Use Your Grants as a Tool of Change
When I put on my “grant writer hat” and dive into the song-and-dance of grant deadlines, character counts, and funder priorities, sometimes it feels like I’m doing nothing but reinventing the wheel.
I’ve been writing grants for a long time. I’ve been fundraising even longer. And some days it feels like I have one foot in the vital work of the Community-Centric Fundraising movement, and one foot stuck in the mud of grant deadlines. But, grant writers play a critical role in branding an organization, and crafting the ways in which it’s presented to funders. And so grant writers play a critical role in integrating social justice into fundraising programs —and the overall culture and work of our organizations.
Grant Writer, or Cat Herder?
Grant writers can feel like we need to do it all. We juggle deadlines. We gracefully answer unrealistic questions from funders, and fit decades’ worth of work into laughable character counts. We are lone wolves, tracking down programmatic data, lamenting our Executive Director’s hatred of the oxford comma, and writing. So much writing.
It’s easy to understand why using your grants as a tool of social change might feel overwhelming.
But, grant writers have a lot of power. We’re the ones that see the intersection of finance, programs, development, funder trends, sector change...and whatever else you can think of. Even small changes can start a seismic shift in your organization's fundraising. So why not start with just one word?
People-First Language and Conscientious Communication
The words we use matter. The stories we tell have an impact. Yet, our grants are often full of old, recycled language and buzzword descriptors that are more than just boring — they’re harmful.
How many of your grants lapse into identity-first language, vague buzzwords like “at-risk”, and undertones of white saviorism? If you’re anything like me, more than you’d like.
But what if, instead, we focused on being people first in our language? What if we used our grants as a platform to uphold, center, and celebrate our clients? What if we looked at each and every word of our writing as an opportunity to advance social justice? That might be easier than you think.
People-First Language
People-first language is language that puts people first, and identities second. And you’d think the nonprofit sector - that’s all about making the world a better place - would be really good at putting people first. But, as a society, we’re really used to seeing identities before people...and stopping the conversation there. Identity first emphasizes someone’s situation. People-first language emphasizes humanity.
Adopting people-first language is a huge step towards more equitable grant writing. The Social Justice Phrase Guide offers the excellent suggestion to:
“Use terms as adjectives rather than nouns (i.e. Black or White people vs. Blacks and Whites; LGBTQ people vs. gays and lesbians; young people vs. youths) or by actively putting “people” first (i.e. people with disabilities vs. disabled people; people living in poverty vs. poor people; people who are homeless vs. homeless people).”
What does people-first language look like at work? Some examples include:
People experiencing homelessness/houselessness versus “the homeless”
People with justice system involvement, formerly incarcerated individuals, instead of “ex-cons” or “felons”.
People with limited access to financial resources, rather than “low-income individuals”.
By focusing on the person, rather than the systemic conditions they face, we can minimize generalizations and stereotypes.
Empowering Language
People-first language is a powerful way to shift the way we talk about - and think about - our clients. But once we’ve defined who we are talking about, we need to pay attention to how we talk about them. Once again, the words we use can be a real tool of change, and allow us to write with an agency lens.
Through all of your grant writing, the picture you should be painting is that your constituents are not helpless victims. They are individuals affected by systems, and you and your donor are advocates for changing that system.
Use Active Language
The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute's excellent style guide for inclusive language rightly points out that passive language - the beloved fallback of grant writers addressing vague funder questions - can be a way to avoid fully addressing the systemic problems that our work faces.
Think about it: an active voice requires that we directly name problems and perpetrators of harm, “while also providing writers an opportunity to counter implicit bias towards status quo systems of power…”. Passive voice, however, means we can pass the buck. I can’t provide a better example than the style guide: “For example, “Donny Drumpf did not file his tax returns” (active voice) vs. “The tax returns were not filed by Donny Drumpf” (passive voice).”
Be Specific
I hate the term “at-risk.” In the grant field, we all have a vague understanding of what it means. But no one spells it out.
As grant writers, we can be specific. We can - and should - discuss what systemic barriers and systems of harm our constituents face. Instead of “at-risk” tell your funders more about the population with whom you work: are they LGBTQIA+ youth who face disproportionately high levels of death by suicide? Are they young Black men who are far more likely to be killed by police violence? Are they single-parent households facing the systemic barriers of low pay and rising rent? We could call all of these sub-populations “at-risk” - but that would be reducing them to vague platitudes, without spelling out the challenges they face.
Ethical Storytelling
Another area where grant writers can lapse into harmful tokenism - and another opportunity to instead foster real social change - is through storytelling. I’m a huge fan of using stories in grants, but I also realize the harm that can lay in wait if we aren’t committed to ethical storytelling.
Ethical storytelling is all about authenticity and respect. It means being honest about who you are, where you come from, and what your experiences are. It also means respecting the stories of others, listening with an open mind, and sharing only those stories that you have permission to share . When done well, ethical storytelling can be a powerful tool for social change. It can help grant writers to build trust and understanding, create empathy and connection, and ultimately make the world a better place.
Over at the Community Centric Fundraising Hub, Nel Taylor clearly lays out the importance of ethical storytelling. Nel emphasizes the importance of being honest and respectful in order to create a connection with the reader, and stresses that to tell stories ethically we must: 1) be honest, 2) be respectful, 3) get permission, 4) know your audience, 5) consider your motives, 6) use caution with humor, and 7) be aware of your privilege.
So, no matter who you are, where you are at in your career, or how many character counts you’re battling, remember that as grant writers we have a unique opportunity to use our skills and knowledge to promote social justice. By being mindful of our language and storytelling practices, we can deconstruct traditional grant writing practices and instead use our grants as tools for change. Whether through active language, specificity, or ethical storytelling, we can foster empathy and connection with our readers