I mean think about it.

Companies selling candy bars dress up their confections in eye-catching wrappers. They give their products cool names to make them stand out from the crowd. Then they hawk their stuff as the most irresistible sweet out there – all for a chance at your pocket change.

But people that want a foundation to hand over tens or hundreds of thousands to fund their projects? They know how worthwhile their program is. And because of that, they sometimes can’t understand why the grant writer, who’s doing everything he can to try to get them the money they need, is making all these suggestions on topics ranging from an LOI’s range of focus to specifics about the needs of the target population that the project will help.

It might seem enough to drive a grant writer crazy!

But it doesn’t. Here’s why: the successful grant writer knows how worthwhile the 501(c)(3)’s cause really is. And how beneficial the sought after money will be towards enabling the nonprofit to move things along towards implementing one fantastic project!

The successful grant writer understands that it’s that very enthusiasm for all the positive things that project will mean for people that at times prevents the nonprofit from seeing things through the eyes of a potential funder.

People involved with nonprofits are some of the most intelligent, compassionate folks around. Many have devoted their lives to a particular cause. That’s admirable, to put it mildly.

What these terrific workers – many of whom think nothing of putting in 80 hours a week for their cause – need to remember is that a potential funder is considering requests from dozens of other nonprofits that are just as passionate about their causes.

This doesn’t mean that the nonprofit should claim a slightly different mission than it exists to fulfill, simply to win a grant. It DOES mean that the nonprofit realizes s/he is obligated to demonstrate, as clearly and succinctly as possible, why a particular project connects directly to what that foundation’s goals are. Or, as Jon O’Brien puts it, what makes that program “a piece of their [the potential funder's] puzzle.”

The nonprofit that does that is on its way to funding.

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Ever wonder why some onliners succeed and others don’t?

Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed E-Pub is going on a decade. And from the look of things, it’s set for the next ten just fine http://www.wellfedwriter.com/ezine.shtml.

Here’s one of many reasons readers stay interested:

Peter Bowerman stays interested.

A couple of his opinions on how to stay well fed as a writer might have changed in ten years. (Wouldn’t you be suspicious of someone whose views haven’t evolved one iota?) But Bowerman’s bottom line remains: Freelance Commercial Writing is a great approach to making your way in the world.

Anyway, isn’t the point of staying interested to learn what’s true now? Keep what works? Let go what doesn’t? I know I can see what’s working in the FLCW world – and why – when I read the Well-Fed E-Pub.

Who better to give us his ideas than the guy who’s never stopped succeeding at it?

I have to admit: I don’t run down every link in each issue of the Well-Fed E-Pub. My loss. Because more often than not, they’re pretty damn good.

Here’s one from the March E-Pub: http://www.fastcompany.com/1808462/how-to-make-your-marketing-content-better. The point made by Francine Hardaway in that article? Much of what passes for professional business writing sucks! Which is encouragement for freelancers well worth the price of admission (simply sign up).

Check out the tasty servings from someone who DOES track down the cool connections and saves nourishing morsels for readers. They’re served monthly – ready to go.

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This is a short post.

Appropriately.

Because the subject is being concise.

One day my grant mentor gave me a four pager Letter of Inquiry.

“Make it two pages,” he said.

The two-pager ended up getting the grant.

Say what you need, then say “So long!”

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Social Media is no longer news.

Not that it was ever some flash-in-the-pan!

What I mean is: it’s here, it’s here in a big way, and it’s here to stay for at least forever.

But that still doesn’t mean that any business or nonprofit that wants to use digital networking can benefit the same as any other from, say, Twitter.

If you’re this week’s favorite flavor reality star, no doubt about it: what you ate at Johnny Rockets is big stuff.

But if you’re Harry the Plumber?

Well I’m not sure anything related to your business is going to generate frenzy among Twitter followers.

So if Harry asks you whether he should get going on Twitter, what are you going to tell him?

My colleagues, master web consultants Tim Plunkett and Clint Hanson, put it in an interesting context: sometimes the most important thing you can do for a client is remind her that a tool like Twitter does not run itself. Someone has to attend to it.

That may seem obvious, but it’s amazing how many folks still don’t have their heads around the concept.

Once that part is explained – and assuming it sinks in – the rest is easy.

Harry the Plumber will realize he doesn’t want to be bothered tweeting through a day filled with appointments at clogged  drains.

He’ll understand that even if he can find the time to tweet, no one’s interested . . . usually.

But if Harry still decides to tweet tell me his handle. I want to see what he’s tweeting about!

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Ann Wylie gives great advice.

(As usual.)

Her most recent?

Graphic storytelling teaches better than text.

>Some of what she talks about:

•  Photos
• Graphic design images
• Cartoons

They all fit the category.

Well I got to thinking.

Punctuation (. . . ! ” ” : etc.)  works in part because of its visual representation.

Text + Graphics = Clear Communications.

Punctuation marks, after all . . . well they’re:

SYMBOLS (*&^%$#+=)

. . . that indicate the structure and organization of written languages.

Tell your story with every tool in your tool kit.

Photos, images, graphic design?

Super-important visually.

And so is punctuation.

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A colleague told me about a client he was about to start working with.

I asked him who their target audience was.

My friend had an answer.

