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Grant Writing Disrupted: Navigating the Changing Landscape
The grant funding landscape is undergoing a seismic shift that threatens the financial stability of businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions nationwide. In this eye-opening conversation, Doria, founder of The Sailor Justice Project, reveals how recent legislative changes are reshaping access to critical funding opportunities.
Doria's journey from anime-loving college administrator to sought-after grant writing expert began during the pandemic when a friend's request for contract work unexpectedly blossomed into a thriving business. Drawing inspiration from K-pop group BTS's message of self-empowerment, she found the courage to launch The Sailor Justice Project, which now helps organizations secure vital funding in an increasingly challenging environment.
The conversation takes an urgent turn as Doria explains how a January executive order attempted to freeze federal grants with just hours' notice, creating a climate of fear that persists despite a judicial injunction. With federal grant applications at record lows and the Department of Education facing potential dismantling, organizations are scrambling to understand where taxpayer dollars allocated for grants are being redirected. Meanwhile, foundation grants face unprecedented competition as organizations shift away from unstable federal funding sources.
For business owners feeling overwhelmed, Doria offers practical starting points: connect with your local bank's foundation, explore resources like GrantStation and Hello Alice, and most importantly, plan ahead. The grant funding process typically takes 3-6 months from application to receiving funds, making proactive preparation essential. She emphasizes the importance of solid analytics, compelling mission statements, and professional assistance to navigate the increasingly competitive funding landscape.
Ready to secure funding for your business or nonprofit? Connect with Doria on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at The Sailor Justice Project, or visit thesailorjusticeproject.com to learn how her expertise can help you access the funds you need to thrive despite today's funding challenges.
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Welcome back to Market it With Atma, where we share the tips, tools and strategies to help your business be successful. Today, our topic on this show is grant writing. How does that affect you as a business owner? We have today owner and founder of the Sailor Justice Project, mrs Doria, on the show to help educate us about grant writing for small businesses businesses or nonprofits and what it it takes, and maybe some changes that might affect your business. Welcome, doria.
Speaker 1:Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Thank you for the intro. I'm so excited you're able to make it. You flew in today, right? I?
Speaker 1:did I flew in. I flew in and let me tell you what it was quite. It was an easy fly in, but then we got here to the airport and we had to circle for like an hour before we could land.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness, I was going to say the Dallas traffic, but you hadn't even landed yet.
Speaker 1:No, I was in Dallas in the air for like an hour before I was actually in Dallas.
Speaker 2:But you kind of know what it's like.
Speaker 1:You're from here right, yeah, so well, I'm not from here, but I'm from from Chicago, but I lived here for 10 years. Oh, wow, um, so yeah, like this is really like my second home, so it's really like coming back home, coming back to.
Speaker 2:Dallas. Oh so you feel good, traffic or no traffic, it still feels good it feels good to be back, yeah, yeah so you and I met at a local networking event and what you do is so important, I feel, to our audience, future clients, businesses, especially non nonprofits. So can you kind of walk me through what encouraged you to start the Sailor Justice Project and a little definition about what it is you do on a day-to-day basis?
Speaker 1:Sure, so I started the Sailor Justice Project. Really it starts from being like a nine-year-old little girl, while, like, coming home after school watching Sailor Moon, um, and so like I always wanted to be a Sailor Scout, it was my favorite thing, and so like anime kind of became the thing, right like I was very into anime and like during the time, that time, when I was in high school, it was not like I was very much like something I kept to myself, that something must very much keep to yourself.
Speaker 1:So I love the expansion of like anime now. So then, um, you know, graduated into, going into higher education, getting my, my career started and doing 10 years in the college realm or whatever. Um, during the pandemic was when the transition happened and we needed to bring everything online because of, you know, we had to. We were at home. Right, and so during that transition it was tough, and so there were a lot of things that happened and I ended up leaving higher education.
Speaker 1:And so in leaving I was transitioning and like, okay, great, like I 'll just find a different job. I was thinking, maybe international education. But then I got my friend asked me if, hey, you want to do some contract work on the side, make some money until you get another job? And it was a grant writing gig and I was like, well, I've only written one grant, right, cool. So then I go and write this grant for the guy. And then his friend needed a grant writer and cousin needed a grant writer.
Speaker 2:Isn't it amazing how it all networks together.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so then I started the business and what inspired me was really BTS. Really, yes, k-pop is what pushed me, gave me the courage to push me. The album, like all of the stuff that they were talking about about loving yourself and how to just be better to yourself, and all of that, like that, really like at the time, especially during the pandemic, it hit hard.
