments to find out how creative people were viewed by their colleagues. The trio’s results tell a different story that should cause us some concern.
The road to Innovation needs the creative efforts of both leadership and staff. What began as a vibrant new idea is the standard. Where do we innovate from here?
In the study, individuals who expressed creative ideas were viewed as having less leadership potential than individuals whose ideas were less creative. This left me wondering if we were ready mentally to take on the training challenge that goes with changing the way we view people in our organization.
What are your perceptions of creative people? Are they leadership material? Recent studies say, “NO.” Are leaders creative, again, “NO.” None of this is absolute, of course. There are always exceptions.
We should encourage creativity in staff as well as leaders. That becomes difficult in a culture that tends to view the creative types as quirky, nerdy types lacking in leadership potential. So who’s to lead these groups. Leaders have retreats designed to bring out their creative ability—but we should also be expected to train company creatives to lead, and others to tolerate and respect what each individual brings to the table, and leave the old corporate culture competitiveness behind. (That’s probably the toughest chore.) This is a new corporate culture, tolerant and bright–maybe even a bit quirky. You can’t get rid of it all. And, to some extent, we are already doing the training we need to do in the near term. In creative environments where non-creative managers are in the minority, we train creative people to lead and manage because we can’t have them be “just one of the guys.”
Can you train someone to be creative? I think you can pose scenarios, offer meditation techniques, reflection and observation techniques. There are tons of training tools available off the shelf or in our creative minds already. As for teaching the creative types leadership and management? Sure, you can teach organization and time management skills as well as effective communication, collaboration, mediation, negotiating and facilitating skills. We’ve been training leadership for years, but maybe it’s time to take another look and re-evaluate the importance of creative thinking and expression. We shouldn’t ignore the good old standards that work either, but let’s use them to bring out the creative solutions we need. And, add to that flexibility, which goes along well in bringing creativity out of leadership.
The creative geek and the leader. We tolerate the geek. Some of the most successful companies today put the geek in the chairman’s seat.
Typically,we hire people who fit, people who are team players—not necessarily the creatives…that is unless we have a specific job for them, and then we tolerate them and their idiosyncrasies. Obviously, there are companies that are creative by nature—they deal in artistic and graphic representations, or problem-solving… Wait that’s still most of us. So, while we can look to obviously creation-based companies, there are elements in all companies. All deal with a measure of problem solving, which is a key point of creativity. Solutions are “ah-ha” moments, therefore, creative.
Because of my arts background, one would probably think that my situation is different from your situation. Actually it’s not; I just see it partitioned a little different. Sure, I work with creative people all the time in theatre and not-so-creative people in my day job with the federal government. Easy to believe—but I think it’s not so much the case anymore. Just as there are non-creative people in theatre, there are creative people in government. To be honest, some are just not in a “position” that would allow such creativity.
But why not? That is a management training question. Ironically, someone demonstrating creativity can threaten another employee by simply getting attention, if the creativity is work-related, of course. Leaders—even creative ones—must stick to certain protocols that are expected to keep the non-creative type workers happy. Remember, creativity is out-of-box thinking (read change) and change is hard to accept. Companies, and I include government here, often work by committee (or a group of managers) so warranted attention doesn’t go to one person or a small specific group. The reason for that is that “we want everyone to feel a part of the company’s successes,” but sometimes that just “isn’t productive.” Really? Too many cooks…and the fact that rank has its privileges and influence–not exactly the best prescription for creativity to flourish.
I worked on a communication steering committee, whose sole purpose was to change the way the organization presented itself to others. We had every division represented and if they weren’t, it just wasn’t fair. It took us over a year of bi-weekly meetings rubber-stamping sub-committees work or having one division try to diminish its effectiveness. It became a power play that ended well only for the chiefs; the lower-level creatives who did the real work of making the product given honorable mention, “It couldn’t have happened without you.” A small group of creatives could have put together a proposal in a couple of weeks.
It may be time again for a culture change, and trainers of leadership and creativity skills will be key players.
Creative people can be leaders and often are, but the perception of someone who exhibits that creativity too openly is not of the norm; he or she is seen as odd—useful but odd. Think of creative people who suddenly have been thrust in a leadership position. Did their behavior change? How were they perceived by those creative people around them? Those theatre people chosen to run the board of directors of the theatre company were most likely creative people before, my experience has been—if they are creative now—they don’t exercise it openly because, they say “of the business nature of theatre.” On the flip side, when those same theatre people were directors, they would see a project through from the concept to product delivery. On the board, it’s almost as if they had overcome their creative nature to be acceptable to the rest of us. No, they shouldn’t.
