“Foundations today aren’t just making donations because they want the warm, fuzzy feeling of philanthropy. They’re doing it as an investment and they want to know what the return on their investment is going to be.”
– Mandy Pearce
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Summary
Our guest today is Mandy Pearce. She brings over two decades of fundraising experience to the conversation and generously shares her knowledge of the funding landscape.
Mandy knows how to simplify a complex topic, and offers a long-range view of the changes happening in the grant writing world. In this episode, her dynamic teaching style brings so much infectious enthusiasm to the discussion that every listener will feel empowered to go out and find a grant for their program – even if they never considered it before.
In our discussion, we cover:
01:00 Andrew asks Mandy to share her background and how she came to work in funding.
02:25 Mandy responds to the question – how should smaller entities start their grant writing journey?
07:15 Andrew asks if there is a “right time” to apply for a grant.
10:20 Mandy discusses how she thinks about success in her business.
16:00 Andrew wonders about the differences between local/state/federal grants.
19:50 Mandy talks about her experience with getting funding for faith-based schools.
21:40 Andrew asks her to share a bit about the funding opportunities for charter schools.
22:20 Mandy shares her thoughts on the changing “ecosystem” of grants and foundations.
24:20 Andrew prompts Mandy on the impact of increasingly available data.
27:10 Mandy shares parting thoughts.
Quotes:
05:10 “Educate yourself on what is open and available; there are lots of great, free resources online.”
08:45 “You want to research the grants one year ahead of when you need the money.”
22:19 “Foundations today aren’t just making donations because they want the warm, fuzzy feeling of philanthropy. They’re doing it as an investment and they want to know what the return on their investment is going to be.”
