Month: February 2013

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Foundations of Consulting — Part 2: How Do Consultants Work?

a-consultant-having-a-session-with-two-worker-in-an-organization

Part 1 of this series is What Do Consultants Do?, which defines a consultant (as Peter Block puts it) as someone who is trying to change another person, process or organization, but who has no direct control over what they are trying to change. That post also listed numerous roles that a consultant might play during a project, e.g., coach, facilitator, trainer, advisor — and many others.

In addition to the various roles in consulting, there are various approaches to consulting, as described in this post. This post describes two very different approaches to consulting: a systematic, planned approach versus an organic approach.

Consultants might even do the same approach differently, for example, some consultants might involve the client in the consulting process much more than others. However, research suggests that, for more complex projects, the more you collaborate with your client in carrying out the particular approach to consulting, the more successful you all will be in accomplishing the preferred results in the project. That collaboration requires strong people skills — that’s the topic of another series of blogs 🙂

Systematic and Planned Approach

Many consultants use a systematic, or planned, approach. They tend to include the following phases, or some variation of them – perhaps with different names for each phase. A planned approach is much more cyclical in nature, than this numbered list.

Contracting Phase

The first phase is the contract phase, where the consultant and client explore the client’s problem (or exciting goal) and how it might be addressed. They learn more about each other, and decide whether to work together or not. This phase includes completion of a formal agreement to proceed with the project.

Discovery Phase (Diagnosis Phase)

In the discovery phase, the consultant and client clarify the problem, using various approaches to get more information. They try to separate the symptoms of the problem from its real causes. They analyze the information they’ve gathered, and come to conclusions about what actions should be taken. They share their findings with other key personnel in the organization.

Action Planning Phase

The action planning phase is where the consultant and client, and ideally more employees in the organization, firm up their action plans for addressing the problem, with specific goals to be achieved, who will achieve them, and by when. It’s very important that the actions be relevant and realistic.

Implementation Phase (Change Management Phase)

The implementation phase is where the action plans are implemented. The priority in this phase is to sustain momentum in the implementation – hopefully, generating a great deal of learning. Continual evaluations ensure the implementation is on the right track to solving the problem.

Project Evaluation Phase

The evaluation phase measures whether the problem has been solved. Other aspects of the project are also evaluated, including the quality of the collaborative relationship and the learning in the project.

Project Termination Phase

All projects should end with a Termination phase, in which the consultant and client decide what to do with the results of the evaluation. They might cycle back to an earlier phase, continue the current project, or terminate the project.

Organic Approach to Consulting

Some consultants use a rather organic approach. They get a strong sense of what they think the client’s problem is, and determine what they’ll do for now to solve it. The way they work with clients seems to naturally unfold during the project. Advantages of this approach are several.

  1. This can work very well for small projects or for cultures that don’t prefer structured approaches to problem solving or achieving goals.
  2. It can also seem to produce quick successes in a project, when the consultant very quickly suggests what the problem or goal is and how to address it.
  3. It can result in lower project costs because the consultant is continuously making rather quick decisions and suggestions.

The organic approach also has some disadvantages.

  1. The consultant might not have taken the time to do the discovery needed to find the real causes of the client’s problem, rather than reacting to its symptoms.
  2. Without a systematic discovery, many of us consultants tend to see only those problems that can be fixed with our favorite tools. For example, if we’re coaches, then we see primarily the need for coaching. If we’re advisors, then we see primarily the need to give advice.
  3. The consultant’s estimate of the time to complete the project, might vary widely, thus, costing far less, or for more, than the client expected.
  4. It can also be very difficult to involve clients in a way that they fully understand because the consultant is continually intuiting the situation — it can be very difficult to explain the results of one’s intuition 🙂

This post is not claiming that any one approach to consulting is always best. The best approach to use depends on the nature and needs of the client, more than the preferred approach or technical expertise of the consultant. A good consultant might have a variety of approaches and roles to use, and knows when to call in other expertise when needed.

What approach to you use?

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Look for the articles in this series, including:

  1. What Do Consultants Do?
  2. How Do Consultants Work?
  3. Most Important Goals and Working Assumptions of Consultants
  4. Major Types of Consultants
  5. Internal and External Consultants
  6. Good Reasons – and Poor Reasons – to Hire Consultants

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For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

Information in this post was adapted from the book Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD. For training on consulting skills, see the Consultants Development Institute. For more resources, see the Free Management Library’s topic All About Consulting .

