Protect Your Odds of Winning By Sharing the Potential Pain of Rejection with the Funder

One of the subtle themes I use to make my grant writing more compelling is that I remind the grant funder that their rejection of the grant will have measurable consequences for the charity. In other words, I like to suggest that the charity's rainy day might also be the funder's rainy day.

After Heavy Rain in California 3 - Remix!

I am not above leaning on their guilt to help motivate a positive decision. By the time I am done with a grant proposal, the charity may be as compelling as a target of generosity as the homeless family begging for change in front of your neighborhood Costco store.

I am not above sending a message to the funder that their rejection of the grant will hurt our feelings.

To be sure, the funder knows that its rejection will hurt your feelings. The trick, however, is to make this natural pain so real that they could never see themselves as saying no to your grant. This trick only works if you know for sure that you have met the funders eligibility requirements. Otherwise, it is too easy for the funder to hid behind its own regulations and insist that your request failed to overcome their necessary bureaucratic boundary conditions. By making your application perfectly compliant, you are building their sense of guilt if they reject your application.

Following my logic, there are a number of interesting ways to make your grant more painful for them to reject. One is to play up and highlight previous gifts you have gotten from the funder. Another trick is to raise their costs of rejection by reminding them of any personal contacts your charity has with their board members or staff. Consistent with these ideas, I have also found it pays to tell a story about an individual client who will be helped by the charity. I like to write this story in such a manner that it will be clear that this client will be among the very first to hear, yes or no, about whether or not the funder approved of the grant proposal. In other words, I want to make it clear that the vulnerable client will never forgive the funder for failing to support the grant request. 

Likewise, I try to remind the funder that their rejection of the grant proposal will not only disappoint the clients, but also the charity's staff, board members, and community partners - including other funders. The idea is to bring the funder face-to-face with the enormous consequences of their decision so that they do not take a rejection lightly and so that they have every opportunity to be the hero that makes the project possible.

Hold Tight to Your Winning Message As Your Draft Comes Face-to-Face With Reality

As I have shared before, the first thing I do when I start writing a grant is develop the most appropriate winning message for that charity. This winning message needs to present your charity as the best possible social investment for a funder - especially when your charity is compared, side-by-side, with competitor charities. 

As I write and revise the grant, however, I find that my knowledge of the charity and its proposed project increases over time. At the same time, I have found that the clarity of the grant writing process itself sometimes inspires the charity's leaders to make needed changes in their mission and their project once they are face-to-face with how a well-meaning, yet thoroughly objective, observer reacts to their plans. As we work to put ideas down on paper, I have often found that new, completely fresh information comes to light at the last second which causes everyone to rethink and reconsider the grant application. 

Under these circumstances, I become careful not to change the spirit of the winning message as I am buffeted by the "fog of war" towards the end of the grant writing process.

Instead, I hold tight to the winning message and then carefully add details to my details so that even the tiniest bit of new information nevertheless supports the winning theme. In my experience, the addition of relevant details actually makes the charity's grant proposal more, not less, attractive to funders. As they say, "God is in the details." These carefully added details will bring a crisp twist to your proposal, a twist that make it even more memorable to the potential donor. 

By holding tight to the winning message, even in the last few moments of grant writing, I'm able to generate a document that is both compelling and simple for the funder to understand.  In the end, I make sure the details add up to communicate the message that the charity is "all in" when it comes to making its project a reality.

Nouns Are Us: End Your Sentences with a Strong Word

Normally, I do not talk much about writing style when I speak about grant writing techniques. Nevertheless, there are some simple tricks I have used over the years to make my words easier to follow in the mind of the reader. One of the simplest of these techniques is my habit of ending sentences with a noun.  

Visit to OC's The Great Park

As I read through various grant applications by new or inexperienced grant writers, I often find them ending the sentence with a verb or a gerund. For example, they will write: 

Clients go into the park to explore. 

or 

Clients enjoy the park by exploring.

Instead, my typical approach is to write something more grounded such as

Clients will go and explore in the park.

or

Clients enjoy exploring in the park.

My sense is that ending the sentence with a verb is sort of like not allowing the reader to breath at the end of your sentence. The other endings seem to imply more action or activity is coming and thus leave the sentence reading less precisely or as if it is incomplete in its thought.

Since charities are often unstable, even unreliable entities, I try to use language to reflect the idea that they are a safe and traditional place to invest social monies. I do this by almost always ending a sentence with a noun.

Improving Your Success Ratio By Seeding In the Funder's Buzz Words

One of the most effective techniques I use when writing a grant proposal is to feedback to the funder the sort of buzzwords they feel comfortable using in their own application materials and website. 

