Grassroots Grants

Andy Robinson has worked with a variety of nonprofits as a fundraiser, grantwriter, editor, and community organizer. All told, he has raised more than $4 million for grassroots organizations and written 150 successful proposals. He is the author of Selling Social Change (Without Selling Out): Earned Income Strategies for Nonprofits, available from Jossey-Bass.

• List of Exhibits, Exercises, and Worksheets. Preface.Acknowledgments.The Author.The Contributors.1. Up from the Grassroots: The Evolution of Grants and Grantseeking.The Expanding Philanthropic Sector.A Different Set of Circumstances: Economy, Politics, Technology.Grantmaking: An Experiment in Democracy?Funders Don’t Act the Way They Used to Act.2. What Grants Will Get You . . . and What They Won’t.Who’s Got the Money?The Downside: Ten Ways That Grants Can Drive You Crazy.The Upside: Ten Ways That Grants Can Benefit Your Work.How Grants Fit into a Complete Fundraising Strategy.3. Why People (and Funders) Give Away Their Money.Who Gets the Money? Criteria for Giving.Foundation Culture.4. The Grant Proposal as Organizing Plan.Building the Case for Support.Programs, Projects, and Campaigns.General Support Grants.Designing Fundable Projects: The Grantwriter as Feasibility Tester.Involving Your Coworkers, Your Allies, Your Neighbors.How Much Money? Developing Budgets for Grant-Funded Projects.5. Finding Funders.Do Your Homework!Follow the Guidelines.Phase One: Sleuthing.Phase Two: Using Computer Resources and Web Searches.Phase Three: Doing Library Research.Phase Four: Studying the Current Guidelines.6. Building Peer-to-Peer Relationships with Grantmakers.Leveling the Playing Field.Grantmaking: It’s a Job.Are We Partners or What? The Value of Honesty.Pick Up the Telephone.Honor the Gatekeepers.How to Meet Grantmakers.Donor-Directed Grants.Letters of Inquiry.Be Professional, Be Patient.7. Creating Your Proposal, Piece by Piece.The Value (or Not) of Good Writing.Should You Hire an Outside Grantwriter?Layout: Creating a Good-Looking Proposal.The Components of a Grant Proposal.8. A Tour Through Four Winning Proposals.Urban Garden Resources of Worcester (UGROW).Hate Free Zone Campaign of Washington.Supportive Parents Information Network (SPIN).Wildlands Project.9. Creative Ways to Leverage Your Grants.Matching and Challenge Grants.In-Kind Donations.Program-Related Investments and Loans.10. Successful Grants Administration.Record Keeping and Reporting.Managing Grant Money.The Value of Honesty, Revisited.Your Mother Was Right: The Value of Good Manners.11. The Grantseeker’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving.Dealing with Rejection.Diversifying Your Funding.Using Your Time and Energy Effectively.The Perfect Organization.Resource A: Useful Publications.Resource B: Grant Database Tools, Jean Lewis.Resource C: Raising Money from Faith-Based Grant Programs.Resource D: Legal Issues for Nonprofit Advocates, John Pomeranz.Resource E: Sharing Grants: A Strategy for Collaborative Fundraising, Wendy Wilson.References.Index.