Board Development Archives

Little known hacks on how to apply for grants for nonprofit organizations – with Dr. Bev Browning

#028 – Today I am speaking with Dr. Beverly Browning. Dr. Bev is the author of 44 grant-related publications, including six editions of Grant Writing For Dummies and Nonprofit Kit For Dummies. Her online courses are taught to thousands of students annually. She also has a 16-week virtual Coaching/Mentoring Program. Dr Bev says….

“You will not get funded if you are not innovative, creative, and unique.”

Dr. Bev offers resources on:

1 Grant Writing and Funding

2 Board of Directors Training

3 Strategic Needs Assessment

4 Professional Development Training

5 Proposal Development and

6 Internal Peer Review

Check out Dr. Bev’s free resources on her website – https://bevbrowning.com/nonprofit-resources/

Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

#1 Funders are looking for nonprofit organizations that are filling gaps.

#2 Check in with your local United Way to find potential funders .

#3 The work is 80% research / 20% writing.

#4 Don’t go for funding until you’ve built a relationship with the funder.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[2:00] The first step is to do an organizational assessment
[3:01] Volunteers should ease the Executive Director's responsibilities
[3:22] Give or get policy
[4:50] Executive Director should NOT be leading the SWOT analysis
[6:36] Volunteers can have greater insights than paid staff
[7:40] Nonprofit leaders may have vision but may lack organizational management
[8:37] Funders are looking for organizations that fill gaps
[9:37] You will NOT get funded if you are NOT innovative, creative, and unique
[10:00] Look at the United Way for gaps in your community
[12:55] A grant is 80% research / 20% writing
[13:35] Look for buzzwords on the funder's website
[14:20] Don't apply for funding before you've developed a relationship with the funder
[16:25] The best board members put in 15-20 hours per month
[17:20] Good relationships can overcome bad writing
[18:13] Typical foundation proposals could take 1-2 weeks for a newbie
[19:23] Most new nonprofits cannot get federal grants
[23:25] A plan for building relationships with funders

A few secrets everyone should know before starting a new nonprofit organization – with Gigi Lawrence

#027 – Today I am speaking with Gigi Lawrence. Gigi founded Nonprofit for Newbies, a consulting and networking community, to help people start new nonprofits. Gigi is a mompreneur who started off in the financial consulting world, but didn’t feel fulfilled. She knew she wanted to help others, but was unsure how. After she took a job as a nonprofit financial literacy program director she knew she had found her calling. Gigi says….

“If your foundation isn’t structured correctly and you don’t know how to explain your process. You don’t know how to explain your programs in a way that others are going to understand and be motivated to move forward with those services or that program and being involved…..

…you have to be able to sell yourself, sell your organization, and in order to sell it, you have to know what you’re selling and you have to believe in it.”

Nonprofit for Newbies either advises or refers “newbies” to one of the independent contractors in their network on:

Starting their nonprofit
Grant writing
Writing their business plan
Fundraising
Marketing
Accounting
Board Development, and
Mindset

As of this interview, her Facebook Group has over 10k members.

Gigi has a ton of free resources on her website

https://www.nonprofitfornewbies.com/social

Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

#1 Be able to clearly explain your programs and what you do.

#2 Get board members who will help you execute your mission.

#3 Have people you are serving represented on your board.

#4 Get local high school or college students to help with your social media at little or no cost.

Check out Groupfinity.com for the show notes and links for this episode.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[3:45] We have a vetted consultant netwrok
[5:30] It comes down to getting your foundation right....
[7:20] Most questions I get when people start
[8:12] Considerations when forming your board
[11:40] Have representation on your board
[12:40] Changes since the pandemic
[15:30] Use college students to help with social media
[16:45] Focus on the tasks that are a good use of your time
[17:27] Make sure you spend some time budgeting
[19:33] Voices of Color
[20:51] How Gigi got started

A few secrets everyone should know before starting a new nonprofit organization – with Gigi Lawrence

Subscribe

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

Subscribe

BE AN INSIDER

Join the community