How NOT to Treat Your Grant Project Partners

I don't know about you, but I can learn just as much - sometimes more - from a bad example as I can from a good example.  I was in a grant partnership meeting this week and I witnessed a whole bunch of examples of how not to treat your grant project partners, so I thought I'd share some of those with you.

1. Don't throw one of your partners under the bus for your own political agenda. I'm speaking figuratively, of course.  I assume none of you would actually throw anyone under a bus. In a partnership setting, you need to remember that the value of your relationships with your community partners will extend far beyond the issue at hand.  It might seem expedient to make one of your partners look bad now so you can gain something, but in the long run, it's never a good idea and it almost always comes back to haunt you.  Besides, it's just not very nice.

2. Don't reprimand your staff in front of your partners. Any good manager knows that reprimanding staff in public is a lousy idea, but it can be particularly harmful in a partnership meeting.  If you don't have confidence in your staff, why should your partners? Maybe your grant partners are much more comfortable working with your staff than with you. In that case, reprimanding your staff in front of them will make them defensive. Again, it's just not very nice.

3. Don't spring big decisions on your partners at the last minute. Just like you need time to carefully consider important decisions before you make them, so do your grant partners. Don't show up at the meeting with a bunch of new and important information and expect a decision immediately.

4. Don't jump to conclusions. In a complex collaborative project, there are many interests.  Some of those are complementary and some are competing.  Unless you have been part of every conversation about a particular topic, don't assume you know everything that's going on.  You probably don't.  It's especially important not to jump to conclusions if you haven't been present for all of the regular partnership meetings.

5. Don't insist that the group re-discuss issues from last meeting because you didn't show up to the last meeting. If you are unable to make it to a meeting, you are responsible for getting the information and bringing yourself up to speed on things.  That may mean contacting your partners in-between meetings.  If you know that is an item on the agenda that is important to you, you should have a representative present who can speak to it on your behalf.

Building and nuturing partnerships is a complex task.  Months, even years, worth of work and trust can be shattered in an afternoon if you are careless about how you treat people.  Think of the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be rteated and you will rarely go wrong.

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Grant Writing is like a Bicycle Built for Two

So this morning I am walking to the coffee shop to drink coffee and use free wifi when a guy pedals past me on a bicycle built for two .…alone.

My first thought was that his girlfriend may be lying somewhere scratched and angry up the road but when I didn’t find her I began to feel sorry for the guy.

I wondered to myself if this wasn’t some sort of e-harmony  experiment gone awry.  Their online disclosures may have missed his fantasy for whisking her away on his bicycle; perhaps she had balked and rebuked his penchant for pedantic pedaling.

In any case, my mind soon turned to grant writing, as it frequently does, and I thought about clients I’ve had who after learning about the bicycle built for two that we needed to pedal together in order to get the work of the grant done, had similarly balked at sharing the load.

Completing a grant application successfully is a partnership between the writer and the client not unlike riding a bicycle built for two.  The client should steer the process to make sure that the grant goes where they want it to go.  They also need to pedal along with the writer -  there’s work for both to do.

So long as both parties pedal hard and long, the bike will take them to the desired destination: grant submission and with a little good fortune, full funding!

So writers and clients need to jump on that bicycle together, pedal hard, and steer well.  Don’t leave your grant writer sweating and pedaling along solo or the grant may not reach its destination successfully.  The writer, like the solitary guy on his bike this morning, may get tired, and let’s face it, the journey is more enjoyable with someone to chat with along the way.

By Derek Link, Non-Profit Consultant and Expert Grant Writer

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Grant Writing is a Team Sport

Nobody likes to work alone more than I do. Don't get me wrong.  It's not that I don't enjoy the company of others or the intellectual stimulation that only comes with working with others, but I love the feeling of getting into "the zone" when I'm writing, and that simply doesn't happen when there are other people around interrupting the work.  OK, they may call it "offering ideas," but when you're deep into the writing, it feels like an interruption.

That said, it's important to remember that grant writing is not a solo sport - it's a team sport. Even if you are self-employed and you have no support staff, your client is part of your team.  He or she has information that you need to get the work done.  If you are the executive director of a non-profit organization who does all the grant writing for your organization, you may feel like you're flying solo in the grant writing process, but you're not.  You have a team of folks who all have bits and pieces of what you need to complete the task and do it well.

This means that all of us lone wolves (or prima donnas, depending on your perspective) need to remember what we learned in kindergarten - that it is very important to know how to work and play well with others.

I have had some clients who apparently never learned that.  They either act like the playground bully, shouting orders and demands, or they play off alone in their own sandbox and then wonder later why I couldn't read their minds.