Speaker 2:Resonated, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And so it started with like a skincare routine I'm going to do better with taking care of my skin, and then that graduated into me being like brave enough to start a business, and three years later, here you are.
Speaker 2:Here I am flying into Dallas to do podcasts. That's amazing. I feel like with COVID, that whole experience really helped people, maybe push them into the confidence they needed to do what they wanted to do with their life right absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It was time that I had to sit and really think about what do I want to do at this stage of adulthood. Right, like I fulfilled all these high school dreams. What do I want to do now in this adult self and like BTS, I mean them being around? We're I'm a little bit older than them, but we're around the same age and just seeing everything that they've been able to accomplish, everything they've been able to do, and the age that they were doing it at so young, I was like I can do this, I can do this, so I'm going to go. Whatever this is, I'm going to do it. And it ended up being a grant writer and starting this business.
Speaker 2:Right, and for it to launch this quickly really makes me realize how many business owners out there are missing out on these opportunities to one get grants and the opportunity to utilize what you do specifically to make sure that it's not wasted time and effort applying for one that you know is going to get bounced back right, right, and I absolutely love that.
Speaker 2:The mission behind it for you is so selfless because it really is important what you're doing, and we had talked prior to this about a lot of legislative changes that are going on, so I'm going to jump right into it. I know it's the tea.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's talk about it, but it really resonated with me when you said so many changes are affecting so many things and I think our audience and our business owners and nonprofits really need to know how these changes are going to affect them and what's really going on and how you might be able to help them in turn. Right, so tell me what are some of the big bullet points that you feel like changes have been made and these are really really affecting people or they need to know about them.
Speaker 1:Right. So I think the biggest change that happened was in January, at the end of the month, when the executive order went out pretty much to put a stop on federal grants and basically you got emails that were being sent out saying like, hey, you have until five o'clock to draw down the money that you have for this grant, otherwise you're not going to have access to the money at all.
Speaker 1:So, like the way, like federal grants work, is like you'll have like, say, you have a five year cycle and you've been approved for five years, but you don't have like five years worth of money just sitting in a bank account, right like you have to draw it down once a year or you know when you're going to use it, and so all of the money had not been drawn down yet at that point when he dropped that executive order. So he was telling everybody that today, like today, by this time, so I'm going to tell you at like eight, nine o'clock in the morning, you have literally until the end of business day to pull down to all of these institutions to pull down that money, otherwise you're not going to have access to it. So that's money for salary, that's money for student programs, that's money for tutoring. Some of these programs also serve students with disabilities.
Speaker 1:So that means that those students that accessibility services are cut off. So that was like that was what happened, and so then there was an injunction, and so a judge blocked that executive order, and so now the ricochet of that, what happened through the rest of the year, was people were terrified of federal grants, and so there were grant applications that were available and non-profits were not applying because they don't want to touch the federal grants because of everything that's going on. So so then he kind of got what he wanted without having to take the grants away.
Speaker 1:Right you don't apply for the funding, because now I've created all this fear and misinformation. So what's happened is like two, like several things nonprofits and organizations are not applying for the grants that are available and now, all of a sudden, like the grants that are usually dropping, like your annual grants that usually always drop at this time of year, certain times of year have not been dropping.
Speaker 1:The number of grants on grantsgov are at record lows from previous years. And the thing about this grant money they're taxpayer dollars and the money is already there. It's just not being made available in the grants that it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Wow. So where is it being allocated to if it's not in the grants? That's a great question. Where is the money? Oh wow.
Speaker 1:Where is it going and where is it sitting and what's being done with it? Because also who? Because, for some of this, most of my experiences in higher education, and so the department of Education is the one that is responsible for handling the grant funding, how it gets divvied up Exactly, and so if you're talking about, in addition to what's happening with grant funding on this side.
Speaker 1:In addition to that, the Department of Education is slated to be dismantled. So when you have this intersection of grant funding, that falls under the Department of Education and then the Department of Education itself is being dismantled. Now you have, like no large entity to manage where the grants go, to manage the grant funding.
Speaker 2:And it seems like there's a lot of confusion as to where, because of this dismantling of the education system or the department of education, as to where it's going or who's managing it.
Speaker 1:Right like where is the money? Because the money that, like the taxes, have already been paid. The money was already allocated previous. Because these federal grants like these are things that have been happy, like the application, the application for the 2025 to 2030 TRIO SSS application that dropped 2024 June. Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 2:Okay, so this is cash money that's already out there right, yes. This isn't interest rate money that may come in or may not. This is cash money from taxpayer dollars.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's already there and it's being in the. He's saying that the program and, as of right now, trio SSS will be cut as of August 30th of this year of this summer.
