Why Practicing Professional Ethics Improves Any Nonprofit's Grant Writing Successes

Grant Writers On Commission

Pricing Grant Writers - What Should We Pay For a Grant Writer?

This Week A Group of Grant Writers Networked Among Themselves, Saved Each Other Some Grief, and Received An Apology!

Grants for Community Nonprofits Working On Environmental, Health, or Animal Welfare "Goodness"

From The Foundation Center...

[For more information on this grant opportunity, click "Link to Complete RFP" at the end of this post].

Deadline: June 21, 2011

Tom's of Maine Announces Third Annual "50 States for Good" Program to Honor Nonprofit Organizations

Tom's of Maine, a natural products company focused on oral and personal care, has announced the launch of its annual "50 States for Good" program, which seeks to support community nonprofit organizations around the United States in completing volunteer-driven projects.

Any qualifying 501(c)(3) in good standing with an organizational operating budget under $2 million is eligible to apply. Organizations must work on projects, with the help of community volunteers, that relate to "environmental goodness, healthy human goodness, or animal goodness."

Following the application phase, a panel of experts will select twenty finalists based on a range of criteria, including use of community volunteers, ability to get the project completed, and community impact.

The six winners will be determined by a public online vote starting in early August2011. The organization with the most votes will receive $50,000 in sponsorship funding; five additional organizations will each receive $20,000.

Each finalist, along with its project, will be showcased at the Tom's of Maine Web site during the voting phase. Projects must be completed within six months of receiving funding.

Complete program guidelines and the online application are available at the 50 States for Good program Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

What to Aim For When Applying for Grants: What Are Donors Looking For When Deciding to Give?

What Motivates Giving?

What Are Grant Donors Looking For and Funding, Today?

Upping the Odds in Getting Any Grants, Or Do We Compete With Each Other for Grants?


How Any Nonprofit Can Raise More Support, Acquire the Best Talent, Strive, and Grow

AIDS HIV Grants for American, Canadian, Carribbean, Central, or South American Nonprofit Doing Specific Work

From The Foundation Center...

[If you are interested in more information on this grant opportunity, click "Link to RFP" at the end of this post].

Deadline: June 1, 2011 (Online Letters of Intent)

Elton John AIDS Foundation Invites Letters of Intent for 2011 Funding Round

The Elton John AIDS Foundation is accepting Letters of Intent (LOI) for its 2011 open call for grant proposals.

For this funding round, as in previous years, EJAF invites LOIs from any proposed project that is aligned with EJAF grantmaking priorities including HIV programs focused on gay men's health and rights, African American health and rights, youth mobilization for sexual health and rights, syringe access and harm reduction, prisoner re-entry, and scale-up of quality HIV programming in the southern United States, Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Any nonprofit organization located in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and Central and South America may apply for funding.

Unsolicited proposals should request no more than $50,000 during the calendar year of 2011.

Organizations must complete the online LOI by June 1, 2011. Organizations approved to submit a full application will be notified by July 15, 2011, with full online applications due by September 1, 2011.

Visit the EJAF Web site for complete program guidelines and the online LOI form.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

Critical for a Successful Nonprofit? The Dream Team Board. Learn Below How to Effectively Train and Enable Your Board Members, and How To Get Your Board Working Successfully

How To Be A Modern Nonprofit Board Member, or, Nonprofit Leaders, Willing To Take A Look At Yourself for the Good of the Nonprofit You're Working For?

After Recruiting Board Members Help Them Become Effective Immediately


Here Are Some Tips to Get Your Board Behind Your Agency's Grant Writing

A real world example demonstrating how utterly critical excellent leaders are for a nonprofit organization and its ability to raise funds and thrive:
Fundraising Isn't Optional, Non Profits, "Putting the Word Out and Bowing Your Heads..." Is Not Fundraising, BendFilm


Who's The Boss At Your Nonprofit?  Not the E.D..  Not the Board.  It's the Mission Statement!