You can call it working together, or teamwork, or collaboration, but the reality is that you can't do it well alone.  You need others to help you get to your goal.  The more you recognize that and embrace that, the more successful you'll be.

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Related Posts:

The Importance of Networking

Our Favorite Clients

When Partnerships Go Bad

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Learning to Collaborate

Some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on schools and collaboration:

The Full-Service Community Schools Program Grant application has just been released so my thoughts have turned, once again, to the fact that schools just can’t take on all the problems of today’s children and their parents and, at the same time, focus on turning around a school labeled as “failing.” Schools need other agencies to share some of the responsibility.

Imagine a community school intentionally transformed into a neighborhood hub – open all the time to children and their families and, in this school, a range of support services is provided by community agencies to help students overcome the obstacles that interfere with their learning and success in school.

In order to create this system of comprehensive, coordinated support in a community school model, schools have to learn to work in different ways. Schools have tended to be isolated to a significant extent from direct intervention of other professionals; where they have had to work with other agencies, their relative size, statutory nature and high degree of control over what happens within their walls have often made them difficult partners (and I know many community non-profits working with children at school sites can attest to that!).

Educators and human service providers traditionally have been on different tracks. To collaborate, schools (and agencies) must be willing to negotiate on issues such as confidentiality, discipline, equipment, and transportation, to name a few. Many large educational initiatives (Safe Schools/Healthy Students, Healthy Start, 21st Century Community Learning Centers) insist on collaboration – often on the school site – and this has shifted the balance from control to cooperation. Principals and teachers realize that they need the cooperation of other professionals in order to reach the standards of performance by which their schools are judged.

Full service community schools are jointly operated and financed by a school district and a community-based organization. Each community school is unique based on what the neighborhood needs. Does the full service community school work? Preliminary research shows improved achievement, much better attendance rates, lower delinquency, and significant student and parent approval. Joy Dryfoos (well-known researcher and advocate of full service schools) states that the full service community school is a strategy – not a program – for “redesigning education to meet the needs of a modern, dynamic society.”

Learning to collaborate is a critical key in successful community schools. Collaboration benefits schools and community organizations in several ways:

1. Working as a team leads to improved effectiveness, more efficient use of resources, better access to services and more productive partnerships;
2. When schools and community based organizations cooperate to align resources with common goals, children and youth are more likely to succeed academically, socially, and physically;
3. Collaboration among professionals provides opportunities to enlarge and deepen practice as school staff and community organizations learn from each other; and 
4. Much more can be accomplished for children and families as a team than can be accomplished by any one organization in isolation.

Take a look at the Full Service Community Schools Program application.


For more information: Inside Full Service Community Schools, by Joy G. Dryfoos & Sue Maguire.

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Virtual Collaboration

Here are some thoughts from our Grant Coach, MaryEllen Bergh, on Virtual Collaboration:

Collaboration is a process of participation through which people, groups and organizations work together to achieve desired results. Starting or sustaining a collaborative journey is exciting, sometimes stressful, and even new for many. Successful collaboration requires focus on the goals of the team and on the development of trusting relationships. These relationships allow people to overcome problems that might arise through the collaborative process. While most of our collaborative tasks are still done in face-to-face meetings, technology has enabled us to collaborate from afar. It has given us the ability to be members of a professional learning community that may include people from around the globe.

Is collaboration on virtual teams as effective as collaborative teams that meet face to face? Dr. Jaclyn Kostner (author of Bridge the Distance) found that virtual teams tended to keep their focus on priorities better than face-to-face teams and, in fact, virtual meetings were frequently shorter; however, the virtual collaborative teams failed more often. One of the reasons for this higher rate of failure, according to Dr. Kostner, is that virtual teams did not develop the relationships that allowed them to work as a team to overcome problems – they did not collaborate in any meaningful way. As organizations move toward using technology to facilitate collaboration among teams that are split by distance what are some ways that teams can collaborate better at a distance? Here are a few tips:

1. Don’t multi-task at virtual meetings. Close your email, turn off your alerts and pay attention. The only time an entire virtual team can collaborate is when they are meeting. If you want your team to collaborate and be a team make sure that everyone pays attention and participates in team meetings.
2. Meet face to face as often as possible. While the technology tools that enable us to communicate virtually save time and money, there is no better way to develop relationships than face to face. This may not be a possibility for teams that are at long distances apart. Make sure that you do allow some virtual time to get to know your team.
3. Create office hours when team members can be reached. Collaboration among team members is an important way to create relationships and overcome the barrier of distance. Because it is so difficult to get anyone live these days, set up hours for each team member when they agree to be available, answer their phones, and take the time to work with the other team member.

