Unlock-Grants

TCF holds these Open Houses quarterly, and I encourage any new, start-up, or smaller Central Ohio nonprofit to attend!
I also encourage everyone there to also attend my Grant Readiness session on Tue., June 16 at 10am EDT at Metropolitan Library. Register here to learn about:
• What is Grant Readiness
• Why and how to get Grant Ready
We even touch on the Logic Model!
It’s fun and fast and full of conversation from other small and start-up nonprofits just like YOURS! I hope to see you there!
Dozens upon dozens of grantseekers attended The Columbus Foundation’s Grants Open House last month. They learned about all the different types of grants available through TCF, and local fundraising support organizations were on hand to show how they help nonprofits grow their capacity to fulfill their missions:
· Grant Professionals Association - Central Ohio Chapter
· Association of Fundraising Professionals of Central Ohio
· Columbus Metropolitan Library
· Community Shares of Mid Ohio
Among other TCF staffers, grantseekers were guided by TCF’s:
· Dan Sharpe, VP-Community Research and Grants Management
· Robin Baker, Supporting Foundations Grants Manager
· Chastity Edwards, Director of Education Grantmaking
· Cheryl Graffagnino, Director of Community Health Grantmaking
· Mark Lomax, II, D.M.A., Director of Arts & Generational Grantmaking
· Matthew Martin, Director of Community Research
· Erin Scott, Director of Capacity Building and Community Knowledge
TCF holds these Open Houses quarterly, and I encourage any new, start-up, or smaller Central Ohio nonprofit to attend!
I also encourage everyone there to also attend my Grant Readiness session on Tue., June 16 at 10am EDT at Columbus Metropolitan Library. Register at https://events.columbuslibrary.org/events/15958721 to learn about:
· What is Grant Readiness
· Why and how to get Grant Ready
We even touch on the Logic Model!
It’s fun and fast and full of conversation from other small and start-up nonprofits just like YOURS! I hope to see you there!

Virtual event incoming!

If your pipeline of grant prospects is thinning out, don’t just gather meaningless filler! Add prospects that are truly aligned and vetted!

How?

By following my 4-phase system that grows grant success with targeted, worthwhile use of your time!

Learn how in this popular session “Beyond the Spray-and-Pray: Strategic Grant Prospecting that Actually Works.”

Hosted by the New England chapter of Grant Professionals Association (https://gpane.org/) on May 21 at noon Eastern, it will be one significant hour you will not want to miss.

Great for beginner, intermediate — even advanced grant pros can pick up new habits and un-learn some old ones!

More about the New England chapter and how to register is here: https://gpane.org/events/.

Hope to see you there!

Our Columbus Metropolitan Library hosted another “must-attend” quarterly Nonprofit Sector Snapshot on May 5.

The first standing-room-only Snapshot was in February, (with the Library’s Business & Nonprofit Resource Center partners Human Service Chamber of Franklin County and Community Shares of Mid Ohio.
This past week, the Central Ohio community convened to learn from HSC, CSMO, the BNRC, and Erin Scott and Matthew Martin of The Columbus Foundation about the state of our sector in this region.

Takeaways:

• Nonprofits are doing all they can against funding cuts, labor shortages, inflation, and legal risks. But they can’t do it all; the importance of advocacy is keenly felt and strongly needed. Translation: job security at Human Services Chamber of Franklin County and other groups involved in activism.

• Operational costs have increased, and are anticipated to rise even more, causing attrition (closures, mergers, acquisitions) among many nonprofits. Even so, competition for grants is getting fiercer.
o Is corporate stepping up?
o Will support from property taxes go away?
o Will “recommended” FRAC $ amount to anything?

• Nationally the number of new nonprofits has dropped — most significantly in 2017 and 2024. Coincidence?

For more on these and other burning nonprofit sector topics, join your peeps for future Snapshot events.
For more info and to register, visit https://bit.ly/August-Nonprofit-Sector-Snapshot (for August 4) and https://bit.ly/November-Nonprofit-Sector-Snapshot (for November 10).

HAPPENING TUESDAY!

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn a more intentional and grounded method to prospect for grant funders that actually supports grant success!

Are you done with your scattershot approach to identifying and applying to random funders? This session will show you a way forward and inspire you to be intentional (and not frenetic)!

Join this session and take away practices you can put in place IMMEDIATELY, and a measured and attainable process that you can build over time.

REDUCE wasted efforts! ENHANCE proposal competitiveness!

Join GPA St. Louis for this virtual session Tuesday, noon-1pm CST.

Register here - https://unlock-grants.info/GPA-St-Louis-Beyond-the-Spray-and-Pray

The current attitude towards the “bias” of museums and performing arts institutions, etc. at the federal level has trickled down to the city level.

And San Diego took the bait.
(https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/04/15/san-diego-arts-leaders-blast-proposed-massive-funding-cuts-as-catastrophic-and-devastating/)*

The City of San Diego CFO said, “we can no longer afford to fund arts and culture grants.”

Meaning that funding a $10.8 billion creative economy is “unaffordable.”

I don’t think those federal (and now local) funding decision makers have a sense of the long term. Like what our world would be like WITHOUT art.

What if their stance towards arts and culture stuck, and played out for a few generations?

No design, no color, no music, no literature. No stories, so no stories to perform or inspire us.

No art would mean no opera. No opera would mean no one to compose the opera, write the libretto, no singers, costumes, lighting or set design.

Without art, how many of us would be unemployed?

Explaining the “need” for arts organizations is not always easy to make clear, when trying to explain it to prospective funders — private or public.

If there’s no art, a lot — A LOT — goes away.

When a public (or corporate, or …) partner decides that supporting the arts is no longer a priority, I have to ask:

• Are you funding mental health?
• Are you funding economic growth?
• Are you funding community enrichment?
• Are you funding academic success programs?

Because if you are, you’re funding the arts.

If there is to be a world without Verdi’s La Traviata, take me now.

*-Credit: Bob Lehman | LinkedIn, ED of San Diego ART Matters
https://www.linkedin.com/in/boblehman25/

Curious about the best way to strengthen your grant proposals? Our blog explains the significance of proposal reviews and highlights Unlock-Grants’ unique offer of lifetime access to expert feedback—an invaluable resource for any grant writer.

https://unlock-grants.info/proposal-review-what-is-it-and-why-its-important-to-you

Welcome to the March 2026 edition of “Inside Unlock-Grants!”
Here’s the news, valuable tips, and happenings you can find in this issue.

▪️ Kickin’ It with Carolyn: International Grant Pro Day Celebration
▪️ Grant Tip of the Month: Manage your Grant Reporting Proactively
▪️ Resources for Insiders: Grants from DAFs: the What, Why, and How
▪️ Save to your Calendar: Upcoming events & education opportunities
▪️ Course Takeaways: What our students are loving about the Unlock-Grants course
▪️ Backstage Tour!

Make sure you're staying up-to-date! Click Here!
https://unlock-grants.info/Inside-Unlock-Grants-March-2026