September and October bring a wave of back-to-back grant deadlines which hopefully lead to many year-end grant awards. In these busiest months for grant writing, it can easy to get caught up in the deadlines and lose sight of two key components of your work: 1) best practices that can set you up for fundraising success and 2) connection to the impact our...

Recently, I have encountered multiple nonprofits who decided to include grants in their strategic plans. Some have even been swayed to hire a grant writing consulting firm based on  promises to integrate the grants process into their strategic planning. However, as a firm that facilitates implementable strategic plans AND provides quality grant writing, t...

If COVID-19 has a silver lining, it is that it has shined a light on some truly stunning acts of altruism, kindness, and generosity. Many folks (including our incredible clients) have an unwavering commitment to support the most vulnerable members of their communities. With so many organizations doing such fantastic work, if you’re looking to help, it can...

In recent years, the nonprofit sector has started to see a shift away from the traditional needs-based approach to community problem solving as it moves towards asset-based community building. The needs-based approach begins by identifying communities’ needs and problems. While all communities have their own unique needs and problems that should be acknow...

Just like your other development activities, your grants strategy needs a plan. Below are five steps to create your grant strategy:

1. Update and confirm your current funders and deadlines                                                          Funders will often change their deadlines. Check the foundation’s website to make sure you have the right timel...

In 2018, the good news was that a number of ZIM clients received multi-year grants. The bad news was that because of their methods of accounting, the total amount granted over multiple years was only accounted for in year one This put extra pressure on both ZIM and our nonprofit clients to increase general fundraising in the second and third year of these...

Before working with ZIM, I had very little knowledge of the nonprofit and foundation landscape of Colorado. That quickly changed with research. As the Grant Researcher at ZIM, it is my job to know as much as possible about foundations, their priorities, and the best ways to develop relationships with them. Acquiring this knowledge has given me insight on...

Election Day has come and gone, and no matter who you voted for or what your position was on the ballot issues, another type of election is looming…and this one also has far reaching outcomes.

Similar to elections in Colorado, voting begins once ballots are received and concludes on election Tuesday.

The ballots will drop on Tuesday, November 27th, also kno...

How does one distill 12 years of accumulated wisdom in 12 truths? You start with a much larger list and then narrow the list down to the ones that are most meaningful today. I am proud to share these nuggets of wisdom and ask you, what have you learned in the last 12 years?

1. It’s okay to have favorite clients as long as no one knows who they are.

2. O...

Nonprofits and foundations are mutually dependent – one cannot succeed without the other – yet they often have different experiences with the grantmaking process. As a grant writer who has encountered a variety of grant application experiences, here are some ideas for funders of ways to improve the grantmaking process.

If I was a program officer, I would…

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