On Wed, April 3rd, we held a webinar with Diane Leonard, our grant writing consultant, who provided feedback on the 15 Strategic Project Plans. Thank you to the over 40 team members, Champions & Project Coordinators, who attended. We had a lively session. We discussed the themes and were provided guidance on how to ensure each project will be nationally competitive for funding. Key feedback fell into 7 areas:
- Silos and Red Tape: Important to focus on positive to keep negativity from being pervasive
- Assumed Knowledge: Goal is for proposal to be understood by outside readers
- Problem/Need Statements: Funders like to fund STRENGTHS so while need statement is about community needs/weaknesses still need to show capacity to achieve powerful results
- Partnerships: While some teams have begun to see where there could be partnerships…There were NO priority plans which specifically indicated conversations or plans with other priority teams
- Purpose & Project Goals/Outcomes: Purpose (often referred to by grant funders as goals) should flow after reading the problem statement and almost be expected step
- Objectives: Objectives need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, & Time limited
- Key Players: Very few references to non-profit collaborative partners
In Jeannie Hylant’s words: “Diane’s input and suggestions will be very valuable as we move our initiatives from thought to action. Remember this is the best constructive criticism we can ask for to be as successful as possible.”
View the Recording, Presentation, and Additional Resources to support you and your team: www.tinyurl.com/FoTWebinar130403
The focus of the webinar was on transforming the city and region to be competitive on a national level. A team of experts reviewed all 15 projects, compared them to best practices across the country, and prepared a concrete feedback session .
View the Draft Project Plans at: www.tinyurl.com/FoTDraftPlans
Below are some of the key points discussed during the feedback session:
- Average Attentiveness – 35% were actively viewing the webinar as it was being displayed.
- How well is Toledo doing in being ready to compete on a national level?
- What are specific strengths and areas for improvement with the strategic project plans?
- How can you ensure your project is practical and compelling – able to attract the necessary resources for success?
- What are the next steps for you and your team as your get your project plans grant and funding ready?
In terms of evaluations, participants rated the webinar and teams as follows:
- Average Confidence Score of 4 out of 5 – with 5 being “totally confident that our teams will be grant ready.”
- Average Attendance – 80% of those who RSVPd showed.
In terms of take-aways, the key words and frequency are shown below. The larger the word the more frequent it was mentioned.