Dr. Kostner was the spokesperson for a study conducted by Frost and Sullivan (Meetings around the World) sponsored by Microsoft and Verizon. The basic conclusion from this study was “The more collaborative organizations are, the better they perform. Conversely, the less collaborative they are, the worse they perform.” So if virtual teaming is in your plan, pay attention to creating a virtual team that collaborates well.

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Control or Collaboration? You Can't Have It Both Ways

I'm working with a client on a grant writing process for a project that is due in about 2 weeks. I am accustomed to working with multiple project partners in a collabortaive planning and program development process, but I have also worked with clients who had more of a "top down" approach through which an administrator or small group of administrators developed a program design, made the decsions, and passed their decisions on to me.

However, this grant process is a bit different because the client is trying to use both approaches.  Well, they are trying to walk through a collaborative planning process, while doing their own planning behind the scenes and trying to steer the collaborative planning process in the direction they want. Sure, I have seen this before, but usually the faux "collaborative" process is not nearly as extensive as this one is.

As you might expect, people who think they are participating in a real collaborative process are beginning to bristle at the not-so-subtle control being wielded by those at the top.

What does this mean for the grant writing process?  It will be slow.  It will be contentious at times.  It certainly is not the best way to plan a program.

Real collaboration has many benefits beyond being able to write that you went through a collaborative process.  It helps leverage community resources and it builds relationships that will pay off far into the future.

Short circuiting the process so you can maintain some extra control is really not worth it in the long run.  In fact, your collaborative partners would be grateful if you were upfront about your intentions at the beginning.  If the collaborative process is not going to be real, they have better things to do, just like you do.

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Related Posts:


Trust the Grant Writing Process


When Partnerships Go Bad

The Importance of Respect When Working Collaboratively with Others

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When Partnerships Go Bad

It happens. Because partnerships between agencies are based on relationships between people, sometimes things take a negative turn - just like personal relationships sometimes do.

So, what can you do to keep your collaborative relationships from going bad, and how can you recoup a relationship that has already taken a turn for the worse?

1. Communicate. Yeah, I know. Everybody talks about communication like it is the panacea for whatever ails you. However, when it comes to relationships, it really is important. The problem is that when relationships are strained, talking it out is exactly what we don't want to do. There is an agency I volunteer with that I am having some trouble with right now. The last thing I want to do is pick up the phone and talk to the person who is annoying me, but my relationship with that organization depends on it. Ask yourself, how valuable is the relationship to me? If it's a valuable relationship, suck it up. Start talking.
2. Focus on the positive. Even when people don't agree on everything, it's likely that they do agree on some fundamental principles. Focus on those. Release your emotional grip on the details that don't really matter and focus on common sense of purpose.
3. Express your appreciation. Everybody wants and needs to know that they are valued and appreciated. It may be hard to express your appreciation when things are strained, but that is when it is needed most. Send a heartfelt card or a handwritten note expressing your gratitude for the collaboration or something special the individual involved has done to make your work easier.
4. Keep the problem to yourself. You may be tempted to tell the story about what went wrong to others. Don't. No good can come from that, and you could cause permanent damage to the collaborative relationship if you do.
5. Don't over-analyze the problem. Sometimes it's easier to get over a bump in the road by just driving over it. If you stop, get out and start analyzing why there is a bump in the road, and detailing all of the possible ways around it, you may end up stuck there at that bump forever. In the same way, sometimes the best and most productive and respectful way around a problem with a collaborative partner is to acknowledge that there has been an issue and keep working together anyway. Not all problems in relationships need to be defined and fully resolved before you move forward. Agreeing to disagree and moving on can be a very good thing.

Don't be discouraged when a wonderful collaborative relationship hits a bumpy spot. Remember that it's normal for highly committed individuals to disagree sometimes. Not all people communicate perfectly all the time. A temporary disagreement doesn't have to turn into a permanent rift.

The Importance of Respect When Working Collaboratively with Others

Several years, I visited a new church. It was an inviting place to be - the people were nice, the chairs were comfortable. Then the minister began to talk. He spent 30 minutes or so chastising the congregation because there weren't more people there. I remember thinking, "Does he realize that he's upset with the wrong crowd?" Needless to say, I never returned to that church.

This weekend, I had a similar experience at a Youth Substance Abuse Summit I attended. I was invited to attend, as were there other 80 - 100 people who were there representing 6 or 7 different communities. We were there to explore ways we could collaborate to decrease youth substance abuse.

We heard some good speakers who shared some excellent information. Then we were sent off to work in community groups to come up with action plans for addressing the issue that we would continue to implement long after the summit activities ended.