Theatre is obviously a business that encourages creativity—as is any business such as advertising or marketing that wants to get people’s attention. There are ways it can help business leaders as well. See this article on using the arts to train leaders. We can only conclude many businesses have creative leaders who don’t necessarily exercise their creative thinking in their problem solving once they became CEO. They delegate. It’s time they stop delegating, use the creative skills that got them there, and allow others the freedom to use their creative ability well. Nothing like a little freedom to see what they can really do. If they can’t be creative, get them some training.
It makes me smile to finish up this series with Z is for Zany. I believe at times we all need to let loose and be a little crazy and “out there.” It’s fun and can really lighten things up.
Personal Style
We all have a personal style. A weekly update from Oprah shared tips on how you can find your own style, here the example was for fashion. It was interesting and made me think about how my fashion (or lack of it) projects my personal style. I do believe we also have a personal style at work too. How might people describe yours? Maybe you’re someone who always gets people laughing or you’re the one that people can always count on. Or would you be pegged as the “negative Nelly” always complaining about something? We all bring a personal style to our work, whether we are conscious of it or not.
Professional Zaniness
Being a speaker and trainer, I’m very aware of the importance of having and living out our personal style. It’s our job to observe others and try out things to see if it fits our personal style. For example, we might observe others and often wish that we could be more eloquent with our words or better able to tell a story that really draws others in.
One of the ways that I would describe my style is zany – playful and lighthearted. So I’m not the one who might come totally dressed in clown outfit to make a presentation, but I’m one who will lighten the mood to make it fun and playful. This is zany for me and it works. I strive to connect with my participants in a comfortable way while stretching them to see things in a different way. I tend to do this in a playful way often using props or demonstrations. For example, in one of my trainings I have participants take off their glasses and give them to someone else to wear. We have fun with it as people are laughing at how “stylish” their new look is or how their new “vision” looks. I had one gentleman say while laughing, “you are really pushing us now.” I explain how this playful exercise really has an important point – how we all see the world through our own lens or glasses and how different the world looks when we see it through others.
Personal Zaniness
Our work is often carried over in our personal lives as well. Another example of how my zaniness is displayed is through the annual Valentine’s Day party that my husband and I host every year. This is our 10th annual party and here is a picture of me with the theme for the year, a slumber party.
What my husband and I have found that we more we get into it, the more others will also have fun getting into the mood. We decided many years ago that we didn’t want to have the ordinary party where people get together, most who don’t know each other, eat some, drink more and then go home. We decided that we would have themes, play games, have team and couple competitions. Now that we’ve been doing this for a while, our friends know what to expect and really get into it. We have a great time and it’s always memorable because of it zaniness. Our friends ask us months in advance about our theme.
Like Caribou Coffee says, “life is short, stay awake for it.” I would also add, “so why not get a little zany with it!”
Janae Bower is an inspirational speaker, award-winning author and training consultant. She founded Finding IT, a company that specializes in personal and professional development getting to the heart of what matters most. She started Project GratOtude, a movement to increase gratitude in people’s lives.
There are times when a lateral move can be as important to your career as a promotion. Is this one of them?
Here’s a reader’s situation.
“I have a boss who is sitting out time till his retirement. I can’t move up until he goes. Another manager has given me some hints that I could transfer to her department. It would not be a promotion. And people, who work for her, tell me she is tough and demanding. I’m not sure it’s a wise move.”
It seems you have a choice between going stale or being shaken up. You know what you would be leaving but do you know what you’re getting into? So before you decide:
Dig deep and wide for insights.
Set up a meeting to find out about the position and its responsibilities as well as your new boss’s style, expectations and goals. If you have a mentor, ask his or her opinion about the value and consequences of this specific move. If you feel comfortable, even talk to your present boss about this potential opportunity. Some things to consider:
Can you work with her? One person may see her high expectations as demanding; another might see it as a high level of professionalism. What do you see?
Is this department in a growing mode or is it hanging on for dear life? You don’t want to leave a secure position for one that may be laying off or outsourcing.
What’s the company’s attitude toward people who transfer out of one functional area to another? Is it seen as “job hopping” or as gaining operational knowledge?