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 763-971-8890 Read my blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, and Strategic Planning .

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Employee Motivation: Do You Take the Wind Out of Their Sails?

young-man-employee-working-with-laptop-office-desk-grimacing-playing-hair-procrastinating

Ever notice how a new employee’s enthusiasm eventually wears off? In 85% of companies, employees’ morale significantly drops off after their first six months on the job, according to a survey from Harvard Management Update.

For the most part, employee engagement is determined by work environment, and it can be fostered or hindered by you—the boss. Employee motivation experts say the best way to keep employee enthusiasm moving forward is to “first, do no harm.” At a minimum, don’t do anything that demotivates your workers.

Check out eight demotivators below.

  1. Public criticism.
    Pointing out a worker’s mistake in front of others rarely yields a good response. Though some managers think public reproach keeps everyone else from making the same mistake—it usually just makes everyone feel bad.
  2. Failing to provide praise.
    If employees feel like their hard work goes unnoticed, they’ll start to wonder why they’re working so hard in the first place. Be sure to offer praise and recognition, both privately and publicly. Even small things, like a thank-you card or a “good job” email work.
  3. Not following up.
    Have you ever solicited ideas, asked what employees think about a policy, or asked your team to draft a proposal? If so, be sure to relay the results, even if the ideas or proposals don’t go anywhere. Asking employees for input without acknowledging it shows a lack of respect.
  4. Give impossible goals or deadlines.
    Once employees realize they won’t be able to get something done, they’ll think, “What’s the point? I’m going to fail.” Provide goals and deadlines that are challenging, but not impossible and increase accountability.
  5. Not explaining your actions.
    Just because you hold the cards doesn’t mean you should hide them. Explaining the big management decisions will help employees understand your perspective—and they’ll respect you for it. Likewise, sharing key company data such as revenue and profits validates staff contributions.
  6. Bad coaching to improve performance.
    If an employee is producing sub-par work, it’s OK to let them know your expectations. But it’s not OK to threaten their job—especially if you’re threatening the entire team in a public setting. A “do this or else” attitude often has the opposite effect when it comes to motivation.
  7. Not honoring creative thinking and problem solving.
    When employees take initiative to improve something—a company process or an individual task, for instance—don’t blow it off. Instead, take a good, hard look at their suggestion. Don’t ignore it, or you risk losing that employee’s creativity in the future.
  8. Micromanaging or not trusting your employees.
    Perhaps the worst thing a manager cando is not giving people the authority and confidence to do their job. Employees need to feel trusted and valued to succeed—and micromanaging communicates the opposite.

Management Success Tip:

Eliminate these “demotivators” before you start planning so-called “motivational” perks. Free coffee and donuts are pleasant, but they’re don’t override bad management practices. To become a better manager, take a look at these posts: What Makes a Great Boss, Avoid These Management Mistakes and Be the Boss Everyone Wants to Work For.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?

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Watch Out For These Bad Habits: They Can Stop Your Career

old-new-habits-concept

Are you your worst enemy? Are you holding yourself from moving up?

A Business Week article listed 20 of the most common behaviors or bad habits – complied by executive coach Marshall Goldsmith, that can hinder an aspiring manager or professional from moving up. Whether you’re a leader today or want to be one tomorrow, take heed.

Which of these apply to you? If you’re not sure, then ask others for feedback.

