A Minute With Cristi Hegranes, Founder and Executive Director, The Global Press Institute

DG: Any major fundraising difficulties or setbacks?

CH: 2012 has been our single best fundraising year in the six-year history of GPI. But along the way we encountered many of the same setbacks that many small organizations do: grant proposals that went nowhere, funders telling us that our budget was too small for their consideration, a lack of general operating support and a depressing sense that we were beating our heads against a wall. Even now we occasionally run into challenges, such as unfulfilled commitments, but we've diversified our revenue and created strong financial management systems to weather most challenges. I also have good advisors who help me look past the daily ups and downs that are inevitable in fundraising.