Grant Funding Online Blog

Nonprofit marketing during a recession seems to be an oxymoron because we equate marketing with money. Believe me, we can accomplish our goals with free and inexpensive marketing. It only takes some creative ideas to help set your nonprofit organization apart from the rest of the field.

• You must find ways to help make your organization visible to the public. Just sitting in your office hoping to see someone walk in is a formula for disaster. Get up and get out into the community. Network at every event or public gathering. Target those events that help to accomplish strategies from your plan by inviting board members to also take part. 
• If you have not started a blog for your organization, look into what it will take to provide the community with some outstanding content about your organization. If writing scares you and you don’t want to write 3-4 times a week about your cause or organization, then email me at scott@grantfundingonline.com and I will give you some very reasonable rates to write your content. 
• You might want to start that long forgotten task of starting a newsletter and making use of all the emails you have been gathering. Blogs tend to operate on general subjects while newsletters really zero in on your target audience and allow you to build loyalty among your most ardent followers. This is a very reasonable marketing idea. Once again, email me if I can be of service and I will help you get a professional newsletter started inexpensively.  
• This is a great time to interact with other nonprofits to collaborate on joint marketing efforts or to join forces in a collaborative partnership.  
• I did an interview recently with Lauren Norton Welsh, Vice President of Marketing and Communication for The Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, and she says, “It is so much more efficient to get one consultant to work with ten nonprofits then to get a consultant for each nonprofit. Collaboration is hard work. You must have folks with a common interest to resolve something of common good to get them to collaborate on issues.”  
• How much more visible can you and your fellow nonprofits be? If you pool resources and brainstorm on a common issue, it will spread the cost while making that issue visible to the public for the sake of awareness and to advocate for change. Get a consultant to mediate and take away any thought of self-enrichment or domination of the partnership.

I hope this helps you see the possibilities of marketing in this recession for your nonprofit organization. If you would like to involve me as a consultant in helping you in areas that are weak, or I can be of assistance in any way, please email me.

I would like you as a nonprofit to start looking for new ways to engage the public and spread the good news of your cause.  Help lead your community into times of prosperity - this is a great time to start.

Also, if you have a great marketing idea please share it in a comment so we can all learn from each other.

For more in depth information please subscribe to my newsletter on the top left margin. Also for more information on my interview with Lauren Norton Welsh click here.

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The last 2 fiscal years have been record years for the Georgia Lottery. Will it be in 2009? Well, they are on track to beat last year’s record of $3.52 billion in total revenue, which went out in prizes of $2.0 billion and education of $868 million.

We have been warned for years that the lottery would top out but it just keeps climbing. Like most lotteries, the less the income- the more people try and win. That’s the down side while education is the upside sending thousands to college on the Hope Scholarship and funding Pre-K in Georgia.

Even though the revenues keep climbing Georgia colleges are struggling with endowment funds causing the cost of education to go up, while student enrollment continues to climb. So the Hope Scholarship pays less and less of the cost. Not withstanding the fact that any money for college is a good thing it also is problematic for the main universities in the state, as they have dropped the number of scholarships they provide as a result of a big drop in the endowment funds.

Students are turning more to Federal Grants such as the Pell Grant to help out but are finding that either they don’t qualify or that the funds are dwindling down as well.

The best place to find scholarship money is still the scholarships that require essays. People are basically lazy and will migrate to those scholarships that are grade competitive without written essays. Students who have good grades easily anticipate the creative and organized approach it takes to win scholarships. Hence the reason for essays.

So prepare yourself students for the need of big funds to pay for education in the future.

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Nonprofit organizations have their hands full with a serious decrease in funding together with a huge increase in needs to service. Is the recession a time for seeking nonprofit collaboration?

Defining “Collaboration”

Webster’s Dictionary as defines collaboration, “To cooperate with an instrumentality that one is not immediately connected.” Nonprofits need to identify the instrumentality that they are not immediately connected in order to strategize how they may cooperate with each other for economic benefit.

This sounds much easier then it really is because of egos, market share, and loss of identity. So, we need some objectives to define how the nonprofit accomplishes this task.