  1. Winning too much. The need to win at all costs and in all situations—when it matters, when it doesn’t, and when it’s totally beside the point.
  2. Adding too much value. The overwhelming desire to add our two cents to every discussion.
  3. Passing judgment. The need to rate others and impose our standards on them.
  4. Making destructive comments. The needless sarcasms and cutting remarks that we think make us sound sharp and witty.
  5. Starting with “no,” “but,” or “however”. The overuse of these qualifiers, which secretly say to everyone, “i’m right. you’re wrong.”
  6. Telling the world how smart we are. The need to show people we’re smarter than they think we are.
  7. Speaking when angry. Using emotional volatility as a management tool.
  8. Negativity. The need to share our negative thoughts, even when we weren’t asked.
  9. Withholding information. The refusal to share information in order to maintain an advantage over others.
  10. Failing to give proper recognition. The inability to praise and reward.
  11. Claiming credit we don’t deserve . The most annoying way to overestimate our contribution to any success.
  12. Making excuses. The need to reposition our annoying behavior as a permanent fixture so people excuse us for it.
  13. Clinging to the pas. t The need to deflect blame away from ourselves and onto events and people from our past; a subset of blaming everyone else.
  14. Playing favorites. Failing to see that we are treating someone unfairly.
  15. Refusing to express regret. The inability to take responsibility for our actions, admit we’re wrong, or recognize how our actions affect others.
  16. Not listening. The most passive-aggressive form of disrespect for colleagues.
  17. Failing to express gratitude. The most basic form of bad manners.
  18. Punishing the messenger. The misguided need to attack the innocent, who are usually only trying to protect us.
  19. Passing the buck The need to blame everyone but ourselves.
  20. An excessive need to be “me”. Exalting our faults as virtues simply because they exemplify who we are.

Take Action:

Pick one behavior or bad habit you can change right now? What specific action can you take to make this change? What supports do you have or will need to succeed? What potential obstacles may get in the way? How will you deal with them?

Career Success Tip:

Most leaders fail not by a lack of skill or intelligence but by their interpersonal skills – how they deal with others. Also see Career Intelligence Part 1, What’s Your Career Success IQ? and 5 Career Killers for High Achievers.

Do you want to develop Career Smarts?

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Not All of a Development Officer’s Knowledge is Portable

A development officer talking with a work colleague

The following is an excerpt from a listserve discussion regarding the ethics of donor confidentiality:

I can’t imagine someone saying, while they’re being interviewed for a development position, “Well, I know Mr./Ms. Gotbucks, but I can’t make the initial contact with him/her if you hire me because I met him … a few years ago while I was on the development staff of a different nonprofit.” It would seem to me, that the ethical standard exists to keep people from stealing lists and intellectual property – not to keep a fundraiser from calling someone they happened to meet while working somewhere else.”

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Of course the standard exists to keep people from stealing lists and intellectual property, but the major focus is the protection of the donor – and his/her right to privacy/confidentiality.

The Code* was designed (over time, and with much revision) to protect NPOs, their constituents and (primarily) their donors.

If the (Gotbucks) reference is to an officer of a foundation or corporation, there is no conflict implied in your scenario. If it is an individual donor, you’d have to ask whether there was a relationship between that donor and the development person, outside of the donor/org relationship.

If, in fact the two people became friends, then there’s no prohibition in the code to prevent a friend from calling a friend. If, however, the contact was limited to “official” transactions, then the development officer can only take with him/her that which is common knowledge in the community. Ideally, the “relationship” is between the donor and the organization, not between the donor and the staff person.

If it is known that the person has a passion for and likes to give to cultural institutions, then a contact from another such NPO would not be inappropriate. But, if that information was not commonly known, and was known to the development officer only as a consequence of his/her former position, then that officer is obligated to “forget” that information.

One of the purposes of the code is to protect the donor’s right to have information gathered by an NPO maintained as confidential. It is also to recognize that the NPO made an investment in the research/education/cultivation process, and to protect that investment.

If this were merely a philosophical discussion, the bottom line would be that the development officer couldn’t/shouldn’t do anything that would violate the rights of others — individuals or corporations.

But, since it is a common question in fundraising, all of the “rules” were designed to protect NPOs, their constituencies and their ability to serve their constituencies. They were not set up to protect development officers or other staff of the NPO.

(*The AFP Code of Ethical Principles and Standards can be found at: http://www.afpnet.org/Ethics/EnforcementDetail.cfm?itemnumber=3261)

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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Click this link to find descriptions of all the titles in The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
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Five Ways to Build Better Visuals

Infographics visual showing a business stages

I know, I know, everyone else in your organization creates bullet pointed slides, complete with facts and numbers, or long lists of actions, reasons or steps. So why shouldn’t you? Well, one reason is that most of us will end up reading each bullet. Good, bad or indifferent, if it is on the slide we tend to read it. Another reason is that these lists of words and numbers are not visually appealing or memorable. They are easily snoozed through or forgotten.