What about your motivation? Do you see this move as an escape from boredom and frustration or as an experience that will help you move upward at another time?
Now it’s time to decide.
You can stay where you are – bored, frustrated, sitting on your hands until you boss retires or making a move – new boss, new responsibilities, new expectations and a certain amount of uncertainty. What is it going to be?
Career Success Tip
Lateral moves are a valuable strategic career management option if it provides you with a working environment where you can thrive; a good fit between you talents and the position’s responsibilities; and opportunities for growth and advancement.
Readers, what do you think? Have lateral transfers enhanced or detracted from your career growth?
How much time do you spend each day communicating person to person? You may be solving a problem with a customer, leading your team on a project, holding a meeting, or discussing performance issues. I bet this is a huge part of your workday. Yet most of us give very little attention to what kind of communicators we are, or what habits we have built over time. Use these five suggestions to be sure your communication is clear and effective.
1. Make your nonverbals match your message. When all channels are tuned in to the same frequency, the message gets through more clearly. Whenever there is a mismatch, we tend to believe the nonverbal message. Often, our nonverbals are based on habit, and we may not even be aware of what nonverbal message we are sending. For example, if you have a serious message, but deliver it with a smile on your face, your listener is likely to discount your seriousness. Therefore, take time to be aware of your nonverbals, and decide whether they are helping or hindering your communication goals.
2. Eliminate barriers. Noisy rooms, distractions, or bad timing can cause your message to get lost. When you need to have a conversation, choose a good time for both parties, and find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted. Whether you are having a social conversation or a serious business discussion, finding the right time and place can make all the difference.
3. Eliminate weakening words. Kind of, sort of, could, might, maybe, hopefully, I think, I guess—all of these weaken your message. Consider the difference between these two sentences:
“I was kind of hoping we could sort of discuss this and maybe come up with a solution that I guess we could both hopefully live with.”
OK, that is an exaggeration, but you can see how the actual message gets lost when you add too many qualifying words. Instead:
“Let’s discuss this issue and identify a mutually acceptable solution.”
You probably won’t get rid of every qualifying word or phrase, but cleaning out the excess will help you be a more direct, impactful communicator.
4. Eliminate vague words. A little, a lot, many, not too much, soon, as soon as possible—any of these words can easily be misinterpreted, leading to major misunderstandings. Edit your words so that your meaning is clear.
“I would like you to clean up that report a little, and get it back to me as soon as possible.”
“I would like you to make the changes we discussed, and email the expense report to me by 4:30 tomorrow.”
5. Check for understanding. You thought you were clear, but did your message get through? Before you end the conversation, check to be sure. It is a great practice to ask the other person what they heard, or to summarize your conversation, or together decide what actions each of you will take as a result of the conversation. And take time to capture your version of the conversation. Even a short statement such as, “it was great getting to know you better” or “I will be waiting to see your final report” summarizes your understanding of the conversation and what it means.
Communication is never perfect, but by following these guidelines you will have a great start to being a clearer, more effective communicator.
What do you do to build great communication habits?
In this post, we will continue our “Dance with the Butterfly”—our examination of human systems, how they behave, how we experience them, and how we can lead and work in them most effectively.
Our direct experience of systems is via the face-to- face world.
We see an interaction, attend a meeting, engage in a debate or conversation, go to lunch with a colleague, attend a family dinner, go to a community meeting, talk with someone about their economic situation, listen to a close friend tell us how they are feeling. We live our lives in the face-to-face world.
There is more going on than meets the eye.
While we may sometimes think of these experiences as isolated events, or even as a stream of interconnected, observable happenings, they are actually much more. Complex human systems are holographic. Any given interaction in the face-to-face world is a holographic intersection of elements from the face-to face-world, the larger social world, and the internal individual world. Understanding and experiencing this characteristic of systems is like learning to see a system in rich, colorful 3-D as opposed to seeing it as stick figures. When we can see systems in this way, we have a much more profound understanding of what is happening, and we become able to lead and work in more powerful ways. We learn to lead and work systemically rather than linearly, to see root causes, to identify leverage points, and to have greater, more lasting impact.
No element is an Island.
Another way of describing this phenomenon is: No element of a system is an island unto itself. All the elements—from the larger social environment, to our face-to-face interactions, to our inner thoughts, feelings, and stories, are intricately interconnected in ways that are much more thoroughgoing than we usually stop to realize.
