#129 | How do we ensure genuine relationships are at the heart of grant writing?

Having spent most of my career resistant to grant writing, I could not have been more encouraged by this conversation with Dr. Bev Browning. Anyone who has spent days and weeks preparing to submit a grant proposal, along the way wishing there was a more meaningful relationship between your organization and the funder, needs to listen to today’s podcast conversation.

It was evident from our conversation that Dr. Browning has long understood how important meaningful relationships are in fundraising and that, somewhere along the way, many of us seem to have lost this awareness. Dr. Browning’s four decades of experience have also proven how the investment of time translates into more significant gifts, a reality which is generally at odds with our performance-based metrics.

As I shared with Dr. Browning, one of my first mentors insisted that the grant writing process should always begin with a personal meeting and a hand shake agreement before we even think about writing a proposal. Now, two decades later, it’s very rare to hear of an organization that is willing to commit the time and resources for ensuring such relationships are established with this type of foundation.

As always, we are very grateful for the generous support of OneCause as our sponsor.