Nonprofit Objectives to Build a Collaborative Partnership

1. There needs to be a good fit partner to share expenses while maintaining donations. It is efficiency and effectiveness that we are trying to create by means of a collaborative partnership. When we talk of good fit partner it needs to be another nonprofit organization that either is trying to service the same gap or it needs to be a nonprofit that utilizes the same clientele.
2. There needs to be a meeting of the minds with donors and grantors. So, everyone feels a part of the collaborative effort. A collaborative partnership is hard enough to pull off without feeling like your fighting everyone involved. Everyone including board members, staff, donors, volunteers and grantors need to be behind the collaborative effort or they need to step aside to allow those with the desire to accomplish this task, to do so.
3. Together these organizations can accomplish their goals in less time with fewer funds then they could by themselves. How do they do this? Well, they pool their resources, merge their programs and assemble their talents to form partnerships that operate under a set of rules called a collaborative partnership agreement.
4. It takes more then just a desire and a written document. It also happens because there is a certain amount of synergy involved with the organizations that enable it to want to form a collaborative effort with another organization.

Ground rules for a Collaborative Partnership

It is important to understand all the ground rules, roles and synergy involved with any nonprofit collaborative partnership. After it is discussed and decided then it must be put in action and any variance needs to be dealt with immediately by whom-ever is responsible for that role. This will make the grantors for grant money a lot more secure and supportive of the collaborative partnership. Large donors like to see cooperation between everyone involved, as it gives them a feeling of accomplishment and shows that this effort will be effective.

It is very important to mention synergy or chemistry or what ever you call this intangible feeling that to succeed is expected not just hoped for, while looking for ways to stretch the dollar in the middle of a bad recession.

It is an increase in effectiveness as well as efficiency that is the ultimate goal. After all the reason the nonprofit organization is looking for a partner to form a collaborative effort could be because they lack effectiveness to get certain jobs done. Sometimes weighing strengths and weaknesses helps to see the big picture of what both partners stand to gain.

After all it’s the clientele that we are trying to help and if that means a partnership we need to move swiftly, decisively, and without an eye to the past. To accomplish our goal for the betterment of our community is a high standard that needs to be advocated on a first hand basis in order to rescue those less fortunate from sure disaster.

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Every year 350,000 families are cheated out of five million dollars of their hard earned cash from those posing as scholarship search firms. They also operate as scholarship sponsors but are in fact scholarship scams.

How Do Scholarship Scams Work?  

These fraudulent businesses start weaving their web of deceit by sending a letter to high school or college students. The sales letters lay claim to the fact that they can get you scholarships or a list of scholarships. List for scholarships are free at the local public library why pay for a list?

They have a toll free telephone number to try and add to there legitimize. But credibility falls apart quickly as they use high-pressure telemarketers to sell you an “unclaimed scholarship” for a fee of $40-$400 per scholarship.

Ruthless dead-beat scammers usually guarantee a $1,000 scholarship, which is bogus. Unclaimed scholarships go back in a pot for others (which has never left anyway) that have applied directly to the scholarship sponsor (school, corporation or association), which will be familiar such as Merit Scholars.org.

Sometimes when customers request a refund they promise to make the guarantee good by asking for a bank account number or credit card number, which they intend to empty or run up as soon as possible.

How to Avoid Scholarship Scams.

1. Make sure to ask for an address (not PO Box) and check it out. Also a phone number but usually they will give you a cell number that is temporary.
2. Get their name and Google it to see if they are listed anywhere.
3. Find out if the local Better Business Bureau has a file on this business.
4. Never give someone a bank account number or credit card before you get the information.
5. Ask for references in you hometown.
6. Call the state attorney’s office. 

Warning Signs for Scholarship Scams

The FTC warns students and parents to be on the lookout for the seven signs of a scam.

1. The scammer says, “This is an exclusive offer available nowhere else.”
2. The scammer says, “They need your credit card, bank account, and Paypal account in advance of receiving the scholarship.” Never give financial information to anyone before you check him or her out.
3. The scammer says, “The scholarship will cost a fee.” Legitimate scholarships never charge a fee.
4. The scammer says, “The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back.” No scholarships are guaranteed.
5. The scammer says, “The scholarship service will do all the work.” They must be hiding something if you never talk or correspond with the scholarship sponsor.
6. If the scammer or their sales letter starts by saying, “You are a finalist” in a contest you never entered or my favorite is “You have been selected by a national foundation to receive a scholarship” then you can bet it is a scam. Both of these come-ons are used frequently to dub the public constantly.
7. If the scammer invites you to a seminar or an interview to “unlock the secrets of how to make yourself eligible for more financial aid” do not go. You can’t make yourself more eligible because either you are or are not. 

Hope this helps everyone avoid financial disaster at the hands of the world’s scammers.

