Registration for the Unlock-Grants course includes one year of weekly live group calls. That’s my way of supporting the learner on their journey to becoming a confident and competent grant professional.
It allows the course registrant a chance to take what they’ve learned in the course, ask questions to bolster what they’ve learned, and have those questions addressed on the group calls (recorded and catalogued for their convenience). The learner can then have confidence going back out into real-world situations and putting what they’ve learned into practice. They can always come back to the calls to ask about how their experience went.
They can even submit portions of draft proposal narratives for review in the calls.
In other words, the learner gets far more than:
- the recorded content;
- the time-saving tools I developed;
- the workbook;
- the glossary;
- the links to learn more; and,
- the handouts.
And they can go beyond passing the regular skills assessments that are part of the course.
They get support in putting what they’ve learned through real-life circumstances.
And there’s no rush for them to get all their questions out and addressed. They get a year — not a month, or three months, or even six months — a full year to cycle through the course material and take part in the weekly calls.
In addition, part of what the calls do — for the rest of the learner’s team — is remove some of the burden and distraction of coaching or answering questions or checking draft proposals. The course and the incorporated calls give the learner a place to go to get the guidance they need, without taking time from their more-seasoned staff members.
These calls have been referred to as mentoring.
I agree.
And, having sat on both sides of a mentoring situation, I can attest to the value of the mentor as a sounding board, and as a friendly and experienced ear. Not a person that tells you what to do, but instead provides guidance and allows you to come to your own conclusions and figure out your own next steps.
The Mentorship Program of the Central Ohio chapter of AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) was an inspiration for me to highlight the weekly calls as mentoring in the Unlock-Grants course. I’ve been both a mentee and a mentor for AFP’s Program through the years, and the experience was fundamental to what kind of fundraiser I turned out to be.
Applying to, being accepted in, and getting paired with a mentor in AFP Central Ohio’s Mentorship Program was a pivotal point in my professional development. Then, becoming a mentor myself, I was able to really flourish in the coaching realm; listening to, guiding, and growing another fundraising professional was as much a maturing experience for me as it was for them.
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My Mentee Experience.
As a mentee within AFP of Central Ohio’s program, I had a really strong mentor who knew our time together was limited by the annual Program and wanted to make the most of it. She was driven to make each minute of our monthly meetings count. We set a goal for me for the year, and each month I had an assignment to complete. Most of my assignments were around personal and professional growth (rather than what you would think of as “homework”). Our meet-ups were fairly structured and fast-paced; she was, after all, a busy working professional in a small shop, and a young mother!
Today, her children are grown. We are friends who get together regularly, watch each other’s careers blossom, and care about each other’s success. I’ve seen her become a VP at a national organization; she’s seen me become more and more confident and successful as a grant professional.
I’ve also been a mentee (for 10+ years!) through my Grant Professionals Association (GPA) membership. My mentor Scot Scala of Scala & Associates and I met at a GPA national conference and have been meeting regularly since 2011. Since he is in Connecticut and I’m in Ohio, we meet virtually every few weeks.
It’s been invaluable. As a fellow consultant, Scot has provided guidance and support when I’ve come across any questionable scenarios early in my career.
He’s helped me shape client contracts and finagle client relationships. He has confirmed for me when I’m on track, and advised me when I’m off track, bringing his 35 years of experience to bear in all aspects of grant consulting.
Over the years, the relationship has developed beyond mentor/mentee. I have presented with Scot at national conferences and for his coaching clients, worked for him as a sub-contractor, and we’ve built each other’s networks through our associations. We’ve watched each other’s careers go through exciting changes and growth, and become close confidantes.
GPA has since instituted its own Mentor Match Program, loosely based on our experience. This important program builds the value of a GPA membership (beyond the scores of other GPA member benefits).
My Mentor Experience.
I participated twice as a mentor for AFP’s Program. Both times, the committee took pains to pair me with individuals new to fundraising who had grants as their main responsibility.
EXPERIENCE #1: One mentee had a supervisor who was not especially supportive of her time away from the office to attend our meetings (this was pre-Zoom).* Once I found out this was a struggle for my mentee, I was extra-flexible. We scheduled our meetings late in the day, and when last-minute schedule conflicts arose for the mentee, I was happy to reschedule.
It’s really unfortunate when a leader doesn’t appreciate the value of mentoring, and understand that it is really building a stronger performer within their agency. The stress this brought on for my mentee was a distraction during our time together. She was not able to put her whole self into our conversations, since she would come to me on the heels of negative experiences with her boss.
We really could have had some outsized growth through our time together, but instead we focused on how to find the maturity to handle her boss. All in all, she still gained important life skills, since unsupportive bosses are not a singular experience throughout our working lives. And learning how to handle these sorts of situations is a skill that will be useful throughout one’s life.
* AFP of Central Ohio works to head off these inner-office conflicts by having immediate supervisors sign off on mentoring program applications. But somehow, in this instance it was not successfully avoided. I still believe that the mentee grew personally and professionally during our time together.
EXPERIENCE #2: My second mentee in the AFP Program was wrestling with an issue of another ilk. She was actually doubting if a career in fundraising was right for her in the first place. This struggle made for some interesting conversations.
Our year together started off in a completely different direction; coming to the realization that fundraising and grants were not where her passion lay was an internal battle in itself for her. She had been avoiding the question, was not happy, and didn’t know why.
Our meetings became more and more existential as the months wore on. In the end, she found her passion (nursing), took steps to pursue that path, and gave up on fundraising.
As a mentor, I felt like a failure. But I realized that an unhappy career is nothing I would put myself through, and she deserved happiness, fulfillment — and my support.
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As you can see, the mentoring experience is quite entwined in the intersection of the personal and the professional. Our lives cannot be compartmentalized, and a mentor-mentee relationship needs to touch on both sides of the individual. It’s a unique connection that forms; honesty and confidentiality is key, in order to build the trust necessary to make the experience its most valuable.
The “mentoring” that Unlock-Grants provides through weekly live group calls gives participants plenty of time to build trust, learn, and grow in their grants career. The calls are my way of mentoring by giving of myself to ensure your success.
