Kimberly Hays de Muga

I cannot remember a time when I wasn’t reading or being read to.  As I grew, writing felt so familiar and right. But math? Not so much. Something warm and wonderful in the universe had helped me test out of even having to take a single math course as an...

Both the Grant Professionals Association and Association of Fundraising Professionals dedicate an entire month to ethics. Not because we need a designated month to remind us to behave well, but because it gives us a moment to quasi-officially pause, reflect, and gird...

Just like eating a whole bag of salt & vinegar potato chips, I know good and well that doomscrolling for hours is not in my ultimate best interest. I’ve wrestled with this tendency off and on ever since the pandemic. Lately, I started back on a downswing of...

In the swirling, scary chaos of world and national events, I can’t be the only person who feels overwhelmed and off-balance. That’s probably the point of the chaos-sowers. Over the past year, grant writers are experiencing a new-fear-unlocked moment: navigating...

I don’t have it in me to write something uplifting or informative, light or funny. But I do want to recognize the incredible abilities and skills we have as grant professionals including the often dismissed or diminished skill of documenting. Just as important is the...

Happy New Year, readers! We're kicking off 2026 by facing an uncomfortable truth: the upheavals, challenges, confusion, and stress over the last 12 months in federal grantmaking wasn't random—it was planned. I would now like to virtually (because this is a newsletter...

Has your reading time declined? You’re not alone. A recent study in the journal iScience (Volume 28, Issue 9, 113288) found that the proportion of Americans who read for pleasure daily declined by 40% between 2003 and 2023, from 28% to 16%. This is despite the sheer...

In the latest episode of the Fundraising HayDay Podcast, Amanda and I may or may not have ranted about several things including a trend that really bothers us: the proliferation of grant training programs that promise the moon but deliver very little of substance. To...

I spent what should have been an introvert’s nightmare thoroughly enjoying myself and relearning what it takes to secure more grants. Amanda and I had a booth for the very first time ever to promote our training, keynoting, and podcasting business, HayDay Services, at...

As I write this in the middle of October, Halloween costumes are vying with Christmas decorations for my attention in the big box store. Thanksgiving tchotchkes are a distant third on a few endcaps here and there.  I grew up as a preacher’s and teacher’s child, so for...