Each and All Nonprofits Must Comply With the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002

Specific to the Board, see the entirety of the following post, but especially look at items number 4 and number 10:
Top 10 Grant Money Myths: Do You Think You Know What You're Doing While Looking for Grant Money?  Or, Do You Know That You Don't?

Nominations for Financial Awards for Community Agencies Partnering With Cargiving Research

From The Foundation Center...

[For more information on this award opportunity, click "Link to Complete RFP" at the end of this blog post].

Deadline: July 1, 2011

Nominations Invited for Rosalynn Carter Leadership in Caregiving Award

The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving is accepting nominations for its Leadership in Caregiving Award. The annual award recognizes leadership in implementing innovative partnerships between community agencies and caregiving researchers to bridge the gap between science and practice. These partnerships help move effective caregiver support programs to widespread use in the community more quickly and efficiently.

The award-winning team will be announced at the RCI's National Summit to be held October 5-7, 2011 in Americus, Georgia. Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will present the team with a cash award of $20,000 and a statuette. The cash award is intended to support the team's efforts in implementing effective caregiver interventions at the community level.

Winning partnerships must have clearly demonstrated: dedication to developing effective evidence-based caregiver interventions that improve the health and well-being of caregivers; collaboration and partnerships between all stakeholders in the caregiving process; potential for developing or more effectively using financial, educational, and human resources to support caregivers; effective reach into the target population; and potential to serve as a model for other individuals, groups, organizations or communities in efforts to better support caregivers.

Complete program guidelines and nomination forms are available at the Rosalynn Carter Institute Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

System Maintenance Alert

The Grants.gov Production and AT07 Training Environments will be unavailable Saturday, June 11, 2011 at 12:01 AM ET until Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 11:59PM ET for system maintenance.
The Grants.gov PMO suggests that no application submissions or activity take place during this maintenance period.

The Grants.gov AT07 Training Environment will be visible but undergoing Acceptance Testing on Monday, June 13, 2011 at 12:10 AM ET until Monday, June 13, 2011 at 11:59 ET. Please be aware that while the system may appear to be available to users during this time, it is not. Please do not attempt to access the AT07 Training Environment during this time.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Regards,
Grants.gov PMO

Needing to Learn the Basics About Nonprofit Organizations, Grant Writing, and Other Basic Nonprofit Operations? See Below...

Some Easy Information From the IRS to Help Nonprofit Organizations Keep Their (Official Charity) Status and Remain in Compliance

The Foundation Center Now Provides Free Website That Teaches How to Do Grant Writing

Places, Resources, and Ways to Learn Everything From Fundraising to Other Nonprofit Operations (Some Are Free)...


A Few Very Good Free Grant Resources, Professional Advice Resources, and Also Job Seeking Resources


How This Blog Can Help Your Nonprofit to Raise Grant Money


How to Learn What Federal, State, Local, or Tribal Grants Are Available, & How to Apply for Them

A Complete Primer On What Capital Campaigns Are, How They Work, How to Fundraise for One, and How to Specifically Apply for Grants for A Capital Campaign

Grants for Public/Private Partnerships Eradicating Invasive and Noxious Plants

From The Foundation Center...

Deadline: July 15, 2011 (Pre-proposals)

Pulling Together Initiative Invites Grant Proposals to Control Invasive Plant Species

A program of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Pulling Together Initiative (PTI) seeks proposals that will help control invasive plant species, mostly through the work of public/private partnerships such as cooperative weed management areas.

To be competitive, a project must work to prevent, manage, or eradicate invasive and noxious plants through a coordinated program of public/private partnerships and also help increase public awareness of the adverse impacts of invasive and noxious plants. Successful grant proposals will focus on a particular well-defined area such as a watershed, ecosystem, landscape, county, or weed management area; have the support of private landowners, state and local governments, and regional/state offices of federal agencies; include a specific, ongoing, and adaptive public outreach and education component; and employ an early detection/rapid response approach to invasive species.