Visit to OC-FAS Studios in Anaheim, CA

In my experience, each funder tends to find itself circling around a steady and consistent set of five to ten buzzwords which illustrate their fundamental take on humanity and what they perceive to be in the best interests of the community. Although I usually disagree with their perspective - I'm trained as a political scientist, after all - I have nevertheless found it profitable to identify these buzzwords and carefully and appropriately seed them into my document.

I think this technique works, in part, because it is a way of showing off how the charity will be compliant and easy to deal with after we have won a check from the funder. The funder, of course, understands that we are mirroring their buzzwords. Nevertheless, they seem to appreciate this extra effort and this expression of solidarity with their take on the world.

After all, a short grant application is not really a great venue for totally transforming the hard-wired assumptions and prejudices of a funder. Instead, it is a strong opportunity to show that the folks receiving the grant will not be rocking the boat to any significant extent.

Charismatic Caretaker: Denny Bellesi Back Temporarily at Coast Hills Church

Trish Drew, Denny Bellesi and
his grand-daughter at Coast
Hills Church on February 15, 2015.

It was a pleasure to see Denny Bellesi and his wife Leesa at Coast Hills Church this morning. As you may know, the misguided folks on the Elder Board at this church basically fired Denny and his wife after 20 years of service even though he had successfully led the church's growth from a handful of people in a living room to a 1,300 seat performing arts center in Aliso Viejo. Denny, of course, is most famous for his Kingdom assignment when, in 2001, he handed our $100 bills to 100 church members, explaining that their task was to enrich God by investing in the needy.

At the service this morning, Denny reminisced about the big risks and bold moves which took place at the founding and fueled the rapid growth of Coast Hills Church. From what I know about charismatic leaders, however, I suspect that Denny's willingness to roll the dice and trust in the Lord ended up being something of a liability after Coast Hills Church purchased its current somewhat over-sized facility. At that point, I suspect that the members of the elder board began to doubt whether faith alone could solve Coast Hills Church's mounting financial problems.

Denny, for his part, mentioned that after 20 years of service his seratonin levels had dropped to such a level that they would not bounce back, even after two years of rest. I took this as a casual reference to a possibly bad case of depression. I also saw it as a mature acceptance of the fact that nowadays serotonin levels are best maintained by doctor prescribed medications.

Ironically, Trish and I were there at Denny's last service at Coast Hills Church. I remember he baptized some folks that day and that he looked somewhat peeved and angry over the situation surrounding his leaving Coast Hills Church. I could not help but think it must be richly satisfying to know that the same folks who cut him loose ten years ago were now dependent on him to staunch the bleeding wounds of an obviously dysfunctional institution.

Trish was favorably impressed with Leesa's story and recounting of the adventures which had befallen them

Denny Bellesi led a chorus of
happy birthday for a 99
year-old church member.

as a couple over the last ten years. Leesa went out of her way to take a photo of the 11:00 a.m. crowd. It is a trophy that I think both of them richly deserve for their persistence and graciousness in the face of rather unforgivable mistreatment a decade ago. Denny himself still displays the charisma which inspired the creation of Coast Hills Church. He asked the members to imagine what it would be like to be a Roman soldier chained up with Paul for six hours and got a tremendous laugh.

As far as I can tell, Denny will be the interim pastor at least until the end of June. As a management consultant, however, I know that the abrupt and bizarre dismissal of Ken Baugh will have profound ramifications on the staff. I expect that two years into the services of the next pastor, Coast Hills Church staff will be a completely different set of people.

If you enjoy a little irony, you might want to hear Denny Bellesi's comments where he participated in the commissioning of Ken Baugh as the new senior pastor on December 5, 2005. Notice Denny's shout-outs to Gary Luke and Bill Nixon two guys who are still serving on the board of elders today and to the NASA level consultant, John Holborn, who advised in the transition from Denny Bellesi to Ken Baugh. Denny encouraged Ken to keep growing and reminded everyone that Ken was not perfect. Denny charged the congregation at that time to pray for their new pastor, to bolster his confidence, and to communicate with him.

Denny called on the members of the church to pray for 100 days in a row about the future of the church. Personally, I am happy to take on that challenge. My recommendations for change are straightforward:

1. Enforce the Bylaws: All elder board members who are currently serving in violation of the Coast Hills Church bylaws need to resign immediately.

2. Remove Poor Leaders: Elder board chairman, Gary Luke, must also resign due to his failure to keep the bylaws and the role he played in the awkward mismanagement of the effort to lay-off Ken Baugh.

3. Improve Sound Quality: Tell the technical department to add sound baffles to the performing arts center to improve the awful acoustics of the place.

4. Eliminate the Glare on the Stage: Tell the technical department to stop shining lights in our eyes when we are trying to appreciate the performances on stage. Bright lights may look pretty from the control room, but they give headaches to the sensitive people who deal with the glare.

