At the Grant Professional Association National Conference this year, the keynote speaker had some bold new ideas for where the grant, fundraising, and philanthropic sector should go. I greatly respect this speaker, Vu Le. He is a thought-leader in nonprofit work for social justice.
I disagree with one of Vu’s premises as I understand it, which is that the philanthropic community has too much power and that power needs to be decreased.
I propose instead that gratitude is an important “X Factor” in grant winning. You may have heard me talk before about grant “winning” versus grant “writing”. I believe you could write lots of grants with the belief that the philanthropic community owes you something and that it would be nice to have that much power. You could wear yourself out writing a million grants that way. You would not win many grants that way. I care more about winning than writing, don’t you?
What I have learned in my experience,
over thousands of hours in grant winning is that what you are thinking and feeling will come through in what you write and how you interact with your funders. Your feelings will come through in your applications, conversations, and all communications.
Gratitude is the feeling you want to convey to your funders & for their dedication to the community and your cause. Gratitude for their consideration of your proposal & that they may fund you. (This last one is gratitude mixed with faith that your nonprofit will be successful, and that is the powder keg of grant winning.)
There is a reason that all major religious philosophies have a focus on gratitude. It brings joy and also success.
Use gratitude to win grants and be happier while you do it!
If you would be grateful to NOT have to write grants, you can contact me here.