In order to maximize conservation outcomes, projects that take place in NFWF priority landscapes in coordination with federal agencies will be strongly preferred. Priority landscapes include eastern North America early succession habitat; Prairie Coteau grasslands; Sky Islands grasslands; Gunnison sage-grouse habitat; Southeastern grasslands, especially longleaf pine forest; shortgrass prairie; upper Colorado River; and Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Applications will be accepted from private nonprofit (501)(c) organizations; federally recognized tribal governments; local, county, and state government agencies; and from field staff of federal government agencies. Individuals and for-profit businesses are not eligible to receive PTI grants, but are encouraged to work with eligible applicants to develop and submit applications.

The initiative expects to award a total of $1.3 million this year. The average award amounts typically ranges between $15,000 and $75,000, with some exceptions. Applicants must provide a 1:1 non-federal match for their grant request.

The complete Request for Proposals and application procedures are available at the NFWF Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP

How and Where Resources Exist to Keep One Step Ahead For Prudent, Conservative, and Effective Budgeting and Planning in the Rebounding Economy

It feels like one step forward, two steps back, and then another step forward, and so on.  As the economy slowly recovers, it is difficult for nonprofits to plan out, budget for, and feel somewhat confident proceeding with fundraising.  The safest bet is to remain conservative in one's financial estimates, continue to cut as much spending as possible, lessen expenses without negatively impacting the organization's mission and its goals, and to save.

Even still, there are questions.

Will new economic growth remain slow for five years, ten, or only two?  How will an economic recovery, its speed, and its impact effect our: hiring, future organizational growth, and our ability to meet goals and achieve benchmarks?

These and all other related questions are not just pertinent, right now, they are of course prudent.

How can a nonprofit leader, then, responsibly, realistically, and somewhat reasonably be effective when working on a nonprofit's immediate goals?

__ For the geographic region that the organization both operates in and serves (and sometimes these are different (i.e. an American organization that serves a specific region in Africa)) leadership should be reading the local newspapers keeping attention focused on the local economy(ies) and forecasts for those.

__ Never forget the myriad tools that Google offers to the general public.  Create a free, quick, and easy Google Alert through which you can create a widget that reads the Web at your preferred interval (i.e. each week) and gathers the links for sites that discuss anything that you wish to regularly search the Internet for (i.e. a single word, term, or phrase).  You create one by following their quick and easy prompts.  So, if you wish to know what is being discussed each week about say "philanthropy" in a specific geographic region such as perhaps "Saline County, Missouri" then create a Google Alert for those two phrases and it will e-mail to you (weekly) a list of everything new that week, on the web, that includes those two phrases.  Or, if you want to know what people are saying about your organization, create an Alert for its name; do you want to stay on top of what's being said about you online, do the same; or if you wish to follow what is being said about the beneficiaries of the nonprofit that you work for, create an Alert with appropriate search phrase(s) that will result in locating what's being said about them (or those).  In other words, use the search term you would type into a search engine to locate whatever it is you wish to follow weekly online.

__ Talk to colleagues who volunteer with or work for other nonprofit organizations, or government agencies, or companies whose work is related to the work of the organization you are working for. Keep networking always.

__ Read the printed and online materials of professional affiliations related to the work your nonprofit does (i.e. advocacy, research, public oversight and reporting, etc.) ; also keep up on the latest best practices, thinking, and goings on for those professional affiliations related to the specific job you do for the organization (i.e. volunteer management, bookkeeping, executive, fundraising, etc.); keep up, too, on business groups and their thinking in the geographic regions your organization fundraises in and serves.

