Grants

Nonprofit groups are rejecting federal grant money to combat violent extremism because of what they described as President Donald Trump's actions against the Muslim and Arab community. The Obama administration in its final days awarded 31 grants through the Homeland Security Department worth a total of about $10 million. Those agreements haven't been signed, and…

The Republican Party (GOP) is big on making “block grants” to the states. The term “block grant” refers to a grant program that provides federal assistance for broadly defined functions, such as community development or social services. Block grants allow the recipient more discretion than other grants in determining how to use the funds to meet a broader program goal...

In June 2016, Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin announced that she’d be stepping down after more than a decade of leadership. She's planning on staying until a successor is named, but finding someone with the right résumé might be tricky: The philanthropic agency she leaves behind barely resembles the one she once took over—or how…

Time matters, especially today. Time is precious. So why would you not give thanks to a foundation that took the time necessary to peruse your proposal and directly communicate with you afterward? Why would you not take the opportunity to create a connection, when connections serve as building blocks for so many amazing things?...

There seems to be a pervasive lack of starting with trust between funders and nonprofits, and it’s affecting all of us and our abilities to survive and do our work. The default starting relationship between funders and nonprofits is one of suspicion of the latter by the former, which leads to funders enacting policies and…

Many foundations now want you to send a letter of inquiry rather than a full grant proposal when first asking for grant money. Some foundations find that it is faster to make that first cut of possible funding ideas if they are just looking at a two- to three-page letter rather than a full proposal…

During a site visit, a foundation trustee remarked half-jokingly to me, “We hate development people—we like to talk to the program staff.” I responded that, yes, I did too. It was the only way for me to learn and effectively write about our programming. Then I got to thinking about the whole divide between program staff and fundraisers...

The MacArthur Foundation last week announced its 2016 MacArthur Fellows, the annual recipients of the organization's five-year "Genius" grants. Among the 23 winners? Two nonprofit leaders. Ahilan Arulanantham, director of advocacy and legal director of American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, and José Quiñonez, founder and CEO of Mission Asset Fund, will receive $625,000 grants as part of the fellowship...

For 21 years, Laurence Pagnoni has worked with and developed strategy for hundreds of nonprofits seeking U.S. foundation support. His work with one such agency, Sightsavers, and its desire to grow its U.S. foundation support, is worth closer examination...

It’s a funny and, sometimes, very uncomfortable thing. I am talking about feeling and expressing emotion. On one side, there are people who are in a constant state of tears and drama, and, on the other side, there are those who find it very difficult to express any kind of emotion. You’ve seen both types of people, and you know what it all means...