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Foundations’ Number One (Unwritten!) Criterion
Take all the ingredients that go into your typical funder approach. Which one has the strength to win your organization’s next financial prize? Some…
Mar 5
•
Susan Schaefer
4
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Foundations’ Number One (Unwritten!) Criterion
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February 2024
Mastering the “Soft No” Is Essential for Major Grants Success
I cut my teeth in fund development by calling university alumni and asking for gifts. One alum was eager to reveal a decades-old frustration securing…
Feb 1
•
Susan Schaefer
7
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Mastering the “Soft No” Is Essential for Major Grants Success
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January 2024
Slides? Colleagues? Prepare for Funder Meetings Like a Pro
When I was working in-house, I dreamt about meeting certain foundation leaders. It seemed nearly as exciting to engage with those luminaries as winning…
Jan 9
•
Susan Schaefer
11
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Slides? Colleagues? Prepare for Funder Meetings Like a Pro
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December 2023
Why You'll Want to Celebrate this Grant Maker
We huff and puff about our funders, especially the corporate ones. They can be opaque and inaccessible. Many don’t even disclose their funding…
Dec 5, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
2
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Why You'll Want to Celebrate this Grant Maker
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November 2023
Grant Gatherings Will Change the Way You Work
I cringe when people ask fund development professionals how much “they” have raised. Consider this: Baseball’s grand slam directs all the credit to the…
Nov 2, 2023
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Susan Schaefer
3
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Grant Gatherings Will Change the Way You Work
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October 2023
What Are Your Funders Thinking? Hint: Some Know They Are Unreasonable
There’s a predictability to conferences that makes the more intimate ones a privilege. My role at the Clinton Global Initiative is a particular…
Oct 11, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
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What Are Your Funders Thinking? Hint: Some Know They Are Unreasonable
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September 2023
Multi-year, Time-limited Grants and Other Takeaways from Philanthropy’s Early Adopters
I buy an item only if I'm thinking about it days later. The same goes for ideas. I consider the ones that flail around in my head most worthy of…
Sep 6, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
2
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Multi-year, Time-limited Grants and Other Takeaways from Philanthropy’s Early Adopters
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August 2023
Rethink Your Job Description
Ignore your title, and likely your job description, too. You’re not primarily a writer, a manager, a director, nor most other monikers used to describe…
Aug 1, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
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Rethink Your Job Description
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July 2023
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome…and Other Grant Afflictions
It’s more common than you think. The idea that you are not experienced or savvy enough to succeed with top-tier funders seeps into most grant seekers…
Jul 11, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
4
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Overcoming Imposter Syndrome…and Other Grant Afflictions
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June 2023
When Your Grant Seeking Is Flat
When I ask my in-house peers how their grant seeking is going, many will say, fine. Probe a little deeper, and “fine” translates to this: We have hit a…
Jun 6, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
3
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When Your Grant Seeking Is Flat
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May 2023
Why Your Major Grants Are Not Closing
Major grants are like a dance. With practice, you improve your posture, tighten your steps, and align yourself more with your funding partner. When your…
May 2, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
2
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Why Your Major Grants Are Not Closing
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April 2023
Your Best Chance to Dazzle Funders
On family car trips when I was a kid, Uncle Ted would “moo” at the cows we passed. It was his way of distracting restless cousins before portable…
Apr 3, 2023
•
Susan Schaefer
3
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Your Best Chance to Dazzle Funders
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