Conference Workshop: The Science and Art of Writing Winning Grants

Speaker:  Katie Howard
www.thinkwritegrow.com

Katie has more than 11 years of professional proposal writing experience (both grants and contracts) with more than $61 million in awarded proposals. She also has over 8 years of experience training nonprofit professionals in grant writing strategies nationwide.

Do grants feel like a magic source of money that you’ll never be able to access? The process of developing a strong, compliant grant proposal can often feel like an uncertain venture that can leave us feeling overwhelmed and confused. The purpose of this workshop is to demystify the grant proposal process. We’ll review the proposal lifecycle, from research to submission, and review some of the top mistakes people make when preparing their proposals and how to avoid them. We’ll also examine short excerpts from proposals from a grant reviewer’s perspective.

By attending this session, you will:

• Learn about when you should and should NOT write grants
• Review types of funders and types of funding
• Learn the common elements of a grant proposal
• Discuss common mistakes and strategies to avoid making them
• And much more

***This class is especially intended for people new to the grant writing arena, people who have struggled to win grants in the past, and people who feel timid about writing.

Because of popular demand, this is the third year this class has been offered! Join Katie at the 3rd annual Inland Northwest Nonprofit Conference – Programs and Sustainability Series, held Thursday, February 7th, 2012, at the Lincoln Center. For more information visit the AE website.

Conference Workshop: Risk Management and Compliance

Speakers:  Angela Richardson and Brian Shull

http://www.cliftonlarsonallen.com/

Angela Richardson has over 14 years experience in the nonprofit industry and is the Senior Manager of Accounting and Auditing, Nonprofit Group at CliftonLarsonAllen. Her role involves substantial planning and supervising of audits of nonprofit and governmental entities, providing professional consulting and training to nonprofit organizations, related to board governance and financial management, and conducting quality control reviews for other CPA firms.

Brian Shull is one of the leaders of the Spokane and Pacific Northwest Governmental/Nonprofit Practice with CliftonLarsonAllen. He has over 14 years experience in public accounting spending the majority of his time servicing governmental and nonprofit entities.

Both Angela and Brian have their Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). 

From this workshop, the audience will gain a better understanding of:

• Best practices related to risk management within a nonprofit organization;
• The role of the board of directors and management with regard to risk; and
• Form 990 areas of risk as well as new tax areas you should be aware of.

Due to popular demand, this is the third year this workshop has been offered! Join Angela and Brian at the 3rd annual Inland Northwest Nonprofit Conference - Programs and Sustainability Series on Thursday, February 7th, 2013, at the Lincoln Center. For more information visit the AE website.

Registration Now Open for 3rd Annual Inland NW Nonprofit Conference – February 7, 2013!

We are excited to announce registration is now open for our 3rd Annual Inland NW Nonprofit Conference on Thursday, February 7th, 2013 at the Lincoln Center in Spokane!

The theme for this year is Programs and Sustainability and will include:

• 11 educational workshops (including a Funders' Panel)
• Keynote plenary presentation, Ben Stuckart, Spokane City Council President
• Exhibitor tables and networking breakouts throughout the day

Purchase a day pass (includes 4 workshops and lunch), or each workshop individually (ala carte). Attending the entire day maximizes learning and networking opportunities. For information on workshop descriptions, prices, and discounts, visit our website.

To receive updates on speakers and other event information, be sure to sign-up for our e-newsletter!

Exhibitor opportunities are available. For more information, contact Nicole Ferrell, Event Manager, at nicole@ae-consulting.net.

Save the date! The 3rd Annual Inland Northwest Nonprofit Conference is February 7, 2013!

The 3rd Annual Inland Northwest Nonprofit Conference is just around the corner.  This year's conference theme will be Programs and Sustainability. This will be a full day event offering 11 classes covering topics such as grants, marketing, sustainability, and finance. A happy hour on location will follow adding more opportunity to network with other nonprofit professionals.

 

Mark your calendars for:

 

February 7, 2013 from 8 am - 4 pm 

(Check-in at 7:30 am / Happy Hour at 4 pm)

Location: Spokane, WA  (Exact location TBA)

 

Be sure to subscribe to AE's blog to stay in the loop on registration, classes, and dates as they become available. Also, visit our website for more information.