In my community group, we had some good discussions. We went back and forth on several issues, and we struggled with finding a good starting point. Many of group left early (it was a Saturday, after all!). Our facilitator was a bit inexperienced, but she did her best to keep us moving forward. I admire her efforts because keeping us on track was probably a little like herding kittens. As we approached the end of the day, we had a plan to meet again and a priority list of issues we would address. Not bad.

Then, with 30 minutes left to go, a new facilitator came in the room and starting chastising us for all that we had not accomplished on that day. He said some rather inappropriate and untrue things about our community. He spoke to the group harshly and cruelly. In the end, all of the good will and excitement that had been built up over the past 24 hours was gone.

As you can imagine, I was angry. I was a bit upset about some of the things he said about our community that were not true (clearly, he has not been involved with the work in our community in recent years and months), but I was most upset about the way he treated those dedicated and hardworking people who were volunteering their time on a Saturday to do something good for their community.

The people he was most upset with were all the people who were not in room, but he took it out on the dedicated folks who were hanging in and working to the end of the day.

We expressed our frustration about what had happened with the organizers of the summit, but in the end, we have decided to let it go. We know that we are planning to move forward with the work in our community. We know we have done good work thus far. We know the really hard work lays ahead.

Here's the lesson I pulled from this experience ---Organizations are working collaboratively with other organizations more than ever. Not only is a collaborative approach the best way to leverage the most existing resources within a community, but most state and federal grants (and many private grants) now require inter-agency collaboration as a condition of funding.

How are we treating our collaborative parnters?

Are we showing them the respect they deserve for giving of their time and energy to help the effort?

Are we showing respect for their dedication to their community?

If not, it's time for an attitude adjustment. Remember, working with groups of people and agency representatives is not easy. Tasks that seem like they should be simple can take much longer than we expect. The discussions we have with our partners as we negotiate details and ideas are extremely important in paving the way for future progress.

Now, I could choose not to go back to that church were I was chastised years ago, but I cannot (I will not) choose to walk away from my own community. Collaborative partners simply must find a way to work together. We must get passed the petty hurts and offenses and keep moving forward - together. The stakes for our children are too high to let someone who is ill-informed and rude throw us off track.

The gift I got this weekend was a reminder about the importance of treating my fellow community members with respect.

Collaboration Between Organizations - Why It Often Fails

Many grant funding sources now require collaboration between organizations for good reasons. Collaboration helps stretch scarce resources and it dramatically increases the likelihood of sustainability after the grant funding period.

Unfortunately, collaboration between organizations in a community is not easy. Collaboration between organizations with large bureaucracies is extremely difficult.

So, why does it often fail?

Changing personnel - Collaboration relies heavily on relationships and trust. In large organizations, it is not uncommon for people to move in and out of positions within the organization frequently. If the person who developed the collaborative relationship leaves the organization or changes positions within the organization, the relationship is at risk. Sometimes it falls apart completely.

Lack of experience and bureaucratic requirements - Face it, large bureaucracies are designed to be self-sufficient. They are not designed to work and play well with others. People within them are not trained or encourage to collaborate with others. Here's an example. There's a collaborative grant that requires representatives of the partner agencies to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to document their partnership and the commitments that each agency is making as part of the grant effort. The lead agency drafts the MOU and negotiates the details with the representatives from the other agencies attending the meeting. Agreement is reached. Then, as the MOU is being sent around for signatures, the business departments in the other organizations all start to object because they each have their own required template for MOUs that includes their own legalese. Even though the language in the MOU is very similar to the language in each of the different templates, an entirely new level of compromise and negotiation is required because the different agencies simply cannot just accept a template that is not their own.

Self-preservation - The tighter the budgets, the worse this is. Collaboration requires that partners look out for both the best interests of the group and the best interests of each of the partners. organizations that can't see passed their own needs often sabotage an entire collaborative effort.

So, what do organizations need to do to make it work?

• Focus on the common good;


• Ensure that there is something "in it" for every partner;


• Send multiple representatives to represent the organization so personnel shifts will not alter the collaborative's progress;


• Be willing to step aside and let others get a little more sometimes (a little more money, a little more publicity, a little more whatever); In short, be more of a giver than a getter--and you'll get more;


• Negotiate a common MOU template when you are not facing a grant deadline - then you'll have it when you need it;


• Learn more about your partner agencies so you know where they're coming from

You'll see more detail on these strategies in future posts.

"Seeing difference is ignorance. We are all one." - Sankara

"Doing nothing for others is the undoing of ourselves." - Horace Mann