We know better, yet we so often fall into the same-old bullet-point trap. Even if your organization does not encourage creative approaches, here are some strategies that might just encourage you to do better without getting too radical.

  1. Declutter. Take out sentences, unnecessary words, headlines that repeat the title of your project over and over and details you probably won’t need. Group things. Use more slides, allow more white space. Ahhh, feels better already.
  2. Increase color and graphics. Use SmartArt to create content that looks more like a graphic than just words. On the left is a simple example that would take you less than five minutes to create, and adds relationship information that bullet points would not.
  3. Get rid of clip art. That smiley face? That silly stick figure? Out they go. The exception: your hand-drawn diagram, if it really tells the story. Create a screen capture or a scan and include that. Unlike clip art, we haven’t seen that a million times.
  4. Add photos. Pictures you take yourself are best, like pictures of your team or your shop floor. Pictures your organization has the rights to (like your product) are terrific. Be sure whatever you use is royalty-free and that you have the rights to use it. Even Creative Commons pictures need to be studied carefully and attributed correctly to be sure you are using them legally. And do be sure the picture is there for a good reason, not just as decoration.
  5. Get rid of templates and dark backgrounds. Unless your organization insists you use their corporate template (in which case, go for it,) consider using a simple white background without fancy fonts or treatments. Use a simple color palette of black, white, navy, or gray. This is a perfect canvas for easily-read content and for colorful graphics or photos. Use one or two at the most common fonts, preferably sans serif ones like Arial or Tahoma. (I really like Arial Black for headlines.)

Today, take a look at the slides for your next presentation. What can you take out? What could you add in that would add color, life and emotion? Be the maverick in your organization who dares to do better in creating and delivering visuals that actually add value to your presentations.

Please let me know what you think, what you have tried, and how better slides are perceived in your organization.

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Are You Ready for the Talent Management Storm?

A-talent-manager-with-his-goals

The 2013 talent management predictions indicate that we have a storm ahead. Finding and keeping the right talent is going to continue to prove a challenge for organizations. It is further predicted that the old antiquated systems of talent management do not work.

If you are working in an organization with talent in almost in any role, you are mostly like already aware that these systems do not work. And with the increase in talent management software solutions flooding the market, it is also likely that you have lived through a revision in your talent management practices in recent years.

So is it working? Are we moving fast enough?

The predictions and the survey’s are indicating a no. So why are we failing? Below are a few of my ideas. What can you add?

  • We throw technology at the problem. There are number of really good talent management platforms available. The “review forms” are electronic and increase the ease of completing the forms. Many will even provide guidance in the proper words to use. There are colorful graphics and charts available to show our talent in a more pleasing way.

So why the fail? The process moved; it didn’t change. We have the same people doing the same thing. They just get better tools to do it with.

  • We fail to do the research with the right people. If you are working in an environment where you know something is broken, you want it fixed. You need it fixed and the business wants you to fix it quickly. So you move forward with the latest and greatest buzz word philosophy or technology. You listen to all the vendors tell you how to do talent management. You buy the sales pitch.

But who is the best person to tell you how to do talent management? The talent. Talk to them. Hear them. Use them to vet the process and give you feedback along the way.

  • We try to fix it all overnight. We all know that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Deep cultural changes are a process. And when it’s broken we try to fix all it as soon as possible. Instead of focusing on the most critical changes or even the easy wins, we go out with a mission to change it all. It doesn’t work. Lasting impactful change requires a process. Focus on the right things and do them really well. And when you are successful, market your success within the organization. Highlight the wins that moving you in the right direction and continue to ask the talent to assist. They might just stick around to see if you can pull it off.

What can you add?

For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is available to help you with your Human Resources and Training needs on a contract basis. For more information send an email to smazurek0615@gmail.com. Follow me on twitter @Sherimaz

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Crisis Management Lessons from Oreo’s Super Bowl Ad

chocolate-cookies-with-chocolate-chips

Preparedness lands cookie company in the perfect position to make a move

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably heard about Oreo’s spur of the moment ad, crafted literally DURING the Super Bowl blackout, that has the social media world abuzz.

