If you've been in fund raising for any length of time, then you truly do realize the value and power that grant money gives a nonprofit organization. That is undisputed – who would turn down a grant? Well, apparently, many are. Because they've never written one or they've discouraged themselves from even trying. It's the same excuse “We would love to write grants but...” You can fill in the blank here with such excuses as “we're too small and we're up to our elbows in alligators just juggling what we're already doing.” Or this, “bigger nonprofits have all the advantages because they have their own grant writers – we can't compete with that.” Or, try this one on for size, “we just don't have the time to learn something new.” Ah, time. It just never seems that there is enough of it.
Let me ask you this question though – how are you spending your time? You're allotted the same hours and minutes as everyone else during the day, it just all
comes down to how you use it. Because the “time” issue comes up so often when I challenge those nonprofits that are complaining about not having enough money to learn to write grants to add to their fund raising plan, I've decided to spend some of my time here sharing some basic, but effective, time management strategies. My hope is that you'll dedicate some chunks of your “found” time to learning a new skill – like maybe how to write effective grant applications. :)Here are some of my favorite time management tips:
Divide your work day into subject periods. To avoid burnout on brain-draining tasks, assign time periods to how long you'll spend on a certain “subject.” After that, schedule some time for less taxing work and then pick up where you left off on the more complicated issues. Just like a for-profit business, nonprofits are responsible for everything, usually on a limited budget, such as fund raising, social media marketing, human resource issues, community awareness events, etc. It can seem overwhelming, but when you assign time periods to these different responsibilities, realizing that they all can't be completed in one day, you feel like you've accomplished tasks to help you get to the end of that road. Realize upfront that most of your responsibilities will take multiple days to complete. Break down those tasks you need to do to complete your project, do some, and then walk away for a while. Just like you had periods of time for certain subjects in school, you had time to walk between classes. Clear your brain in between subjects so that you'll feel refreshed to tackle the next one.
Are you an early riser or a night owl? Schedule your more challenging tasks during your natural energy peaks.
Limit online procrastination. Do you find that when the going gets tough, the tough get going to see what their friends are up to on Facebook, checking Twitter feeds, participating in interesting online forums? You are not alone. We all need those brain diversions – the trick is to limit the time you spend on them. Set a reasonable amount of time on some type of timer and then stick with that time you've allowed yourself. It is so easy for fifteen minutes to become a half hour on Facebook but when you pay attention to, and adhere to, your time limit, you'd be amazed at how much time you'll save.
Limit tangents. I am so guilty of this. You're doing legitimate online work (in my case, research for statistics for a grant I'm working on, etc.) and then continue to come across nifty new resources that could be beneficial for your organization. Before you know it, the task at hand has been abandoned and you've just spent two hours in research and development. The smart, time-efficient way to handle this is to bookmark these resources and then come back to them during a time of day that you've set aside for less taxing activities such as checking email.
Realize that time management is a process, not a one-time occurrence. Just a like a diet, even if you fall off the wagon, just climb back on it the next day. Time management is a formed habit.
Visualize your reward. Time spent on productive activities is very rewarding. Yes, writing a grant application takes time. But wasn't it worth the time to get a check for $50,000 in the mail? For aspiring grant writing consultants, yes, it takes time to learn a new skill and then make money from it. But with a little time down the road, when you're bringing in a stable income and have the freedom to work from home and raise your children at the same time, wasn't it worth the time invested? There are rewards for time well-spent.
In closing, I want to share this quote from Harvey MacKay:
“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't
own it, but you can use it. You can't keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it
you can never get it back.”
The strategies I've shared here are literally just tips of icebergs. I would love to hear from you all on time-saving tips and strategies you use. Thanks for spending some of your time with me.
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written by Sherry Truhlar, March 07, 2011
I will add a strategy to the list. Delegate - don't spend time doing things that someone else is better equipped to do. It has taken me a while to learn that even though I might be good at a task, I should be focusing on the tasks that other folks in the org can't do. So while I may relish in the success in data analysis, if someone else is a whiz at it, I should delegate and stick to the tasks that I can't delegate. It can be hard to give up a task even when we know someone else is in the right position to handle it.
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written by Amy Eisenstein, March 02, 2011
1. Only check email at 2 or 3 designated times per day, not all day long.
2. When working on a task, don't take phone calls, check emails, or let yourself get interrupted. She said for each 1 minute interruption it takes people an average of 18 minutes to return to the task at hand. That's 19 wasted minutes!
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written by Karen, March 01, 2011
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written by Gayle L. Gifford, ACFRE, February 28, 2011
And yes, I too, fall into the tangents.
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