__ Always keep in touch with others working or volunteering with other nonprofits that work in the same region that your organization serves and raises funds in (whether they work with nonprofits doing similar work or not). It's good to know what other nonprofits are currently dealing with, how they're approaching various challenges, what they are finding works and what hasn't, and who they are working with that they find helpful, etc.  This kind of networking is not industry-specific but rather general and concerned with just knowing what is going on with other nonprofits and sharing the same.

__ Stop by pertinent public libraries, visit their Reference Desk or Department, and be sure to keep up on what studies have been done most recently in the region.  The data and statistics that public agencies but sometimes others publish and their findings can often provide very current and extremely invaluable information about a given region's population, needs, and where holes exist in public services or how accessible those are, and this information can truly help update or keep a given nonprofit current in its mission and goals.

__ Learn how to understand local and regional economic forecasts (located in everything from national and local media and reputable websites to local banking and those banks' studies, findings, reports, and forecasts).

As the economy slowly recovers, there is great hope.  The hope, in financial terms, should be buoyed with a healthy concern for hedging one's optimism, padding the 'rainy day fund', and saving where one can for a nonprofit's best interests.

Four to Eight U.S. Research Consortia Being Created to Study Effects of Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill With Ten Year $500 Million Commitment

From The Foundation Center...

[For more information for this grant opportunity, click "Link to  RFP" at the end of this blog post].

Deadline: May 9, 2011 (Letters of Intent)

Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Offers Funding for Consortia to Study Effects of Oil Spill

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Research Board has released a Request for Proposals to establish four to eight research consortia that will study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in April 2010.

Funded with a ten-year, $500 million commitment from BP, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative is a broad, independent initiative targeting research institutions primarily in the U.S. Gulf Coast states.

The GRI Research Board is funding consortia in this initial RFP because some of the research will be so complex that it necessitates contributions by multiple institutions and multi-disciplinary teams. The research that will be conducted through these consortia will inform the scientific understanding of oil spill and dispersant impacts on ocean and coastal systems in the Gulf region.

The purpose of the RFP is to select the research activities for years two to four (June 2011-May 2014) involving research consortia. For this solicitation, a research consortium is defined as consisting of four or more universities, institutions, or independent organizations. In general, research consortia will consist of institutions in the Gulf Coast states, provided that research institutions outside the Gulf Coast region may be members of or participate in partnerships with such research consortia, to the extent required to ensure the delivery of high-quality scientific studies in fulfillment of the objectives of the GRI.

Proposals must address one or some combination of the following five topics: physical distribution, dispersion, and dilution of petroleum (oil and gas), its constituents, and associated contaminants (e.g., dispersants) under the action of physical oceanographic processes, air-sea interactions, and tropical storms; chemical evolution and biological degradation of petroleum/dispersant systems and subsequent interaction with coastal, open-ocean, and deep-water ecosystems; environmental effects of the petroleum/dispersant system on the sea floor, water column, coastal waters, beach sediments, wetlands, marshes, and organisms, and the science of ecosystem recovery; technology developments for improved response, mitigation, detection, characterization, and remediation associated with oil spills and gas releases; and fundamental scientific research integrating results from the other four topics in the context of public health. Each research consortia proposal is expected to develop and enunciate a clear plan to address any one of the targeted topics or a cross-disciplinary program of work involving a grouping of some of these topics.

Total funds available for distribution through the RFP will be a minimum of $37.5 million per year. Four to eight research consortia will be selected, and funding for each is estimated to be between $1 million (minimum) and $7.5 million (maximum) per year.

The GRI Research Board will issue a second Request for Proposals at a later date. Through that RFP, the research board will award grants focused on activities involving less money and less internal management than a research consortium. Grant recipients will be individuals or smaller collaborative efforts involving a principal investigator and co-PIs from up to three additional institutions working on the same research themes as described in this RFP. A maximum of $7.5 million per year will be available through the second RFP, with grants, on average, ranging from $100,000 to $1 million each per year for up to three years.

For complete program information and application materials, visit the GRI Web site.

Contact:
Link to Complete RFP