For those who missed it, this is the ad Oreo tweeted during the extended down time:

The ad is quite crafty, but what we’re really interested in sharing is how Oreo accomplished this. The following quote, from a MediaWeek article by Gordon MacMillan, explains how Oreo’s ad agency, 360i, pulled it off with such short notice:

The agency said that the ad was “designed, captioned and approved within minutes,” according to Sarah Hofstetter, president of 360i.

She said all the decisions were made in real time, as the marketers and agency members were sitting together at a “mission control” centre watching the game unfold.

“We had a mission control set up at our office with the brand and 360i, and when the blackout happened, the team looked at it as an opportunity. Because the brand team was there, it was easy to get approvals and get it up in minutes,” Hofstetter told BuzzFeed.

Laurie Guzzinati, a spokeswoman for Mondelez, which owns Oreo, said: “They saw a real-time opportunity with the power outage and jumped it, doing so in a social voice true to the Oreo brand.”

The agency was able to get the ad approved so quickly because members of the Oreo marketing team were on hand to sign it off.

While the team was mobilized this time to create something positive, Oreo and 360i were clearly set up to react to anything that could potentially affect the Oreo brand during the Super Bowl. Monitoring media channels in real-time, in a mission control room with reps from both the brand and marketing teams there, meant that regardless of what came up, they would be equipped and authorized to handle it. In fact, not only handle it, but handle it well, with messaging that remained consistent with the Oreo brand.

This should come as a “how-to” lesson to other organizations. Being prepared and positioned to leap into action is absolutely critical to protecting and enhancing your brand’s reputation. This time, it resulted in the production of a scene-stealing Twitter ad, but next time it could just as easily mean that a crisis management strategy is put into action before negative sentiment can pick up steam.

Congratulations to both Oreo and 360i, you’re doing it right.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

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To Evaluate, let’s Facilitate: Building a stronger evaluation life-cycle, by boosting facilitation skills.

group-diverse-people-having-business-meeting

I remember, as a child, dutifully memorizing the life-cycles of frogs and butterflies. Now as an evaluator, I find myself participating in a work-related life-cycle of sorts too, though no need of painstaking memorization here:

Evaluation Planning –>Negotiating the plan –> Conducting the evaluation (negotiating this) –>Reporting –>Planning of future evaluations…–>(and the cycle continues)

While recently reading one of my program evaluation books, I was struck by the important role that facilitation plays in every stage of an evaluation’s life cycle. I am not just saying this because I have facilitated in the past.

Some might have a love-hate relationship with facilitation. But we cannot do program evaluation in a vacuum, without working with people, also known as our stakeholders—those who share a vested interest in our evaluations. Wherever people are concerned, facilitation is a valuable skill that we all use consciously or unconsciously.

In my experience, until this was pointed out to me in my reading, I did not realize that I was unconsciously using facilitation skills and also participating in facilitation led by a couple of my evaluation stakeholders. So whether we realize it or not, facilitation is important in the process of conducting evaluations.

Here are three reasons why, which I have gleaned from recent perusals of 1) Program Evaluation, by John Owen and Patricia Rogers and 2) John Bryson and Michael Patton’s chapter “Analyzing and Engaging Stakeholders” in Wholey and colleagues’ book Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation.

Facilitation During Evaluation Planning

Facilitation is central to the planning stages of an evaluation. Why? If you’re like me, I’d dislike doing an evaluation, knowing that it would never get used. We all want our work to count, to be useful.

One of the ways to help ensure that an evaluation gets used, is to involve your primary stakeholders in planning stages. And what better way to truly involve them, than to facilitate ongoing discussions with them in the planning stages of your evaluation. As I discussed in my previous post, use these discussions to mutually build a collective vision that guides and motivates as many of those around the table, as possible.

Facilitation During Evaluation Negotiation

Once your evaluation plan is ready to go, it’s time to negotiate the plan with your primary stakeholders. Negotiation also takes facilitation skills. Some of us might like the negotiation process more than others.

Either way, you may find it helpful during the negotiation process, to focus on working together and coming up with a revised plan that reduces the level of stress for the key stakeholders and key players of your evaluation.

However short or lengthy an evaluation might be, I like to think of my evaluation clients as co-workers. Facilitating your way through a bearable, if not pain-free negotiation process, helps lay the ground work for successful relationships with evaluation stakeholders and hopefully, ultimately, an evaluation that gets used.