Speaker 2:Okay, and it won't exist anymore Anymore at all.
Speaker 1:No, because, yeah, as of right now, no, it won't exist anymore.
Speaker 2:So let me back up just for a minute, just for the people out there that are just not educating themselves on what's going on or haven't even considered a grant. And it's like okay, how do I navigate this? Now? We know about all this that's going on, the funding that you said most businesses or institutions have been utilizing. They're not able to get any more. What are those common institutions or what type of businesses? Is it daycares? Is it colleges? Is it public schools?
Speaker 1:Oh, it's all of the above.
Speaker 2:So like education.
Speaker 1:You think of every type of school right, every type of facility that educates a student, whether that be a daycare or nursery, a preschool. Even private Catholic schools use grant funding to a certain degree, because as long as you are an entity and you qualify for the funding, you can apply. So private schools, catholic schools, use grant funding to a certain degree because as long as you are an entity and you qualify for the funding, you can apply.
Speaker 1:So private schools, catholic schools. I'm a product of Catholic school and so Catholic schools like because of tuition dollars, like you, heavily rely on grant funding along with donations and stuff.
Speaker 1:So think about every level of education that there exists. The grant funding for all of those programs are at risk right now for not existing anymore. And the and when you think about like I was talking about TRIO, because that's specifically what that was what I was talking about yesterday and that I used to work under that program but just grant funding across the board, I would challenge anybody to go to your daycare or wherever your kids are going if they're under five years old and ask them, like how do you pay for all these different things? I mean just some of the simple things like facilities and overhead grant funding can be utilized to step in and used to for that.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Like some of these facilities depend on grant funding to serve you well and so a lot of the workforce depends on that grant funding.
Speaker 2:Because if they can't take my child and they can't bus them to school, then how do I go to work?
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And then like that's why Harvard is fighting back so hard, because Harvard it's. You know, our Ivy Leagues do some of our most critical research around health and medicine. Like you want to talk about curing cancer and all of that, like those are the kind of schools that have the facilities, the resources and the money to do that. Right, so you take away the grant funding for the research, the research doesn't get done.
Speaker 1:The reason that we've been able to move forward our medicine is because of the research that our universities are able to do Absolutely and if we don't have the research funding to do the research, the research doesn't get done the research funding to do the research, the research doesn't get done.
Speaker 2:So, with that being said, does this affect every area of? Because there's many types of grants, right? Right, you said Trillo is the one that you'd worked with previously and that's what you're referencing right now. But say small business grants, say minority, if you're a black owned business, if you're a Asian owned business, things like that that some people don't even know they can apply for. Yeah, you can help walk them through that. But this what you're saying. With all the legislative changes, it affects all of these.
Speaker 1:All of this, it affects everybody because, like with small businesses, a lot of small businesses go for foundation grants. So, that is SB Right. Those are those small business administration or foundations, which foundations are largely funded by private businesses that, like I, have an overflow of money, let me create a foundation. Or, like families that are like that, have high networks, so let's create a family foundation. And this is how you know we're going to give this money. That's how we're going to use this money to do good.
Speaker 2:Right, and you have to show what you're going to give this money. That's how we're going to use this money to do good.
Speaker 1:Right, and you have to show what you're going to do with the right, and so the foundations will have grants and give those to small businesses and so now, because of what's happening with federal funding, there's more competition for the foundation grants oh okay, so now let's tell me more about that.
Speaker 2:So, federal funding it seems like and I'm going to put it kind of in a bubble it seems like they are pretty much trying to slowly soften it out to where there's not as much grant, federal funding for grants for any of them, yeah so, in turn, what you're saying is is there's a whole different competition that's growing now. Tell me more about that sure.
Speaker 1:So foundation grants and the grants on the other. So there's like I'll separate it, there's like into two different types of grants the public bucket, which is like state federal grants, get by the government, right, managed by the government, and then you have private grants that foundations are included in. That those grants are. Now the foundations are like cool, we'll step up to the plate to help, like fund these non-profits and organizations and things like that, um, and so they are looking to step up.
