Five years into working as a grant consultant, I still have to stop and pinch myself sometimes. I’ve gotten to meet incredible people, contribute to amazing causes, and do it all while taking care of my kids (thanks to everyone who’s been patient during those moments with a screaming child in the background). I’m also struck by how much the field has changed in that time. When I started this work, “artificial intelligence” sounded more like a bad sci-fi plot than a practical tool for...

Every year, nonprofit professionals spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and money trying to write better grant proposals. They attend workshops. They tweak their logic models. They agonize over word choice. And now, increasingly, they are turning to AI tools to help them produce more polished narratives faster. None of that is wrong. Strong grant writing genuinely matters. A muddled narrative, a budget that does not reconcile with your program description, or a proposal that ignores a...

I like to tell people I found my calling in the nonprofit field the traditional way: that is to say, completely by accident. So many of my friends in this sector are the same way. We are fueled by our desire to build stronger communities and make people’s lives better, but we often find we need a lot of on-the-job training. Professional development programs are a lifesaver for people like us! So much of what I learned came from webinars, AFP events, and one-on-one connections with people who...