If I know one thing deep in my gut as a grant professional and business owner, it is that change is inevitable.
It might sound cheesy (my teenagers love to call out my cheesy moments, so I’m preempting them by calling it myself), but the way you, as well as your grant team and larger organization teams, adjust to changes that impact your plans, regardless of whether the change is good OR challenging, is what makes your nonprofit stronger and the impact of your mission greater.
As many of you know, I run, cycle, or lift nearly every morning. It fuels my work, it quiets my mind, and it reminds me that I AM STRONGER THAN YESTERDAY, even when something (workout, personal, or professional) may be tough.
The idea of being stronger than we were personally or collectively than yesterday is not new. The idea of responding to change over following a plan (whether the change is good or challenging) is not new. The muscles that we individually and collectively have built in the past—whether during community change, the COVID-19 pandemic, or any other change—are there. You might not have had to exercise them and build them every day, as you did throughout specific challenges, but trust me. They. Are. There.
Although we might tell our clients/employers that we can’t do it alone, and we *shouldn’t* do it alone, we are each, in fact, our own unique superhero, creating impact and change through our work.
Perhaps your superpower is that you use the power of connection to help find paths for your organization to get warm introductions to grantmakers. Or maybe your superpower is that you are a dreamer and a big picture thinker for your organization and always believe that grants create tremendous impact when best practices are followed and a little ingenuity is added to the equation. Or could your superpower be that you have the strong heart of a facilitator who can bring a cross-functional team together to create a highly competitive application.
I hope that you’ll join thousands of other superheroes on March 7, 2025, for the sixth annual #LearnGrants Online Summit. We will have six speakers, sharing, in 10 minutes, key details about THEIR superpower with each of you. (PS – The event is FREE, but registration is required.)
I would love to hear what YOUR superpower is and how you share the story of your superhero impact with others in your organization and broader community. Drop me a note in the comments or send an email to diane @ dhleonardconsulting.com.
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