I hit the ground running this week after getting oriented last week. My main focus was on writing grants, which is something I have wanted to learn how to do for a long time! Central is funded almost entirely by grants, so this development work is critical to being able to provide the services they offer to the community. It is also a lot of fun, because Central has so many different programs (seniors, youth, family stabilization, art education, etc.) that it seems there are always many different opportunities to apply for funding, and I was able to skip from a senior grant to a youth programming grant, to a grant for their workforce development program. 

I think I mentioned it earlier, but Central does a good job at collecting data about the outcomes of their programming, which is absolutely essential to conveying the value that they bring to the community. The more data you can provide about the outcomes your organization achieves, the more likely it is that donors will want to fund the work that you do. I was able to attend a fundraising 101 webinar this week, and she essentially said that people do not donate money to organizations, they donate money to impact social change – so emphasizing the actual impact of your work is highly persuasive. 

Overall, it was a great week! I had the opportunity to work on creating some marketing materials, as well as the opportunity to help interview candidates for an open position. I can’t believe the second week is over already! Looking forward to what I will learn next.

Grant Writing Tip of the Week

When writing grants, it can sometimes be helpful to let the donors know how much of an impact their dollars can make. For example, I was writing a proposal for the ACE program at Central, which helps people create or expand their small business – my supervisor told me that phrasing an ask like this: “For every X number of dollars spent, you have the ability to create/retain one job” shows the impact the donor can make for a very low sum of money. Very convincing.

Important Cause of the Week

Did you know that social isolation can actually affect the health, and ultimately the lifespan of seniors? This is something I have been interested in for a long time, since my background involves working with seniors. Here are some pretty staggering statistics:

Seniors experiencing social isolation are:

Overall, more likely to die prematurely from all causes (the risk is almost the same as for those who smoke!)

Central Community House works hard to prevent social isolation in seniors, and they did not stop when the pandemic began. Instead, they piloted a program to provide seniors with access to technology, as well as individualized training and workshops to teach them how to use it. An overwhelming majority of the seniors in this program felt more engaged and less isolated, and now Central is looking to expand the program!