Amanda Day, GPC’s Post

The average state grew its grant funding by 11.5% from 2021 to 2022. But one state saw a massive 45% increase! 🚀 Another dropped by 47% 😬 Our latest analysis of the 🇺🇸 U.S. Grant Funding Landscape 🇺🇸 reveals surprising shifts that could reshape your nonprofit’s grant strategy. Discover: 1️⃣ The top 5 states leading in grant awards 2️⃣ Where funding is growing the fastest 3️⃣ How the number of grants correlates with total funding available 🔗 See where your state ranks in the comments! #GrantFunding #GrantStrategy #InstrumentlInsights #FundingLandscape Many thanks to contributions from the grant experts sharing their advice on how to navigate changing grant trends: Lauren Wiskerson, CFRE, Jacob B Chase, Veronica Kulon, Teresa Huff, ACNP, Julie Starr, BA, MPS, and Jan Spackman 👏

At the Knott Foundation, we continually strive to refine our processes to better serve our community and the organizations we partner with. Earlier this year, we announced updates to our grantmaking policies that will take effect during our first grant cycle of 2025. Today, we’d like to revisit these changes, share the “why” behind them, and help you prepare for the year ahead. These updates are designed to bring greater transparency, efficiency, and intentionality to our grantmaking process, ensuring that we can continue to support meaningful, impactful work across our region while simultaneously lowering burdens on both applicants and Foundation staff. An examination of our grantmaking history tells us that only 28% of submitted Letters of Inquiry are advanced to the full proposal stage. To learn more about these changes, check out our latest blog post https://lnkd.in/eCz2PiTA

WEEKLY HAYDAY HOT TAKE FROM THE HAYDAY DUO! Curious what your grant calendar is going to look like in Federal Fiscal Year 2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025)? You don’t have to wait until grant programs are released in grants.gov. As one example, the House Appropriations Committee released a draft of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025. You can review the full text HERE. Other department appropriations have been drafted as well. Appropriation Bills haven’t been approved yet, so changes are possible, likely even. But if your agency depends on a certain program year after year, now is a good time to see how much funding is designated to that program. Some programs have been slashed and others eliminated entirely, in this early draft. And because the 2025 Appropriation Bills are still in draft form (not passed by the House of Representatives or Senate yet), there is still time to call your elected officials to let them know how reductions in funding will affect the communities they are elected to serve. The more you know about what federal funding is, and isn’t, in the proposed budget, the better prepared your agency is to find alternative sources of funding, if needed. The better-informed grant professionals are, the better we can work to ensure continued programming takes place where it is needed most. ********************************************************************************* Hungry for more? Sign up for the HayDay Hot Takes newsletter at https://bit.ly/3NMTSd1 and get fresh hot takes, tips on winning more grants and raising more money, and book reviews delivered piping hot to your inbox every Friday.

WEEKLY HAYDAY HOT TAKE FROM THE HAYDAY DUO! Curious what your grant calendar is going to look like in Federal Fiscal Year 2025 (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025)? You don’t have to wait until grant programs are released in grants.gov. As one example, the House Appropriations Committee released a draft of the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025. You can review the full text HERE. Other department appropriations have been drafted as well. Appropriation Bills haven’t been approved yet, so changes are possible, likely even. But if your agency depends on a certain program year after year, now is a good time to see how much funding is designated to that program. Some programs have been slashed and others eliminated entirely, in this early draft. And because the 2025 Appropriation Bills are still in draft form (not passed by the House of Representatives or Senate yet), there is still time to call your elected officials to let them know how reductions in funding will affect the communities they are elected to serve. The more you know about what federal funding is, and isn’t, in the proposed budget, the better prepared your agency is to find alternative sources of funding, if needed. The better-informed grant professionals are, the better we can work to ensure continued programming takes place where it is needed most. ********************************************************************************* Hungry for more? Sign up for the HayDay Hot Takes newsletter at https://bit.ly/3NMTSd1 and get fresh hot takes, tips on winning more grants and raising more money, and book reviews delivered piping hot to your inbox every Friday.

