Tackling Mid-Year Chaos

The middle of the year can get hectic. You have mid-year deadlines and even approaching end of year goals. 

It is important to meet and stay ahead of mid-year and end of year deadlines because many grants with significant funding are due at these prime times. The proposals need to be done well so they will stand out in comparison to the many other grant applications being sent out. 

Here are a few tips on how non-profits stay organized and keep a steady non-profit project management flow. 

#1 Grant Deadline Tracking

It’s always good to be ahead, but when you’re not it’s essential to be aware of it. Start by reviewing the grants you’re writing and discovering the grant deadlines for each of them. Compile a list of these items and then begin work on the ones with the quickest deadlines first. This list could be placed into a spreadsheet or ERP system shared with the entire team. Some teams even use project management tools like GANNT charts or shared calendars to see their progress.

#2 Non-Profit Time Management

Time Management is essential when working on time-consuming projects. To stay on track, you can always set aside or block a few hours a week for your team to work on your grants, and even a weekly meeting to go over progress. Furthermore, you can look at the project as a whole and then break it into smaller milestones in order to reach the overall goal by the deadline.

#3 Non-Profit Staff Productivity Promotion

Grant writing is not an easy task. It takes hard work and dedication to navigate through all of the different elements of a grant proposal. Take the time to check in with your team and see if they are comfortable with their workload. Perhaps they would be more productive with a little help with the workload or guidance on the procedure. Afterall, it’s better to take longer to complete a task than to have to redo it. 

Some ways to promote productivity include the following:

🏢Redistributing Workload

📝Identifying Outliers Or Bottlenecks

🖊️Having An Open Door Policy

💻Training Employees

#4 Adhere to Non-Profit Administrative Best Practices

One best practice that always comes to mind is focus on reviewing funding requirements carefully, maintaining accurate documentation, and double-checking submissions before deadlines. Always be truthful in your grant writing and do your best to include all relevant information. Take accountability for any errors discovered in the process and do your best to fix them.

#5 Utilize Non-Profit Planning Tools

Planning takes time, time that you likely are short on. One way to budget time is to utilize resources and tools available to help you with grammar, ERP systems, or AI writing software to help with organization of deadlines and meetings.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, I’m just an email or phone call away.