Accordingly, I do not think that Coast Hills Church can make any progress until it roots out the leaders who have showed little compassion for Ken Baugh and his family while demonstrating zero respect for the bylaws they are supposed to follow and embrace as checks on their own power. Frankly, unless there is complete change among the members of the elder board, I do not think Coast Hills Church has the moral authority to go on. Without change at the top, they might as well call a realtor and see how they can cash out of their current building before it is too late. In the meantime, I will be praying that Denny Bellesi uses his influence to restore the rule of law at Coast Hills Church.

A Breath of Fresh Air: Ken Baugh To Speak at Capo Beach Church

Dr. Drew's first en plein air painting done in Laguna Beach
CA beneath Las Brisas restaurant.

I was pleased to hear the news this afternoon that my ex-pastor, Ken Baugh, will be preaching at Capo Beach Church next weekend. While I enjoy following Ken's blog "Encouraging Discipleship" and his twitter account, I really miss hearing him share his insight and wisdom in front of a live audience.

Ken Baugh will be teaching on Saturday, Feburary 14 at 6:30 p.m. and on Sunday February 15 at 8:30 a.m., 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The folks at Capo Beach Church want to remind us that all three services are identical, so we should pick one that fits our wake-up time or sports schedule. (I'll be there Saturday evening, thank you.) If you have a middle schooler or high schooler, you may want to come to the 10:00 a.m. service so your students can attend services with their age group. Apparently, childcare and Children's Church are available for all four weekend services. For more information, please check out their website at http://www.capobeachchurch.com/services/

I should add that Capo Beach Church has a special significance for me. My brother Tom and his wife Michelle were married there two decades ago. Trish and I went there as part of our first date. We were too early for dinner at Las Brisas in Laguna Beach, so we went to the Saturday evening service as a spontaneous lark. It was an unusual religious service for me. At the time, I was still an atheist.

One of the odd examples of synchronicity that I remember from that evening is that the preacher, Chuck Smith, Jr., went out of his way to praise atheists that night. As I recall, he ranked atheists over agnostics because the atheists at least had put in the time and effort to come to a definite conclusion. Whatever the reason, I felt quite welcome and accepted that night. I was certainly a passive fan of Christianity. I remember that I was confident that the Christian church had been a live-saver for my future wife. As a political scientist, I understood enough about political culture to understand that the American way of life would be physically impossible without its firm foundation in the Christian faith of our founders and early settlers.

Overtime, of course, I left aside my atheism. I got baptized by some friends of mine who were part of our Bible study group in Irvine, CA. I like to think that they -- and Trish -- figured out I was a Christian prior to me getting that figured out myself. We are still active in a small group today where we are living life along the guidelines so thoughtfully suggested by Ken Baugh during his remarkable tenure at Coast Hills Church. For better or worse, there are a number of us out there who are unhappy with the way Coast Hills Church parted ways with Ken Baugh. Recently an ex-parishioner at Coast Hills wrote: "I did not like how Coast Hills handled this situation. It was very abrupt and just funky. I truly loved serving at Coast Hills over the past 10 years... and just felt that it was time to leave Coast Hills." Expressing what must be the thoughts of many, this observer wrote: "I truly loved Ken's messages and his heart. The messages he spoke truly touched my life."

Since that first date, however, I have also come to have a darker take on atheists. Unfortunately, the worse mass murderers of the last century were atheists including Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot. As a fairly decent student of Marxism myself, I can report that my atheism preceded my commitment to being a Marxist socialist ideologue. I can also report that my spiritual recovery preceded my eventually renunciation of Communism as a worthy goal.

I am also aware that atheists in power are dangerous whether or not they are Communists. During the French Revolution, the revolutionary leadership made an aggressive attempt to root out the Catholic Church and Catholicism itself. The leaders of the French Revolution sent thousands out to the guillotine and when that was too slow turned to tying Christians to logs and letting them drown in the rivers.

As an ex-atheist, I am painfully aware of how easy it is to justify the murder of millions of people simply because they are getting in the way of your particular utopia. These Godless regimes do not have the internal strength to last, but they do massive damage to themselves and their neighbors. Atheists tyrants routinely lack the humility needed to be safe rulers and safe neighbors.

At any rate, it will be a pleasure to visit Capo Beach Church again. I will reminiscent about how the church welcomed me despite my flaws and look forward to how the church will keep alive the gentle, healing Biblical insight of Ken Baugh.

x

Train Wreck at Coast Hills Church: Rick Warren Defends My Ex-Pastor Ken Baugh

I was kind of shocked at the way my Coast Hills Church parted ways with my pastor Ken Baugh just last month. Ken is an extraordinary fellow, a true leader in the effort to adapt the church to better meet the needs of Generation X and the Millennials. He is the co-author of at least two books which I believe to be essential reading for anyone seeking to grow the church among young people including The Quest for Christ: Discipling Today's Young Adults (2002) and Getting Real (2000).  He is also a wonderful person to hear preach or to meet with one-on-one. He is a soldier for Christ who has brought decisive vision to our community and launched missionary efforts around the globe.

