Jo BNE Author: Jo Garner

Last week our NZ Grants Strategist Therese and I attended the Philanthropy New Zealand Summit, an excellent event for thought-provoking discussion around giving for both NZ and Australian funders alike, with fantastic integration of Maori culture woven in. We were welcomed to the conference with a pōwhiri in the Te Papa wharenui.

The resounding message of what matters? Trust! Building that trust between the community organisations receiving funding and the philanthropic donor is an absolutely essential part of grants, wherever you’re operating in the world. Keynote speaker Akaya Windwood from Rockwood Leadership Institute spoke about the importance of reciprocity and partnership and keeping the trust circle tight. For Kiwis this aligns with concept of Whanaungatanga (relationships).

The other emphasis from speakers was on expanding from Transactional (traditional, timebound and project based) to Systematic and Transformational (collaborative, long term and funds treating root causes not the symptoms). Some great discussions between funders about the evolution needed to achieve this. Within this discussion it was refreshing to hear the growing acknowledgement from funders that there will always be a need for transactional grant-making, to ensure that community organisations are able to access funds for necessary operational costs, while they are diversifying and growing their revenue base to work towards sustainability.PNZ1

There were some excellent sessions with speakers from all over the world and varied sectors. Some highlights were Katy Love from the Wikimedia Foundation, who spoke about participatory grantmaking, a pioneering movement to empower communities in the decision-making process of what is needed within their communites, to create the changes that will address issues through an open two-way discussion.  Within this model, authentic grantee – grantor relationships are created through consultative community workshops to identify the true needs and how best they will be met. This then enables grant-makers to be able to confidently answer the question, what has motivated a particular focus of their granting at any given time.

The important message from this for grant-seekers: ensure action research results are shared with all stakeholders, so that funding partners can be involved in the problem-solving process. Honesty and transparency, as always, are essential for successful long-term partnerships.

These messages were further enforced by the inspiring Hon Alfred Ngaro, Minister for Pacific Peoples, Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Associate Minister for Children, and Associate Minister for Social Housing. (Sadly, there is no Australian equivalent).  Minister Ngaro also spoke of the importance of involving community in asking what it is they need. A refreshing perspective from government!

And from the Corporate grants and giving perspective, we heard from Antony Welton, the Vodafone NZ Foundation Chair, James Walker, GM Corporate Affairs at Countdown and Michael Brick, Director Corporate Affairs at Microsoft NZ, who highlighted that while Corporates may have big shiny buildings, inside, there are people, who like to feel involved.

There was a great session on investing for impact and evaluation with Fiona Kram of Katoa Ltd. A great reminder for grant-seekers: ensure the cost of evaluating your project is included in the project budget and funding request - it’s higher than most think! There are some great free articles online by Fiona and colleagues in the Evaluation Matters Journal: http://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/evaluation-matters/evaluation-matters-he-take-t-te-aromatawai-2-2016

A fantastic reminder, again from Akaya Windwood, that your vision needs to be a ‘living vision’ – not something that gets written down and put in a draw, but something that your organisation embodies day to day. Is it clear and compelling?

We’ll leave you with the quote Judge Andrew Becroft ended his talk with, from Martin Luther King Jr., which speaks to the heart of community-led organisations changing one person or one problem one day at a time:

 “If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way”

 

Charlotte-Melbourne

 Author: Charlotte Francis

 

“The most powerful person in the world is the story teller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” – Steve Jobs

All our touchpoints and communications with donors – from newsletters, case for support documents, acquittal reports, sponsorship or major donor proposals and, of course, grant applications – require us to tell our story in a way that is engaging and will trigger a response. Not-for-profits are in the business of transforming people’s lives and creating lasting positive impact in communities. The story of who you are, why you exist and how you achieve those life-changing outcomes needs to be at the heart of everything you do. 

That’s why we run a story-telling activity in our half-day Grant Seeker Workshops. The process starts with a brain dump using post-it notes; this helps to get all your ideas out – the refining comes later. The beauty of this process is that it helps to free your creativity in a way that sitting in front of your computer screen might not. Another advantage is that you can run it as a group activity getting input from different teams in your organisation.

As copy-writer extraordinaire Tom Ahern says on building a case for support: “It is a matter of telling a good story, one that draws readers in and never lets them doubt for a minute that your organization is the greatest and your cause the most worthy. That doesn’t mean you have to exaggerate and embellish, or heaven forbid, lie. No, it means that you must write your Case for Support with heart, soul and passion—you know, that same heart, soul and passion that all of you bring to the work you do every day.”
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The key to telling your story well is to balance that very same heart, soul and passion with the facts, statistics and hard data. Can you demonstrate the need and back it up with research? And
can you communicate the social outcomes of your project - what will change for the target group, how will they benefit and how are you measuring that? Can you demonstrate the longer-term impact?

If you’re looking for story-telling inspiration tune into to Nancy Duarte’s TEDx Talk where she looks at how stories are hard-wired into our DNA (pre-literate societies used an oral tradition to pass on their history, knowledge and culture from generation to generation) and have the power to connect and create a physical response in the body.

You’ve heard it before but we’ll say it again anyway: people give to people not to projects, causes, buildings and arguments. Next time you sit down to write a grant, appeal letter or donor report, think about how you can best tell your story in a way that captures both hearts and minds.

See more information on our Grant Seeker Workshops