What John Muir said about the natural world is also true of human systems. “ If we try to break off and examine a little piece of nature (or here, of a system), we eventually find that it is connected to the whole universe.” Seeing and experiencing those interconnections, and acting with that knowledge, is what systemic leadership is all about.
The face-to-face world is a stage.
Therefore, what happens in face-to-face word is a mirror, a reflection of the whole system at play in any given moment. It is an integral part of a larger whole. The larger social and deeper individual forces manifest themselves in the face-to-face world, where we see their impacts. For example, we cannot see a thought or a feeling. But we can experience the influence of a thought in what a person says (Hopefully what we say is influenced by our thoughts!) and we can see evidence of angry feelings in a reddened face and loud talking.
Experiencing systems is analogous to watching a play. When we see the interactions of the players, and hear their conversations, we relate to play on one level. If we have information about the larger social, organizational, cultural and/or historical context, we have a much broader understanding of the story. If we have information about what is going on in the hearts and minds of the players, then we understand the play on a much deeper level. The Face to face world is a stage on which systemic drama plays out
Leading effectively in complex systems
Leading in complex systems is about honing our experience of the face to face world, understanding that experience in a broader and deeper context, and then acting intentionally from that space. The more we know about each level, and how they are interacting, the more deeply we understand what is going on in that system and the more effective we can be in leading, working within it, and changing it. A systemic perspective enables leaders to work on the system rather than being trapped in it.
What leaders can do
In important interactions:
Notice what is happening in the room.
Ask yourself what forces from the organization and its environment may be influencing what is happening.
Think, and inquire about what mental models, feelings, or deeper stories are influencing people’s behavior in the room.
Ask, what are the highest leverage things I can do to help the system move forward?
Lead from that perspective.
If you want to explore leading and working in humans systems further, feel free to contact me.
Meanwhile, good journey…
Steven P. Ober EdD
President: Chrysalis Executive Coaching & Consulting
Partner: Systems Perspectives, LLC
Office: PO Box 278, Oakham, MA 01068
Home: 278 Crocker Nye Rd., Oakham, MA 01068
O: 508.882.1025 M: 978.590.4219
Email: Steve@ChrysalisCoaching.org www.ChrysalisCoaching.org
Steve is a senior executive coach and consultant. He has developed and successfully uses a powerful approach to leadership coaching, Creating your Leadership Story, which enables leaders to make deep, lasting improvements in their leadership effectiveness in short periods of time. He and a group of partners have created a breakthrough educational program, Coaching from a Systems Perspective, in which you can significantly enhance your abilities as a systemic leadership coach. See http://SystemsPerspectivesLLC.com
Someone asked, recently, about putting together a “fundraising plan.” My response was about creating a “Development Plan.”
Where the latter has its focus on the relationships between the organization and its constituents/donors that can result in contributed income, the former just focuses on the dollars. And, when just focusing on dollars is sometimes OK for the short-term, it’s quality relationships that result in consistent dollars over-the-long-term.
It must also be understood that Development Plans are constructed for specific sets of circumstances — there is no one-fits-all model.
The basics of a Development Plan:
Before the Development Plan comes the Strategic Plan … to determine priorities and where the organization wants to be by the end of this year, in two years, in three years … and for what programs/staff/equipment/overhead/etc. funding will be needed.
The development plan functions to help you keep in mind where the money came from last year, what you had to do to get it*, and what you’re going to have to do to get that same money this year. Secondarily, the development plan looks at how to increase funding from former sources and generate new money from new sources.
[*…referring to the various methods of cultivation as well as the various
methodologies for fundraising, i.e., direct mail, major gifts, events, etc.]
At the end of the process of constructing a Development Plan, you have a fundraising goal for the year (or for whatever period you’re doing the planning), a goal that MUST reflect reality. It must represent what you know of the organization’s fundraising history and what you know about your prospective new donors.
That goal must be attainable, it cannot contain any element of wishful thinking, If the fundraising goal and the projected income from all other sources don’t add up to what the budget requires, it’s the budget that must be trimmed, not the fundraising goal that must be increased.
In constructing a Development Plan, you must keep in mind that where fundraising serves the needs of the nonprofit organization (NPO), it is not about the needs of the NPO. Fundraising is about the needs of the (prospective) donor. If your Development Plan doesn’t consider the donor’s needs, how can you expect him/her to consider yours?
Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.
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