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I’m Melanie. Through my work at communitygrantwriters.us, I serve small social justice nonprofits with no/low-cost fundraising tools – and encourage them not to pay for grant writers. Proposals are hard work and have a low success rate. But they don’t have to be. 

What if foundations embraced a single grant application form (with a custom question or two) like the Common Application? If thousands of universities can do it, can’t funders??

Until then, our short weekly newsletter on absurd expectations in the name of Doing Good will make you laugh (or cry). No naming or shaming, just some good old community and storytelling in the world of fundraising. We invite all subscribers to share your own stories and wisdom – what happened, what you learned, what worked (but not who done it).

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We’ll share a weekly folly: a foundation or donor story with unintended consequences. Situations where funders – contrary to their best intentions – make it hard for a nonprofit to get funding, and why. We’ll also include feel-good philanthropy stories and best practices, hear wisdom from down-to-earth donors, or get advice from experts.

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Stories of unintended consequences in the world of Doing Good

People

Grateful for a long fundraising career, I'm here to share humor, connections & lessons learned in service of philanthropy for racial, social, economic, health & environmental justice. Join us! Add your lived experience, voice & abundance.