I can't believe that it is a month since my last post. But I do have two excuses - good ones. First I took a 10 day vacation with my husband in sunny Florida and got a "getting started tan" to start the summer in New Jersey right. Then while walking in the park I fell and dislocated my shoulder. I am recovering and although I still have my arm in a sling and physical therapy 3 days a week it is improving and I am trying to get back into a regular work routine. So enough of the excuses...Here's the post:
I frequently have recommended that Board members and nonprofit executives sign up for the free monthly eNewsletter, Board Cafe offered by Compass Point, which always featured one great article. Recently Board Cafe has become part of a larger alliance called Blue Avocado with a noteworthy nonprofit "Leadership Council" and now publishes an "eMagazine" with multiple articles in each issue. One article is always a Board Cafe feature and one is financially oriented. Blue Avocado is for community oriented nonprofit organizations and that encompasses a wide range of large and small nonprofits.
The Board Cafe article in the current issue is "In Search of Unicorns: Finding & Hiring Grantwriters" by Jan Masaoka. This is an excellent article about the pitfalls of trying to hire grantwriters as consultants and other options to consider such as developing that skill in house. Another idea is having program managers write grant requests since they should be best suited and providing support staff for them to do that well rather than hiring a grantwriter.
Another feature I like about the new Blue Avocado format is that comments are posted and there are some great ideas in the comments section also. Asking the funder for help writing the grant is in the comments -- and it is posted by a funder. Collaborating with others making a grant request is a great way to develop skill at grantwriting and shares resources.
Another excellent article in this issue is about budgeting for nonprofits.
Check it out. I'm adding Blue Avocado to my favorite links today.
Marion Conway Consulting