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Any questions add a comment below to share with others and so we can all learn more about scholarships.

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As you do your research you will find that there are literally millions of college scholarships available. What you don’t know is scholarship sponsors outsource their programs to scholarship management organizations. 

Scholarship Management Organizations

These are the folks that sort applications, review them and qualify them. They do the paperwork. They handle the business of scholarships. They make sure the scholarship sponsors have a community presence as well as public relations to attract top quality candidates. 

They will instruct you online to write essays and to pick good essay topics. They provide forms and help with community fundraising.

They will provide tips on college topics like buying books and time management to help you as a student starting off in this new world of scholastic excellence. Higher education is a privilege not a gift. 

Scholarship Management Organizations Also Provide Scholarship Information  

They provide links to scholarships they manage along with gobs of scholarship information. Scholarship management organizations are a good online source of scholarships for you to research. Told you, you would be able to use your Internet skills. 

Links to Popular Scholarship Management Organizations 

Review these for all kinds of good information from FAFSA to essays to tuition reimbursement and all stuff in between: 

www.nationalmerit.org

www.scholarshipamerica.org

www.collegefund.org  American Indian Fund

www.hsfi.org  Hispanic Fund

www.uncf.org  United Negro College Fund

www.ffa.org Future Farmers of America

www.gmsp.org Gates Millennium Scholars 

Go to Google and search for Scholarship Management Organizations.  

Please! ReTweet this or share with other social media sites so everyone can get this free information. I have supplied the links for your convenience. Thanks! 

Also share your comments so we can all learn and discuss whatever applies to this post. C’mon I promise not to bite!

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 Now that you have your assets listed. You can start doing research to find those scholarships that are available to you.

Doing Research in the Library for Available Scholarships  

How do you find available scholarships?  Easy start by doing research in the library. Yea that’s right the library! I know what you are thinking, why don’t I just go to the Internet? Well frankly the library is faster and better organized. Don’t worry you will probably have to apply for at least some scholarships online.

When going to an unfamiliar library I always ask a reference librarian for a tour. They always seem so thrilled to show off their library and all the wonders it holds. Always ask for the tour if you are unfamiliar with a library it will save time.

Use a Dewey Decimal Chart to Find Scholarships  

I use a Dewey Decimal Chart (given to me by a reference librarian) that helps me locate exactly what I want. I carry the chart in my research notebook to enable me to locate books on any subject at any time.

Ok now you are at the library how do you find available scholarships? Well the Dewey Decimal Code for scholarships is 378.3. Since books on scholarships are usually big and expensive you will find them in the reference section. If you tiptoe over to this section you will find numerous books that have an un-exhaustible list of organizations and the scholarships they offer.

How to Find Available Scholarships 

Pick one of the books that you are interested in and go to the Table of Contents. See if in the book there are some guides and tutorials that explain how to use the book. How to find available scholarships. Where to look for available scholarships. Those kinds of titles are what you are looking for. Spend a few hours reading this material, as it will be extremely helpful to organize your search for procuring funds for school. 

Thumb through the book and the Table of Contents to see how it’s laid out. There will probably be lists of scholarships that are in some organized manor such as state, major emphases of study, or some other type of listing format. Become familiar with the book so that you can start your research, which brings us to a close for today.

One more tip before we finish. Buy Robert I. Berkman’s book “Find It Fast—How to Uncover Expert Information on Any Subject Online or in Print.” The first place he explores for research – the library!

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As we previously noted putting together a strategic plan to capture scholarship money for college is the basis for success. The first place to start is a checklist for finding scholarships.

Checklist for Finding Scholarships

This checklist we are speaking of is a list of assets or resources that you possess that are keys to finding scholarships. The checklist includes questions such as:

• Where do you want you career to go?
• What will you major in?
• In what jobs, industries, unions, companies have your parents been employed in?
• Where have you been employed?
• What do you do in your spare time? Sports? Hobbies? Games? Activist? Organizer?
• Where are you going to college? Do you live in the same state?
• What ethinic background do you possess?
• Are you disabled in any way?
• Are you currently or have you ever served in the Armed Forces?
• Where do you attend church? Member?
• Male or Female?
• Age?
• Do you qualify for a need based loan? Below poverty level?
• Did you graduate in the upper half of your class? Third? Quarter?

These is the type of information that are resources for finding scholarships. Take advantage of all the cards and locate those that you are most suited for and apply.

If I have left one out please comment so we can add to our list. If you have any questions please post a comment as there are probably others that would like an answer to the same question.