Speaker 1:Um, but during the first quarter of the year they were holding their money because we're like we're not sure what's going to happen with grants, right, and the current administration. So foundations were largely holding their money. So I have clients and other non-profits that were like, hey, our funders are not giving us money and we don't know when we're going to get it, or our money is delayed or our money is less this year because of what happened with the federal grants, right, and so now foundations are like cool, we can start to slowly let some of this money go and start because they they're like we want to be able to still support the non-profits that we are funding in addition, to be able to like realistically support anybody new that we come on and we want to make sure that if we bring on someone that we're going to financially support, we can really financially support you Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And so, because of what happened with the federal grants, they were like let's hold on to our money to make sure we have enough cash flow because we don't know how this is going to go. Right, so we may need to like, only support who we already have. So now we're starting to see some grant applications available. Like on LinkedIn, I'm seeing some more people post about grants that are available for small business owners and stuff, so that the applications and the money is out there. It's available for small businesses, the competition is deeper.
Speaker 2:It's fierce, Right. That's why what you do is so important. And another reason I wanted you on the show now because you're saying in August they're hoping that all the federal grants are just going to dissipate, right?
Speaker 1:Well, no, not all of them, it's just it's TRIO, trio SSS specifically. So TRIO SSS is a five year life cycle, and so the life cycle for TRIO SSS is 2020 to 2025.
Speaker 2:I see.
Speaker 1:So all of the TRIO SSS ends August 30th 2025. And the new grant that they applied for June 2024 was supposed to take effect, right, and so they were supposed to have a decision by about that, by now, but no decision. The decision has been no.
Speaker 2:So, in other words, quit trying to guess what's going to happen with the government funding, and this is where we need to go next. This is what you need to look for. So you're seeing a lot on LinkedIn offering private funding. Is it primarily local outreach from local businesses wanting to help small businesses, or is it like a hub per state that they can go to and research? Can you tell me more about how some of these businesses and nonprofits can search and navigate?
Speaker 1:That is also part of what people hire me for. The grant researching part is daunting, so I you can if you're a small business owner and you're looking for grants, get on LinkedIn and start connecting with your local banks. Okay, Local banks usually have some kind of foundation and so they have grant funding and they always have small business resources. And then the bank whoever you have a bank account with they have business, small business resources you should be utilizing. You should be in that bank at least once a month trying to figure out what are the new resources y'all have available for me, Because, as much as you're, by being a business owner and putting all your money into that account, you're giving the bank your money for them, Because you know our banks take our money and invest and do all that stuff so they're benefiting from you.
Speaker 1:So you need to be making sure you're benefiting from them by going to that bank.
Speaker 2:Wow, so a lot of the banking is going to really start ramping up the business banking. Because if they don't offer it right now, they probably should look into it, because it's a fierce market for these small business owners right.
Speaker 1:It is, and so, like most banks, have some kind of small business resource or grants available for them to apply for, so they can go to their bank and find it there. Their local banks, local foundations, but then also larger banks like Chase Chase has so many different arms of foundation and grant funding available for small businesses.
Speaker 2:Wow, this is information I never knew, and I've worked for a bank in my past.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you I learned this by working. So when I became a grant writer, I was like I really need to hone my skills. So I became a grant administrator full-time for a nonprofit and worked under an executive director who is a master class in fundraising and taught me so much. And so Chase has multiple different arms and has been actually standing pretty firm in supporting small businesses black owned businesses and have been like their. Their statements and stuff have said as much and that was like one of the things I was checking on like what's Chase going to do. I was checking on like what's Chase going to do, but there's like other, like larger banks that have foundations, that have small business foundations and grants available. You just have to go and look for it and know where to look.
Speaker 2:That's why you are so important and you starting your own business, I feel like, was a great move for you. I'm just looking at you in hindsight like that was probably the most strategic move you could have made, because you're not under any entity, you're not following guidelines to say or not say anything. This is real. This is education that you've taught yourself with your education in school, of course, I'm sure with some grants.
Speaker 2:I know I needed some um to really educate your, your community, right, and it seems like it seems like a very selfless act. But there's so much more I didn't know about, like you. Just recently, um signed a six-month contract yeah yeah, tell us about that, and why. Why is six months three to six months so imperative when hiring someone like you?
Speaker 1:to write a grant. That's a great question. So, because the fundraising timeline takes time, so you have depending on if you have a relationship with funders already, that impacts how long it might take to get a check If you're establishing a new relationship, because it's relationship building, it's not just an application.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to be able to trust right, yes, and the funder needs to trust that you're going to be a good steward of their money. So you know, making sure that. I'm sorry, re-ask the question because I was about to go down a rabbit hole.
Speaker 2:It's okay, I do it all the time. There's so many variables and branches to what you do, so what I ask is why is a three to six month contract period, when they bring you on, so important?
