Grant Writing

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...

In October, GoFundMe launched pages on its website for 1.4 million nonprofits – without their permission. Nonprofits voiced their displeasure, specifically arguing that GoFundMe: Used their logos (and other information about their nonprofits) to create these...

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...

Grant fraud really pisses me off. I’m not talking about mistakes. I get that those happen. Heck, it’s happened to me on more than one occasion. We submit a report days late. We don’t get all the grant funding spent before the deadline. We forget to count the number of...