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Navigating Grant Rejections: Yvonne's Insights on Turning Setbacks into Opportunities

/ 47:30/E289 Download MP3
Welcome to another episode of “Grant Writing & Funding” with your host, Holly Rustick. In this week’s episode, we have a special guest joining us: Yvonne White-Morey, a successful grant writer with a thriving freelance grant writing business. 

During our conversation, we will delve into the impact the mentorship program has had on Yvonne’s business, as well as the valuable tips and insights she has to offer for grant writers looking to start or grow their own freelance grant writing businesses. We are excited to hear Yvonne’s personal story and discover how she got started in the world of grant writing.

Yvonne addresses the importance of handling grant rejection in the grant writing world and offers strategies for turning rejection into opportunities for growth and improvement.

Additionally, she will touch on the significant role of artificial intelligence in the grant proposal process, and explore both the positive advantages and potential challenges it presents. 

Yvonne also shares her experience in the Grant Professional Mentorship program and how it has benefited her grant writing career. 

Join us as we connect with Yvonne White-Morey to learn more about her journey in grant writing and the valuable insights she has to offer. 

Plus, we will reveal how you can connect with Yvonne and the resources she provides. So grab your headphones and get ready for another informative and inspiring episode of “Grant Writing & Funding” with Holly Rustick.

What you’ll learn in this episode:
  • How the Grant Professional Mentorship has been beneficial Yvonne’s grant writing business
  • The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Grant Proposal Process
  • Positive and negative implications of AI and large language models in grant writing
  • Handling Rejection and Building Relationships in Grant Seeking
  • – The tendency to feel discouraged after a grant proposal rejection
  • The importance of evaluating the fit between the proposal and funder’s values
  • Embracing rejection as an opportunity to demonstrate organizational integrity
  • Grant writing as part of the revenue stream and flow for organizations
  • Building a sustainable funding model for organizations
  • Considering the overall funding picture and incorporating grants into the organization’s strategy
  • The challenge of low scores on grant proposals with minimal feedback
About Yvonne White-Morey
Yvonne White-Morey, RSM is CEO & Principal Grant Strategist at GrantStream Consulting LLC, bridging the gap between mission and impact, through stress-free grant seeking and management, so that people who help people can afford to make a difference. GrantStream’s clientele include growing small-mid sized nonprofits and small businesses helped to secure more than $14 million in funding.

Yvonne brings expertise working in government, nonprofit and the private sector; with faith-based groups and community-led organizations, celebrating the opportunity of assisting others to do great work creating a more just and humane world. 

In addition to extensive grant training, Yvonne holds a Masters of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary; earned a BS in Psychology and BA in Speech and Drama from DePaul University and, Certificates in Litigation and Employee Benefit Plans from the ABA Approved Lawyers’ Assistant Program at Roosevelt University; and is credentialed by Scrum, Inc. as a Register Scrum Master (RSM). Each of these areas of professional development helped her to hone skills in research, writing and project management.

Yvonne is a proud member of the Grant Professionals Association (GPA), currently serving as a board member and Programs Co-Chair of the GPA Chicago Area Chapter, and member of the GPA Great Lakes Virtual Chapter.  An active member of the Association of Consultants to Nonprofits;  a Chicago Conservation Corps leader since 2010, as well as a Climate Reality Project Leader, Chicago Metro Chapter and trained as a public engagement interpreter of the Chicago Academy of Sciences Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Yvonne is part of an extensive network of environmental and environmental justice organizations. 

When not absorbed with grants, nonprofit consulting, proposal development and character counts, she enjoys the brilliant and colorful Midwestern change of seasons, especially in Autumn/Winter, where you will most likely find her tucked in with a cup of hot tea, a cozy mystery and in the company of either an exuberant Hurricane Maria rescue dog named Rico or a frolicking feline called Selina Kyle (aka Cat Woman) her Co-Directors of Work/Life Balance.

Connect with Yvonne:
Quotables:
  • Dealing with Grant Rejection: “Just because it didn’t get funded doesn’t mean that one can’t be funded somewhere else. If it’s a solid program, it can be rewritten and reworked so that it does meet the needs of the organization and a particular funder… See it as an opportunity to build relationships and demonstrate the integrity of the organization.”
  • The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Grant Funding: “Two things along that line. One is actually the newer invention with everyone talking about artificial intelligence and large language models. That’s a two sided coin.”
  • The Importance of Grant Strategy: “So if seeking grants are going to be a major revenue stream for your organization, then how to build out that strategy? I think we get this sense that grants are just like raining down from heaven, and you just put your bucket out and the water will come in, and then you take it. And there’s really no need for that kind of plan.”
  • The Benefits of Joining the Mentorship: “The Grant Professional Mentorship has been phenomenal… I love Book Club because we read two books a quarter and I found most of the books to be not only interesting, but actionable.”
  • Finding Success in Business: “Being in the Grant Professional Mentorship gives me the confidence that I can reach out to areas outside of my comfort zone and still be able to bring in clients.”
GrantStream Consulting LLC Services:
  • Pre-Award Wellness & Readiness Assessments preparing for private & public funding
  • Brand Audit & Analysis of community and funder awareness of your public & online branding
  • Grant Strategy to help your organization determine how grants impact sustainability
  • Prospect Research to discover multiple mission-aligned funding sources
  • Proposal Development to present a well-crafted competitive proposal or LOl
  • Proposal Review & Editing to provide an additional pair of eyes for error-free submissions
  • Post-Submission Audits to debrief and reconstruct past submission for stronger future use
  • Post Award Management Planning for stress-free grant management
  • Nonprofit Training in Board Development, Grant-Writing Basics and Funder Relationships
Resources mentioned in this episode:
OTHER RESOURCES:
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Thanks for listening!

Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
Navigating Grant Rejections: Yvonne's Insights on Turning Setbacks into Opportunities

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