In our most recent newsletter, we dove back into prospect research. Did you miss it? Here's what you should know: ✅Know how you want to use the grant funds, and if grants are a suitable source of funding ✅Establish some criteria for what makes a good opportunity fit ✅Ensure your organization is eligible for funding ✅Repeat this process during the year as some of the funder requirements may have changed We wrote about this in a past blog post. You can check it out here- https://lnkd.in/ew-8j626

We're pleased to announce a joint venture between Communities Rise and the Puget Sound Grantwriters Association to boost your chances of receiving grants! This FREE monthly grant assistance program is designed to support community-based organizations that serve communities impacted by systemic oppression and that do not have a grantwriter. This month's sessions will be July 15 between 3:30 and 6 pm. Here's how it works: 1. An organization schedules a grant assistance appointment with Communities Rise by emailing cbclinics@communities-rise.org. 2. Requesting orgs bring application guidelines, draft proposal, an unfunded proposal, or questions about grants. 3. An experienced grantwriter meets the team virtually to provide individualized guidance. These services are FREE and available by appointment only. Can’t make this one? Grantwriting consultation happens each month--contact Communities Rise today to schedule for a future date.

🆕 report: Exploring approaches to assessing the impact of unrestricted funding How do funders monitor and assess the impact of unrestricted grants, and what successes and challenges have they encountered? This report was commissioned by the Co-op Foundation who, in their commitment to making more long-term unrestricted grants, wanted to understand how other similar funders approached this question. Recognising that funder practice in this area was still embryonic and that there were few conceptual frameworks available to guide practice, the Co-op Foundation wanted to share this report in its entirety to help other funders grappling with the same issue. This report includes findings about: 🔹 The variety of different approaches funders use to assess the impact of unrestricted funding 🔹 The key benefits and challenges encountered 🔹 Suggestions to improve funder practice This report expands on the findings of ‘A shared endeavour’, published earlier this year. Read the full report here 🔗https://buff.ly/4fLBHAC

The MuniGrant Database is a special project I’ve been working on. I started building it myself last January, using a no-code web app database platform, Knack. Throughout the summer and fall, I was fortunate enough to get an incredible intern through the UMaine Foster Center for Innovation to work with me to build the second iteration. When I started MuniGrant, I wanted to serve not just larger towns and cities in Maine, but also the smaller ones that have very little capacity for grant research (which is the first step to getting grant funds), let alone capacity for grant writing and grant administration. Grant research can get overwhelming with all of emails that come at gov leaders each week on the newest grant released, or upcoming deadlines. The MuniGrant database was built with the mission to provide municipal governments all the grant information they need in one, curated place. I made sure to build in a “save grant” feature so that municipalities can keep tabs on the grant opportunities they are interested in and create grant-writing plans for their municipality. There is still much I’d like to add to the platform (how 'bout tools to manage awarded grants?), but I’m excited to share this new and improved iteration with Maine municipal leaders. Check out the database here (and share it with gov leaders you think might benefit from using it!) -

Register now:https://buff.ly/3WlQdrk With grants becoming more competitive and difficult to attain, many organizations have had even less to work with to meet increased needs in the community. KCR and our team of local fund development specialists can help you build your skills and master effective techniques in preparing and writing your next grant proposal during this six-module workshop! From Logic Models to Telling a Compelling Story, to Making Sense of the Dollars and Packaging a Professional Submission, this course will help you bring in the dollars for your organization. All participants should have an idea for a new or existing project or program that their organization is seeking grant funding for, as well as a reasonable understanding of the operation of the project or program. Register Now: https://buff.ly/3WlQdrk

Register now: https://buff.ly/3ViYQkS With grants becoming more competitive and difficult to attain, many organizations have had even less to work with to meet increased needs in the community. KCR and our team of local fund development specialists can help you build your skills and master effective techniques in preparing and writing your next grant proposal during this six-module workshop! From Logic Models to Telling a Compelling Story, to Making Sense of the Dollars and Packaging a Professional Submission, this course will help you bring in the dollars for your organization. All participants should have an idea for a new or existing project or program that their organization is seeking grant funding for, as well as a reasonable understanding of the operation of the project or program. Register Now: https://buff.ly/3ViYQkS