Given his remarkable strengths, I startled to see that Coast Hills Church removed him from his position as Senior Pastor without first arranging a new strategic plan, planning for an interim pastor, or even providing for a smooth six-month transition. The way the Board of Directors handled the process of removing him from the church – abruptly and in great secrecy – made it look as if Ken Baugh had done something wrong. Despite the tearful remarks made by Board Member Doug Armstrong expressing compassion for Ken and his family, it was clear to me that the Board of Directors lashed out at Ken Baugh and perhaps sought to damage his national reputation by letting him go in such a startling, precipitous manner.  

In this context, the Board of Director’s appeal for unity looked like a political gimmick designed to prevent shocked members from going to other churches or else discourage what might become a string of mass staff resignations. (The Board of Directors has made similar pleas for "unity" when it has made highly visible mistakes in the past.)

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For a quick look at what Ken Baugh is doing for our community right now, please check out the website for his The Institute for Discipleship Training. This website will show you the wonderful creativity, compassion for others, and intense scholarship which informs Baugh's ministry even today.

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I was pleased to see that our nation's most successful pastor, Rick Warren, quickly came to Ken Baugh's defense and invited him to preach "Surprised By Hope" this weekend at Saddleback Church. My wife and I will be going to the 4:00 p.m. Saturday service to hear Baugh's Christmas message. You can also catch Baugh's signature style at the later 6:00 p.m. service or on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. or 11:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. 

Rick Warren has nothing but unbridled praise for Ken Baugh and it made me proud to see that he was willing to step up and help protect Baugh's reputation in the community. Rick Warren, for example, went out of his way to remind the local Christian community of the historically significant work done by Ken Baugh through Frontline, a cutting edge young adult ministry which he established at McLean Bible Church, an extremely successful non-denominational evangelical Christian church which now has campuses throughout the Washington, DC area.

Following Rick Warren's lead, I am happy to use whatever modest influence I have on Twitter and social media to defend Baugh's reputation and encourage others to hear him speak at Saddleback Church this weekend.

Due to my work as a grant writing consultant, I have had a chance to learn a great deal about the perils of ministry and the often cruel treatment that Board of Directors unleash on their pastors. I have even worked with an agency in Colorado, QuietWaters Ministries, which has made a name for itself in helping pastors recover from the mistreatment of the lay leadership. 

As a political scientist, my only suggestion is that those of us who are fans of Ken Baugh need to speak up

and kindly suggest that it is unhealthy to have an ineffective, stuck in the mud, Board of Directors. 

Scanning the website, it appears to me that many of the Board members at Coast Hills have been holding on to their volunteer jobs since the time when the founding pastor, Denny Bellesi, was there which is at least nine years ago. For example, the Coast Hills Church website indicates that Gary Luke has served as the Chairman of the Elder Board for over 12 years. This is despite the fact that Elder Board members are supposed to be limited to only two (2) three-year (3) terms. I do not care how much of a genius you are as a church Board member, it seems like common sense that after a while the entire church is better off without your continued Board-level service. 

My recommendation is that Coast Hills Church enforce its existing term limits for every member of the Board of Directors. 

I think all of us will be better off if Elder Board members who has been there over six (6) years simply resign and make way for a more adept and humbly compliant group of leaders. 

I am confident that a new Board of Directors will have fresh energy, better emotional IQ, and more common sense. Without changes at the top, I am afraid that Coast Hills Church will decline, lose members, lose staff, and fail to realize the promise it once provided to the community. After all, it will undoubtedly be difficult for the community to respect the legitimacy of a Board of Elders that functions in a manner inconsistent with its own by-laws, by-laws that should be interpreted as the will of God for Coast Hills Church.

In the meantime, I am also confident that Ken Baugh will go on to bigger and better things.This was certainly the case with Denny Bellesi. I was pleased to see that he is working with the extremely successful folks at the rapidly growing Mariner's Church. Even Bellesi's wife, Leesa, has garnered some national attention by ministering to the needs of contestants on American Idol. I remember I was in church on the last day that Denny preached there. He did not look happy on his last day of service after 20 years, but at least the Board of Directors gave him the dignity of going out in style in a respectful and organized fashion. 

At any rate, I am expecting that more of us will catch on to the sometimes dysfunctional way volunteer boards treat their pastors. Too often, these boards chew up the young pastor's energy and enthusiasm and then tosses them out in a way that damages them for life.Thanks to the support of Rick Warren, however, I am sure that Ken Baugh will remain as a bright, prolific, skillful church leader. He has done a great service for the Lord and I thank him.

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