Need your input for 2013 Conference

Planning for the 3rd Annual Inland NW Nonprofit Conference is underway and we need your input!

The 3^rd annual Inland NW Nonprofit Conference will take place next February 2013. The 1-day educational and professional development conference is the only capacity building resource of its kind locally and welcomes those within the public, nonprofit, philanthropic, and academic or education sectors. 

Up to 12 educational classes, several networking breakouts, and a keynote plenary presentation will comprise the day’s events. Classes cover topics in finance, grants, marketing, leadership, and  much more! Scroll through this blog to see what has been offered in the past. 

By the end of August, we'll wrap up our intake of community market research. If you are someone that may be interested in attending this event either in 2013 or sometime down the road, let us know what class subjects you would want available! Let us know about the trends and topics you're faced with and how our educational services and materials can support you. 

Copy/paste the link below into a new browser and contribute to the very short survey: 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YMW99T8 

Proposal Writing Tip: Include useful and relevant data

As a consultant working with a variety of clients over the years on grant proposals, there are often commonalities that arise amongst each, and one is this, writing grant proposals with loads of passion but no solid data to support the issue addressed.

Chuck Putney, a consultant trainer for The Grantsmanship Center, has written a concise and applicable article on the use of data in proposals in the recent Centered publication (June 2012 (Vol. 5, No. 6). I strongly recommend reading this if you are planning on developing proposals of any type. An excerpt;

Data--numbers--are critical in proposals. The ability to seek out and provide data to bolster an argument is an indication of the applicant's level of professionalism. The less the argument is supported by appropriate data, the harder it is for the reviewer to see the proposal as a substantive and meaningful program plan.

At the same time, data alone will not make the argument for you. Read more…

He continues to outline how to use that data and what to include. Equally as important, don’t forget to include why you’re the most competent to address this issue or execute your program! Use data to back that up as well.

Happy grant seeking!

“The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you're willing to pay the price.”

Vincent "Vince" Lombardi (1913-1970);

Athletic coach

Grant Seeking Development Tip: Monitor Trends from the Giving-Side

Guest Blogger: Katie Howard

One of the biggest mistakes nonprofits often make when deciding to develop grant proposals is that they often surge ahead without a plan, submitting proposals with very little justification. For example, they may be pursuing a funder merely because they know the funder makes awards in their geographic region but did not conduct deeper research to determine if the funder is truly the best fit for the organization, program, or community need. Taking this type of “shotgun” approach in grant proposal development is as ineffective as throwing darts blindfolded.

Setting grant funding priorities and timelines as an organization is an important first step; so is conducting comprehensive funding leads research to identify the foundations and corporate donors that are most likely to be a fit for your organizational and community needs. Monitoring giving trends is another activity that can help inform you and your grant seeking priorities.

One of our recommended reads is Trends in Northwest Giving. Compiled every two years by Philanthropy Northwest, this report analyzes grant making to Northwest nonprofits to help organizational leaders understand trends across the region, focusing on each of the six states in Philanthropy Northwest’s region (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming). 

The 2012 edition analyzes nearly 20,000 grants from 316 funders awarded to Northwest nonprofits in 2010. A few of the trends discussed in the report include:

• post-recession reductions in capital grantmaking;
• the continuing prevalence of small grant awards (more than half of the grants awarded were under $10,000); and
• a 16% increase in grant funding to American Indian/Alaska Native communities.

This report is an excellent tool to inform nonprofit organizations’ grant seeking goals for 2012 and beyond. The entire report is available at http://www.philanthropynw.org/s_pnw/bin.asp?CID=8175&DID=56039&DOC=FILE.PDF.

[bio]

Katie Howard is the owner and principal consultant of KH Consulting. She has more than 10 years of proposal writing experience and has won approximately $60 million in grant and contract funds. Her grant writing training Think, Write, Grow: Practical Strategies for Writing Winning Grants is now available in DVD format at http://thinkwritegrow.com