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Writing, either mine or dealing with that of others, has punctuated my work in the nonprofit sector for years. Should be no surprise, then, that this web site covers a couple of angles about the writing I do . . .
To begin, you will see a link just above here for the Grantsmarts Chronicles, letting you know that this is a storehouse for words of mine, and deftly indicating that these words will show up now and then. I know this about Chess, the writer. If it has taken me as long as it has to get a book up and reading, more to follow, I will not realistically blog to the extent suggested by those in the know, including the resolute artisan who has shepherded me through that very same book, and the reconstruction of this site.
There will be moments, perhaps more like spasms - and my febrile thoughts about the things we do in the name of nonprofit will pop up - as will the prospect of sharing a nugget that we might enjoy or sneer at. So, the Chronicles is our public square, and I've already made some of utterances there. Here's hoping you visit, and what you find now and later will evoke your own creative notions. I'll look forward to your reactions and responses should you be so motivated.
For someone who has come to make writing part and parcel of the work I do, it seems incongruous that it took this long to get a book together. By this I mean a book marked by the proper ministrations and fitting lashes of an editor, a book replete with all the appropriate flourishes, a publisher, and some possibility of marketing it to the many. Such a book is about to make its debut.
An aside: there was a time a few years back when I buried myself in the tomb of the unknowing author only to stagger out with enough copy to print out 120 pages. I titled it, Grantwriting, The Model Proposal, and Other Nonsense, meant to inferentially lampoon some of the so-called conventional wisdom among nonprofits, and intended to amuse its author, if no one else. I now know that yesteryear's little known tome was study in what not to do when writing a book.
I am tickled to realize that my abiding sense of occasional irreverence has carried over into the new book in support of what I am convinced readers will come to see as an unusual, powerful and valuable approach to a fundamental facet of nonprofit existence, that is, writing proposals to seek grants.
The title of this, the authentic, here and now book, is, First The Organization, Then The Money: Getting Smart About Getting Grants. It has been built from and expands on the resource materials handed out when I do my core two-day training session. The training program has been well regarded-and-received for years, so it only seems fitting that we celebrate the resources that accompany it in a more substantial and permanent form.
Here's a peek: "The mark of a legitimately strong organization is when its planning leads to comfort as an applicant to propose something of a partnership between equals predicated on blending its assets in the form of high quality program delivery and impact with a grant maker's money. The resultant proposal, then, is one that offers the prospective benefactor the opportunity to back a winner. How's that for a twist on the unfortunate grant proposal-as-supplicant scenario so often pursued?"
This book has survived the review process, and is now available from me and normal book channels.
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