Grant Writing

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...

Earlier this month I read my very first Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) delivered by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Mind you, I’ve been reading and responding to federal grant guidance since 2001, and I’ve decided to put IMLS in charge of...

My senior year of high school I served as a senior class officer, because of course I did, and one of our jobs was to pick our senior class quote. Not really sure why we needed one. It was printed in our graduation announcements, but other than that, we never really...

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...

Happy New Year HayDay Community! Each year, I pick a word of the year. One for me to ruminate on, put into action, and simply help set the tone for the kind of year I want to have. I’ve been having a very hard time finding the right word for 2026, but as I was gearing...

As this year draws to a close, I am thinking about what’s to come in 2026. I have always loved the slower pace between Christmas and New Years. (Although will things be slower this year?) It gives me an opportunity to plan and organize. Here’s what’s on my agenda this...

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...

This week, we wrapped Season 8 of the Fundraising HayDay Podcast. Because 2025 was quite the year for those of us working in the nonprofit, grants, and fundraising spaces, we decided to dedicate this season’s Top 10 episode to ways that Kimberly and I rolled with the...