As always please Re-Tweet or bookmark if you enjoyed this post. I have provided the links for your convience.

Next post we will actually start looking at ways to research for scholarships and where the ones are that are not on the Internet yet.

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I am officially back from vacation and fired up to start blogging about finding college scholarships. This is where the rubber meets the road. You need to know this is not about a list of specific scholarships. This post will help you to define the path in seeking scholarships as well as protocol for how to communicate. It’s often said that giving someone fish is not as good as teaching them how to catch fish. I will teach you how to win college scholarships including what bait to use, equipment, were to go to find them and a strategy for accomplishing your goal.

Checklist for Winning College Scholarships

Ok first thing is a checklist of several issues concerning scholarships to keep in mind.

• When researching college scholarships make sure you have a timeline with deadlines for applications. This is important because as you will see you don’t won’t to wait till the last day to mail off your application.
• This is not a casual communication so make sure it is neat, use good grammar and most of all be logical. Nothing kills a college scholarship quicker then misspelling words, using slang, bad grammar, or illogical sentences and sentence structure.
• If they require an essay do not blow it off just because you want the easy, lazy way out. It’s a fact that fewer people apply for and are winning college scholarships that require an essay. This is an opportunity seize it!
• Be upfront and honest. But also provide details of your good side and sell the fact that you deserve their scholarship. This is a time to be bold, honest and put your best foot forward.
• Winning college scholarships are a matter of following protocol. So send a letter of acknowledgement and acceptance if you receive a scholarship award. College scholarships are contracts and need an offer (the award letter) and acceptance (your letter of acceptance).
• Before you accept, factor in out of pocket cost, time, and requirements of the scholarship. Make sure this is truly what you want and can accomplish. So you don’t set yourself up for failure.
• Don’t be fooled into thinking that if you received a one-year scholarship it will be automatically renewed every year. Ask about renewal percentages so you don’t fall for the “get you in the school then let you worry about payments later sceme” after you have made a comfortable transition complete with friends, education majors available and leasing considerations.

Ok there you have it. Follow these items on the checklist and you will be on your way to winning college scholarships. Next post will deal with a checklist for strategizing about finding the right scholarships for you. So come on back or better yet why not subscribe to my RSS feed? Also feel free to post your comments or experiences so we can learn all about winning college scholarships.

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Today we start our series on college scholarships. I will explain how you go about getting college scholarships. Scholarships for students are available to those that work for them, but if you follow my post you will be able to apply for many scholarships with the least amount of effort and time. I am not saying that it’s still not a lot of work but that I give you a process to follow. You won’t have to research the process just research what scholarships you want and fill out the scholarship application. 

Definition of College a Scholarship

A college scholarship is a grant of monetary assistance to those eligible to help defray the cost of going to college. These funds are provided to help the student pay for tuition, books, and cost of living while in attendance at an accredited college or university.

How Scholarship Programs Work

Scholarships for students do not have to be paid back. They are not a loan. Instead college scholarships come with stringent requirements. Please understand that to keep a scholarship for college you must work at it. If you don’t work well under pressure or fall apart under stress applying for scholarships for college may not be the best thing for you, maybe because your parents can afford to pay for your college expenses. Think this through before starting the process and think it through again before you sign the college scholarship.

Some of the stringent requirements for a scholarship program are maintaining a high GPA (Grade Point Average), minimum number of hours, or become enrolled in a specific course of study. A requirement for a work-study program to be included is not unusual in scholarship programs. Sometimes, if they don’t cover the entire college bill, the scholarship program is packaged with a student loan at no interest, which is very attractive if you don’t have other college scholarships available to you.

Categories of Scholarships for Students

There are three categories of college scholarships and they are:

1.      Needs based college scholarships are those that are meant for low-income students. They all have a different definition of low income but it usually is some percentage above or below the poverty level for your area of the country.

2.      Merit based scholarships are given for academic or athletic achievements. These are for students who had a perfect SAT score or the athlete who was a top sports player.

3.      The biggest category by far are the association based scholarships, which are dependent on as many organizations as you can imagine. These are the ones given for religious organizations, fraternal organizations, corporations, etc.

Ok this is just so you understand terms and definitions. The next post we will dig even deeper into the labyrinth of information on college scholarship programs.

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I got this off a tweet Saturday by Chris Knight from Ezine Articles;

Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical…..Artist Unknown

I loved it when I read it and seeing it here in print inspires me greatly, thanks Chris.

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