Facilitation During Evaluation Reporting and Dissemination

Using facilitation skills before and during report-writing, will help engage your stakeholders in the reporting process. This will also help increase the likelihood that stakeholders will apply and use evaluation results.

The same applies to the stage of sharing evaluation results, that is dissemination. So how do we facilitate in ways that engage and provoke thought? As you might have answered, one way is to ask questions that draw your audience in.

In his book Focus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, Richard Krueger recommends that evaluators write reports not with a general audience in mind, but with individuals in mind. Why not apply this to facilitation in the reporting stage?

Let’s tailor our reporting and facilitation according to what we know about the people that comprise our primary stakeholder group. In other words, facilitate with particular persons in mind, not a general audience.

For readers who are novice evaluators, does this article help? For my readers who are more experienced evaluators, how have facilitation skills helped you build a stronger evaluation?

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Priya Small has extensive experience in collaborative evaluation planning, instrument design, data collection, grant writing and facilitation. Contact her at priyasusansmall@gmail.com. See her profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/priyasmall/

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Proposal Development: How to Structure Your Grant Proposal (Part 2)

In my last post (on Dec. 6) I outlined the first four sections to be included in a grant proposal to a private or corporate foundation: the Cover Letter, Executive Summary, Contact Information, and General Organization Overview.

This month’s post will continue with the three additional sections to include in these grant proposals:

Program Description – this is the heart of your proposal – and it includes a number of subsections:
•  Needs Statement – describe the community needs or problems to be addressed by your program and why this issue is important. Check back for more about needs statements in an upcoming blog post.
•  Target Population – describe who will be served by this grant, how many will be served, and what are the demographics of this population (gender, age, income, etc.)
•  Program Goals & Objectives – what will your organization do to address the community needs or problems described above? Your goals will be broader in scope than your objectives and can also be described in terms of the long-term outcomes your organization hopes to achieve through this program. Objectives are narrower and more specific, and often shorter in duration.
•  Program Activities & Timeline – your Goals and Objectives are the “What” and your Activities & Timeline are the “How” and the “When.” What activities and/or services do you intend to engage in or provide? Include specifics such as how much, how often, and how long these will be provided.
•  Evaluation – program evaluation is becoming increasingly critical in winning grants. Potential funders want – and need – to know how you will determine if your programs are successful, and by extension, if their money will be well spent. Some tips that I will include in an upcoming blog post on program evaluation are: work with your program staff to define the goals, outcomes and metrics for their programs; use quantitative metrics to evaluate program effectiveness; define whether you will conduct an internal evaluation or hire an outside evaluator; and use your evaluation findings to modify program design.
•  Personnel – list the staff responsible for your program, and include a brief summary of their professional qualifications. Also include any volunteer needs that will ensure the success of your program, and if there are specific staff and/or volunteer training needs for your program.
•  Collaboration – will your organization collaborate with any other service providers on this program? What is your past experience collaborating with this/these organization(s), what is/are their roles in this program, and what is/are their expertise? Some foundations will also require letters of support or MOUs (Memoranda of Understanding) from these collaborators.

Financial Information – this is another critical section of grant proposals that is receiving increasing scrutiny from grant reviewers. This section should include – or reference – your line-item program budget, sometimes a budget narrative, and always a statement of program sustainability (ie: how will you sustain the program after funding from this foundation ends). Check back for more about program budgets and financial information in an upcoming blog post.

Attachments – another boilerplate section. Most foundations will require your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, a list of your Board of Directors and their professional affiliations, your organization’s operating budget for the current fiscal year, your program budget for the grant period (if not detailed in the proposal), and your most recent annual report. Many foundations will also require your audited financial statement for the most recently completed fiscal year, your IRS Form 990, and a list of your foundation and corporate grantors, including grant award amounts.
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Lynn deLearie Consulting, LLC, helps nonprofit organizations develop, enhance and expand grants programs, and helps them secure funding from foundations and corporations. Contact Lynn deLearie.
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Look for Lynn’s ebook on Grants & Grantsmanship. It’s part of The Fundraising Series of ebooks
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If you’re reading this on-line and you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting. If you’ve received this posting as an email, click on the email link (above) to communicate with the author.