Blog – Barbara Floersch

Recalibrating How We Think About Grants

(Published in the April 2021 edition of the NonProfit Times as Misunderstood Revenue: Recalibrating how sector leaders think about grants) In fundraising, individual donations are considered the holy grail and grants are fool’s gold. Even though they’re integral to most nonprofit budgets, grants don’t get a lot of respect. You’ve heard the complaints or made …

Grant Professionals Bridge the Gap Between Funders and Nonprofits

Friday, March 12, is the seventh annual celebration of Grant Professionals Day. Most people won’t recognize the event and even nonprofits and grantmakers are likely to overlook it. That’s a shame, because the role of grant professionals is critical in helping nonprofits and funders connect with each other to pursue the common good. Having done …

Finding My Place in the DEI Movement

In the last few months I’ve been attending webinars, listening to panel discussions, and reading to educate myself as deeply as possible about issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). It’s important. To examine how my personal and professional choices contribute to justice or injustice, I need to hear the perspectives of people with …

To Make Your Case, Turn Down the Noise

Anything that distracts from the accurate transmission of your message is noise. When listening to a podcast or participating in a Zoom session, the interference caused by noise is tangible. Think of the helicopter chopping across your air space, the motorcycle thundering down the street, a dog barking, and, of course, limited bandwidth and …

Redirecting Weapons-of-Mass-Destruction Scientists in Ukraine

My work as has introduced me to countless interesting people and places throughout the US and beyond, but I never expected it would take me to Kiev, Ukraine. In 2013 The Grantsmanship Center was contracted by the State Department to train 30 scientists many of whom were previously employed in the design of weapons of …