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grantmaking

Grants Managers Network - Social Media Presentation

Posted Sun, 2009-03-22 23:07 by matthew

I was asked if I would speak at the Grant Manager’s Network conference, starting tomorrow, on Social Media and how it might relate to the grant-maker’s experience. 

A little survey was done of the registered participants.  54% said that they really never use social media.  50% indicated that they were novices on what exactly social media really means.  Of those who use social media, 8% use social media just for work.  65% use it for personal reasons. 

Social Media and the Grantmaker Part II

Posted Fri, 2009-01-23 21:02 by matthew

Grantmaking, at its core, is development of a social group.  Often this manifests itself as a many to one relationship (many applicants and one grantmaker).  Social media can be used to facilitate this relationship, but it can push it to a new and different space.

Grant Applicant Communication is key.  I've been a grant applicant, a grants manager, and the chief architect of grant-making systems.  It is common for grant applicants--particularly new applicants--to have anxiety when it comes to contacting the grants manager.  Lowering barriers is important to getting the best applications as possible.  Granting programs really WANT to give money away.  I was eager to talk to potential applicants and give them advice on how to submit the strongest possible application.  Why?

Grant Managers Network and Social Media

Posted Sat, 2009-01-17 10:08 by matthew

I've been asked to present at the Grant Managers Network annual meeting on "social media" in on Monday, March 23.

I've been working with social media, one way another for well over a decade, ranging from the ancient LambdaMOO system to recently emerged technologies like Twitter and Plurk.  I have been involved with the planning of TechSoup's Nonprofits in Second Life program and manage the NPSL's blogging site--the Nonprofit Commons.  I have been an active blogger for many years, starting out on the venerable Google blogging platform and ultimately migrating to Drupal.

Knight News Challenge Application

Posted Thu, 2008-11-06 18:19 by matthew

I need your help! The company I work for, pingVision, has submitted an application to the Knight News Challenge. I've written about this project before. We'd like to build an open source Drupal based grant making system. If you'd like to see a free option available in this arena, please go to:

OpenSource Grant Making System and cast your vote in support.

Knight Drupal Initiative - Grant Making Project

Posted Sun, 2008-10-05 20:02 by matthew

Grant-making isn't a cheap venture. Even if you are a re-granting agency (you are given money to give away), the overhead involved in running a grants program is significant. I want to help that change.

CiviCRM--DrupalCamp Colorado 2008

Posted Mon, 2008-07-28 23:32 by matthew

TJ Cook from HiDef Web Solutions, Brian Hiatt from CivicPixel, and Wes Morgan, a key CiviCRM contributor presented CiviCRM at the Camp. CiviCRM is CRM system focused on nonprofits that can stand alone, work with Joomla, or with Drupal. CiviCRM is a complex package with a footprint larger than Drupal Core itself. This session gave participants a taste of what CiviCRM is all about. These are my notes from the session.

Nonprofits and Opensource

Posted Sun, 2008-03-02 14:25 by matthew

In both the nonprofit and opensource world, there is the notion of a "commons" in which each community benefits. The idea of nonprofit or not-for-profit as a name confuses people. Indeed, a nonproft can and should make a profit. At very least it should cover its yearly costs.

TourWest Panel

Posted Fri, 2007-06-01 03:53 by matthew

Over the last few days we have been holding TourWest panels.  TourWest is WESTAF's Touring and Presenting grant program.  It is funded through the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as a way of promoting performing tours.  Each of the Regional Arts Organizations (RAO) have a similar program.
One of the unique things about the TourWest program is how online the process is and the length of time it has been online.
A number of years ago I spearheaded the design of CultureGrants Online Basic (CGO).  It is a shared grant making system that allows agencies to create and manage their own grant activities including building grant applications.  Currently Basic is in its second iteration.  The first version of Basic was very much a wire-frame system.  TourWest makes use of the Basic system in its application, paneling, and final report process.

TourWest

Posted Fri, 2007-03-30 02:23 by matthew

One of my current roles at WESTAF is managing the TourWest Grant Program. It has been an online process now for about 5 years. In the first year, we had an application form that would save the information in a cookie and the applicant would print out the application and mail it into WESTAF.

Later we moved to CultureGrants Online(tm) Basic version 1. Version 1 of the software worked pretty well, but it was fairly ugly and the tools were rudimentary. Two and half years ago we rebuild the software from the ground up and built version 2. This package is much more robust with pretty significant ways of outputting data that has been entered into the database. It creates readable panel books, and saves some information from year to year for the applicants. Once the applicants have completed the project that they have been funded for, they can complete a final report online.

Grantmaking and Web 2.0

Posted Thu, 2007-02-08 23:46 by matthew

The business of grants is all about relationships.  Grantmaking networks are a variation on the social network.
Last week I was in Great Falls Montana and today I was in Salt Lake City.  In both cases I was intersecting with individuals who are interested in TourWest--WESTAF's grant program.ÂÂ