Then I asked him if the client expected to attract -

1) A greater number of similar individuals;

2) An additional group of somewhat similar, yet different, consumers;

3) Or whether, perhaps, his client was trying to interest his current number of loyal customers in an expanded group of related services.

Ralph wasn’t sure, but he got my drift.

A couple of days later Ralph called and told me that, indeed, his client was hoping to attract a greater number of similar individuals. AND, it turns out, also hoping to interest his current customers in expanded services.

The moral of the story: learn whatever you can about your new or potential client.

And don’t be afraid to ask your client exactly who he or she expects you to gear your marketing material towards.

Your client might assume you’re already completely aware of what he or she is trying to accomplish.

Well, you might be making a completely correct assumption.

Then again, you might be completely off-base.

What’s most important is that you take the time and effort to make certain that you and your client are on the exact same page from square one.

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Interested in, ever think about, influenced by computers?

Then you might have considered checking out the new Steve Jobs bio.

Well you might want to look at this helpful review first:

http://christianboyce.blogspot.com/

The reviewer’s recommendation for a good site on Jobs gets a thumbs up as well.

By the way, you don’t have to be a Macophile to be fascinated by the team that changed the world.

Have a look at Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s own site. Great stuff.

http://www.woz.org/

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Got an email from Toni the other day.

We haven’t been in touch for years. Her email began, “I was trying to find u on Facebook . . .”

I think someone’s trying to tell me DAVE, GET WITH THE PROGRAM!

At least when I do get with it, I’ve got a not-so-secret weapon: Facebook (and WordPress) consultant extraordinaire Kim Woodbridge. (She’s the only person who could call her website (Anti) Social Development and have thousands of followers.)

In a new PCWorld article called How to Make a Facebook Page for Your Small Business, Woodbridge tells you everything you need to know about the subject. That includes deciding whether you’re inclined to do it yourself or want to go the pro route.

I could do a lengthy review. But what would be the point? The article is put together the way Woodbridge does everything else: professional, informative, and easy to follow.

Categories covered:

• Establishing Your Profile and Page Admins

• Creating a Facebook Page

• Information to Include

• Building Your Custom Page: DIY or Hire a Pro?

• Building a Custom Page With a Third-Party App

• Build Your Own Custom Page With Iframes

• SSL Requirements

• Other Third-Party Apps for Facebook Pages

• What to Seek in a Professional

• Managing Your Page

• Checking Page Statistics

If you’ve got questions, you’ll get answers.

Until you’ve read Kim, you’re not with the program.

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Are grants for operating expenses the new funding model?

Short answer: not by a longshot.

Long answer: In some instances.

The bottom line is that the funding agency is awarding a grant to the nonprofit that gives strong indications it can do what it says it’s going to do. And what it says it’s going to do had better be in line with the funding agency’s mission.

It doesn’t help anyone if the applicant tries to jump through hoops that have nothing to do with the organization’s purpose for existing.

Of course when a funding agency specifically says it’s granting money for operating expenses only, it means it. But why would foundations who have for so long valued original ways of successfully meeting a pressing need in a community suddenly say, “Sorry, we’re only here for operating expenses these days?”

Well – consider the state of the economy. So many community nonprofits that have for so long been doing good things for a lot of people are having a difficult time surviving. Funding agencies, naturally, want to make sure those experienced community efforts survive before replacing them with untried models.

Still, in these tough economic times, there’s a scenario which highlights original, outside-the-box efforts while keeping as a main objective exactly what the funding agency most highly values: efficient use of funds for real progress.

That type of model is exactly what collaboration, in its best application, is all about.

Where one formerly robust grassroots effort is finding it hard to find the economic support to keep going, isn’t it better to work as a team with a neighbor organization who wants the same good results for their community?

The simple answer is: of course.

The more in depth response is this: of course it’s better to work as a team. What’s absolutely essential, however, is that the collaborators have worked out the the most important details of their project.

The funding agency must be convinced that its financial support is being used in a way that harnesses full community involvement.

Collaborative efforts are in fact more necessary now than ever. But the proposed projects must be logical, well planned, and economically viable.

There is strength in numbers.

Just be certain that the numbers add up correctly.

The goal has to be the right goal. For everyone.

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The other day I was talking with an old friend about the topic of raising money. My friend is a fundraising consultant – and she’s very good at it. Anyway, at one point I  happened to make the supreme verbal boo-boo.

I referred to her work as “funding consultant.”

“It’s never ‘funding consultant’,” she said.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Too commercial sounding,” she said.

As much as my friend knows about the subject – everything – well I still had to wonder: why not say exactly what that subject is?

Nonprofits need money, just as any other form of working concern, to do what they do.

Whether you call it resource development or something else, it all comes down to financing as fuel to keep things rolling.

It doesn’t make whatever that thing is any less worthy of support, or the people working at the nonprofit dedicated to a less than worthy cause.

Arts, education, healthcare – they all need money to do wonderful things.

And a successful grant is going to show why a particular agency is worthy of that money.

It doesn’t matter how coy the party requesting the money is in referring to it.

It’s about how well the agency is going to use the money it receives. There’s got to be a one-to-one connection between the desired funds and the purpose for which the nonprofit says its requesting the money.

That way every interested party can follow that money – on the receiving end – to every last useful result for every single dollar spent.

Could it be any simpler than that?

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