Huneebee Project – The Hunneebee Project combines many things close to KDS’s heart – the environment, gardening, equitable employment opportunities for youth, and entrepreneurship! We are thrilled to be supporting this rapidly growing organization. Huneebee Project was started in 2018 by a clinical social worker and beekeeper. Since then, they’ve graduated three cohorts from beekeeping job skills training program, installed eleven honeybee colonies in New Haven’s community gardens, planted three pollinator gardens, and employed graduates in positions including junior garden site managers, bee apprentices, and peer instructors, as well as opened an online marketplace.

Malta House of Care – Malta House of Care is a mobile medical clinic that provides free, high-quality primary health care to uninsured adults in Greater Hartford. Malta House was started in 2006 and is currently serving about 1,800 uninsured adults every year. Our newest KDS client, we are thrilled to work with Malta House to amplify the impact of their work in the community.

Optimus Health Care – Optimus Health Care is Southwestern CT’s largest provider of primary health care services. Optimus is a non-profit organization and we’ll be supporting their work in our communities by securing funds from state, federal, and local grants as well from private and public foundations.

 

They recently hired Helen Ramos Paiz as their new Executive Director. Helen brings fresh new energy, passion for the work, and she embodies the community that Caroline House serves. Congratulations Helen!

Read all about it here.

I just did an initial research project for a new client and want to impart some suggestions while the experience is fresh in my head!

1) Search forwards and backwards. Search through funding sources and do a reverse-search to see who is funding other organizations and programs like yours.

2) Make. Sure. You. Are. Eligible. For. The. Grants. You. Seek. You must filter for geography, population served, organizational structure, and focus.

3) Variety in opportunity types is critical. Find a healthy mix of grants that have rolling deadlines, firm deadlines, are by invitation, are one-time awards, and have the option to be renewed.

4) Stay organized. Start a spreadsheet. Include key dates, contact info, request amount. Keep the spreadsheet current.

5) Document your choices. Keep notes on why a funder or opportunity is a good fit, if you have community or board members in common.

Back in June, The Ethical Rainmaker podcast released Part 2 of their most listened-to episode: The Racist Roots of Nonprofits & Philanthropy. Christine Shimizu, co-founder of the ever-inspiring Community Centric Fundraising is relatable and brilliant. KDS is thrilled that this conversation is continuing to challenge the status quo of the nonprofit field, and validate the experiences of those working within the field who are aware of the paradox that oftentimes the change they are trying to enact reinforces the system that perpetuates the problems.

 

Listen to the podcat here.

What do you do to recharge and remember you are human and need care?

We were on one of our favorite websites, Nonprofit AF, reading this June 28th post from its founder: “I’m taking some time off to recharge, and you should too” and felt moved to spread this message more widely.

The ability to take time off and treat yourself to self-care is not afforded equally to all people. But in too many nonprofits, the relentless push to keep giving everything you have is pervasive from top to bottom salary tiers. It behooves us all to get the rest and relaxation that we need so that we can bring our best selves to the mission. We owe it to ourselves, our coworkers, and the communities we serve to “put our own oxygen mask on first” so that we can operate with clear minds, refreshed bodies, and peaceful souls.

Even more importantly, when we rest, we are better able to bring our best selves to our lives outside of work – to our families and friends, and our community. In the article, Vu Le references a quote from Paul Bowles’s book The Sheltering Sky:

“Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

What are you doing this summer to invest in your own well-being outside of work? This summer at KDS, some of us are going to the beach, taking family trips to DC, expecting babies, picking back up on an online class we weren’t able to finish, gardening, and unplugging in the woods overnight on a camping trip.

How about you?

 

Foundant, maker of the GrantHub grantseeking management software that KDS uses to track and research funding opportunities for our clients, underwrites GrantStation’s State of Grantseeking Report each year.

One thing that jumped out at us from their latest report was the extent to which non-profits are often forced to reduce program and organizational overhead and staffing costs. According to the report, 44% of 3,473 surveyed nonprofits reported having to reduce services and programs to control their indirect/administrative costs – staff reduction was the second most frequently used technique at 42%.

This is one of the major factors at the heart of what keeps non-profits from thriving. The extent to which not-for-profit businesses have to weaken their own operations during tough financial times is counter-intuitive to best business practices. Investment in critical areas of business, including marketing and fund development, developing new lines of revenue, and sustaining program staffing, is necessary to stabilize and strengthen all types of businesses, including non-profits.

We would never ask for-profits to do what nonprofits are expected to do as a matter of business as usual. These divestments threaten program delivery, community impact, and an organization’s ability to raise funding.

So, what’s the solution? New lines of revenue? Investments and endowments? Greater flexibility and responsiveness on the part of the philanthropic world to provide general support instead of program-restricted support?

When times get tough, how does your organization get tougher? And is it working?

Read the full grantseeking report here.