Sourcing Reflection

This week I worked with the grant writing team to source potential funding opportunities in target areas and revise draft grants before submission. In the process of sourcing, I learned how to use the subscription services FoundationSearch and RelSci. Basically, this week involved a lot of reading and judgement calls. In particular, I was sourcing in the city of Chicago; I did not know how Jewish oriented the city is before this research. Ultimately, we found our organization to be more compatible with the foundations of for-profit companies such as AT&T.

Personally, I learned how valuable and time saving these tools were. But, in order to effectively use them, a person has to be properly briefed on the type of events that require funding. Moreover, although these tools were a great starting point, I had to personally go into their individual websites to verify their specific grant criteria and deadlines to make sure that they are still a viable option for 2017.
In addition to grant writing, Jen is the gatekeeper of all external communication. She revises all formats for letters, mass emails, meeting minutes, presentations, and annual reports in addition to the grants. She mentioned to me how valuable it was as a control mechanism to have all communication verified by her as it ensured the message of the organization remained