FYI: Grant Writing and Development

This week's topic doesn't seem all that interesting to most people, but lately I have been doing a lot of research and work with grant writing and development.

Fendig Summer Theatre for Children approached me to help them write a grant that was due this past Friday. The grant is called Community Thrives through USA Today. The grant hopes to help people fund a project or idea that impacts their community. Fendig Summer Theatre is an organization that I hold near and dear to my heart so I decided to take on the project for them.

I reached out to the public of Rensselaer via Fendig's Facebook page and requested help in video submissions of how Fendig impacts Rensselaer.  To my surprise I got about ten responses through video and numerous people sharing and talking about our cause.

It engaged the community and helped me add crucial information about why the community needs something like Fendig Summer Theatre to thrive and flourish for years to come.

The post may still be pending but here is the link to my submission on the USA Today's site.

I was so busy all week editing my script, the video and filming shots but the work was so rewarding. Should we win our category Fendig would get $100,000 for our project. If we get second we get $50,000. I am hoping for the best, but I really am proud of my work.

This isn't the first grant that I have applied for. I applied for two local grants on behalf of Fendig Summer Theatre. I was successful in receiving those funds. I also applied for another really big grant that was a video submission. We weren't successful, but out of 200,000 applicants we made it to the top 80 submissions. That was a win in my book as far as experience.

I am considering maybe looking into to some fundraising, development or grant writing opportunities to see if this is something I want to pursue more. Regardless, this was a great experience for me to have.

Wish us luck!