"It comes as no surprise to anyone that the world of philanthropy is getting enormous national buzz this year. The cover story of Newsweek's October 1 issue was entitled Giving Globally: How to Heal the World (or at least make a real difference). Former President Bill Clinton is making the media rounds discussing his foundation and his new book, Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World. Philanthropy is truly impacting the world around us.
Many people equate fundraising with a personal ask to individuals or companies for money. These funds are often given to the nonprofit organization because of an emotional attachment to the mission of that agency. Grants, on the other hand, are a competitive financial contribution based on set criteria, based on a written proposal by an organization. These grants are funded through private and corporate foundations, and state, federal and local government.
Here at home, a new program is underway that is designed to assist individuals' and nonprofits' access those pools of grant dollars to help bring worthy projects to life in the Bluegrass. The Lexington Public Library, in collaboration with the Association for Fundraising Professionals, United Way of the Bluegrass, LexLinc, UK Nonprofit Leadership Initiative and LexArts, has spearheaded a project that will expose novice grant writers to the valuable grant-seeking resources available at the Lexington Public Library's Grants Collection.
Entitled Finding Funding for the Arts: A Program to Enhance Grantsmanship, the project will pair ten novice grant writers with ten experienced grant-writing mentors. It uses a model that is part coaching, part mentoring and all about developing independent, self-confident grant writers.
Many times at the heart and soul of generating funding for nonprofit organizations and their projects, grant writers are usually in a backroom somewhere, juggling multiple projects against multiple deadlines. They hammer out the finer details of the roles and responsibilities of partnerships being built for a proposal. They work long hours, often pulling all-nighters just to pull together the right approach to be able to sell the concept to a potential funder. These talented individuals are often the fuel that enables a nonprofit organization to do their valuable work. Therefore, it is important that they have as many resources as possible to do their job well.
The Lexington Public Library provides their Grants Collection as a cooperating collection of the Foundation Center, a national clearinghouse for philanthropic information. The library's commitment is to house a body of materials and resources that includes instructional information on the process of writing a winning grant proposal, but also directories of granting organizations and funding they have available.
The five-year project is designed as a template that will guide interested grant seekers through the often complex and mystifying process of resource development for nonprofit organizations. This pilot project kicked off on October 27 and is focused on funding for the arts. The mentor/mentee relationship is scheduled to last one year. The pairs will meet on a regular basis, access the resources of the Grants Collection and emerge at the end of 12 months with a funded project. The ultimate vision is to foster a community of confident and successful grant writers who make Lexington Public Library's Grants Collection an essential part of their grant-seeking research.
"Grant writing isn't something you learn how to do in school," said Jon Parker, senior director of community building at United of the Bluegrass. "I'm so appreciative of those who took the time to show me about the subtleties of writing a winning proposal. I could not be where I am today without that knowledge."
In the end, trial and error will help grant seekers gain knowledge, skill and success. But if we can find ways to reduce that learning curve, the community will be the beneficiary of that investment.
Kathy Plomin is president of United Way of the Bluegrass.
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