Attention to Detail

Katherine and I have been hard at work marketing Advancement Ink and answering calls and advertisements for grant writers and consulting firms. In fact, we are currently writing a proposal on behalf of our company in response to a call. How very appropriate that a grant writing firm is writing a grant for themselves!

Anyway, Katherine and I had a conversation last week discussing the deadline of the aforementioned proposal and the necessity of hand-delivering it to the agency. We do not want to chance it getting lost or overlooked, or arriving late. Because if it arrives past the deadline, it will not be considered.

When I was working as a university grant writer, I attended lots of workshops where grantmakers would give presentations on successful fundraising and proposal writing. Time and time again they would reiterate the importance of paying attention to detail and following directions. An example might be staying within the space parameters allotted, or not asking for endowment money when the foundation clearly states that it does not fund endowments. This all sounded like logical advice to me. I was surprised to learn that there are quite a few people who don't take the time to cross their t's and dot their i's. I wasn't surprised to learn that the proposals of those people were the first to be thrown out.

It is a very large undertaking for staff to read all of the proposals submitted to a funding agency. A very easy way to narrow down the number of proposals read is to weed out the ones that have not met the deadline or who have not followed the basic directions. How frustrating would it be to have worked so hard preparing a proposal only to have it thrown out because you omitted a crucial component or turned it in late?

Taking the time to check and double check work, no matter what kind of work it is, will always pay off. Discovering potential mistakes before they become real mistakes can save time and headaches.
That extra moment spent will insure that you are putting your organization's best foot forward.

Presentations

As Bethany wrote, all of our business to date has come from colleagues and friends. We know that this will not always be the case .. so we are exploring ways to market our services. What we have learned is that marketing a business is not a simple thing. A firm may have excellent experience and exceptional talent, but getting business requires a special expertise that isn't always innate or even learned as one gains other job experience. It seems to me that the cardinal rule is to articulate the value that you can bring to the prospective client .. e.g., what can we do for you that you can't do for yourself. OR, what can we do for you that is different or better than others in our field. I was reminded of the importance of focusing on the client's needs last week when I participated in a meeting to select a consultant. The consultant started his talk with "let me tell you about my company. No, let me tell you about me." His tale of "me" went on for 30 minutes, during which he name-dropped excessively. In the next 30 minutes, he went through a canned presentation of the general process ALL consultants use in performing this service. NOT ONCE, did he relate either his experience or the process steps to our project. I filed this experience in the "what not to do" folder.

The Importance of Saying Thank You

An important lesson that I am constantly relearning is that of showing appreciation. Saying thank you is so easy and means so much. Case and point. I have learned in the fundraising world that it is easier to get the second gift than the first. Why is that? The answer is you prove your organization a worthy recipient and steward of this gift. By thanking a funder for his/her contribution to your organization (and demonstrating how their gift has made a difference), you show them that they can feel confident investing in your organization, and that their contribution (no matter the size) is appreciated and utilized.

There are so many ways to say thank you: a hand-written note, a glossy report with photos and personal anecdotes, an invitation for a visit or to an event, or even (when and if appropriate) a plaque or small gift. It is really rewarding to find new and different ways of expressing your or your organization's appreciation. I always love hearing how other organizations thank their donors, patrons and/or supporters. So if you're out there, we'd love to hear from you!

Advancement Ink is a young business and my Mom and I have been very fortunate to have former colleagues give us business as well as refer business to us. We have worked very hard for them (as well as our other clients) to prove that we are worthy recipients of their business. And we have tried to remember to thank them as often as possible for their business and referrals. We believe this is vital to the success of Advancement Ink.

So, to end this blog for the day, I want to say thank you for reading. We appreciate you taking the time out of your day to visit our site and read what we have to say. And should you (or anyone you know) ever need grant or proposal writing services - or a resource allocation study or cost analysis - please know that Advancement Ink will be a worthy recipient of your business. And we will always say thank you!

What do we do?

Bethany here. And it occurred to me that we haven't shared what it is we actually do. Drumroll please... We are Advancement Ink, a strategic communications firm. In other words, we write content to achieve the goals of our clients. It might be federal grants, proposals to corporations or private foundations, or promotional materials such as brochures and newsletters. In addition, we conduct cost studies and analyses of client organizations to determine how they can better allocate (and maximize) their resources.

I want to refer back to my mom's first post for a moment to tell you how we came up with the idea for Advancement Ink. My mom decided to retire in June of 2004 from the world of higher education. She spent many successful years in administration, dealing specifically with budgeting, financial planning, facilities, and various other (major) functions of a university. I knew she wasn't really ready to give up her career, but instead was looking for more (well deserved) flexibility in her daily life.

I too was entering a new phase in my life as a mom. And while I enjoyed my job and the work it entailed (I was doing corporate and foundation fundraising for a major research university), I too was really looking for a little more flexibility.

We talked and talked about how we could mesh our strengths and talents into a business. And voila, Advancement Ink was born. Drawing from our experience in higher education and the non-profit world, we knew that there was a real need for solid communicators with grant and proposal writing experience.

Time and resources are stretched thin at most universities and non-profit organizations. Staffs are fully engaged in their organization's work and don't always have the time to complete grant applications and follow the fundraising maze. And what an important process it is. It takes time, attention to detail, and lots of follow up.

We believe that hiring a firm like Advancement Ink makes great economic sense. There is no need to hire writers on staff. Save those positions and hire writers only when you need them. We can supplement staff in peak times, or provide our clients with a turn-key solution. In addition, our cost studies and resource analyses help clients operate more efficiently and maximize their funds. It's a great combo!

So there you go. This is what we do. Check out our Web site for more information on us and Advancement Ink. And we are never too busy to provide free project estimate for you and your referrals.