Speaker 1:Got it Because the three to six month timeline is important because three months give us a minimum time to establish new relationships. Get a good number of grants because we'll apply for a certain number of grants per month. So get a certain number of grants out per month to start building up that pipeline, start building out relationships, and that will take time to for that to reflect back in money. So like, if you need money, you know you're going to need grant funding. Starting before you need it is the best way. Like a year, two years before you need it is when you need to start applying.
Speaker 1:Also, some grant applications when they drop, the application process is a little slow, so you might get a drop May. Let's say we get a drop May 1st and the deadline is June 30th and the panel they have to review it and however many applications they get depend on if they get five or 500. Wow, they have to review them all then have to get back to everybody. By the time they get back to you they might be saying like you're great, you're on the short list, can you give us a presentation? And then we'll have to review again.
Speaker 2:Right. What business owner has time to go through all those hoops and jump ropes?
Speaker 1:Yes, wow so you're really saving them time and the efficiency of you being so educated as to where to find them, what to do, what not to do, really saves them money at the end of the day right, I mean those are hourly costs for your staff that don't know anything about it and I know, and that's what people will do People will just be like, hey, do these as assigned and just have somebody do that, just start writing grants, duties as assigned, and just have somebody do that, just start writing grants. And it's really a waste of your salary dollars because you're having somebody just kind of throw out an application and it's not well written or written in a way that would be compelling to a funder and then like or it's not even a grant that's in alignment with your mission, so it's not. It was like you shouldn't have even applied for that grant anyway right so it's like a waste of time, a waste of resource.
Speaker 1:So when you try to cut corners with trying to like be cheap and like just have this staff member do it or just try to hurry up and do it yourself, like sometimes, like you can get lucky and get a grant or two, but it's not an efficient way to like fundraise long term absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean, wouldn't you want a faster return on the time and effort that you gave absolutely with? I'm sure everyone's scrambling to look for where they can find some funding now that it's ending for them for the upcoming years? Right, absolutely. So can you kind of tell me what are some websites, platforms you recommend for people who can't hire you just yet to check regularly before they need the funding, like you just said to?
Speaker 1:be proactive about it.
Speaker 2:Where can they go to try and search and delegate and resource if they can't hire you just yet?
Speaker 1:Sure. So there's a few different places you can go. So GrantStation is a free resource. Grantsgov is where all federal state any kind of in the in that sector. All of those grants are going to be on grantsgov um the foundation private grants. That's where it gets a little sticky. So grants um grant station is a good place to go. Um hello alice is a great place to go. They have great resources in like um, especially for small business owners. Black owned bypac owned business. Women owned um what about?
Speaker 1:veteran owned. Veteran owned as well okay, great um hello skip is another one that's good and then, um, the one that I use is instrumental. Um, that one's a little more expensive but it gives you, like, everything. I pay for it so that I can have more than one profile and I can like filter out. My client tells me you get to give me all the nuts and bolts.
Speaker 2:I put the stuff in and then it filters it for me and it gives me a curated list which is, I mean, pivotal for you to have so you can take that to any business and you part of what you do, your those to your resources that you use.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Staying educated on what's going on and how to find it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because, like, if I spend because that was like instrumental is great, because I don't want to, also, they're paying me for my time. I don't want to spend too much of my time on the research part when we need to get applications out.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, it saves me time and then I can just go and pull the list, the spreadsheet, and so it saves me time. And then I can just go and pull the list, the spreadsheet, and then me and my client just go over it and walk through like which grants are the best fit, we want to go for it and then start applying.
Speaker 2:Wow, I feel like each and every business owner or nonprofit association anything would want to have multiple conversations with you on so many different realms. So, after looking through our conversation from the last time and looking through where you're listed on the platform, social media platforms and your website, you also host workshops that they can be a part of. Tell me more about that.
Speaker 1:Yes, and so I'm actually. So I've done the last like year or two. I've been doing like free workshops, one as a free resource, two as a way for me to like gather data on how to educate better absolutely so.
Speaker 1:You receive feedback, yes, on a lot of it and so, um, the one that I have now is my first paid well, not my first like big paid workshop is the one that I'm developing that's dropping, um, uh, oh, wow, yeah, it's dropping next week. And this one is going to be a half-day walkthrough where you're going to be able to figure out how do I find and search grants and then we're going to walk through, okay, like here is how to do that, and you'll leave with a list of three to five grants that you can apply for custom to your business. Wow, like you'll get to learn, learn and then you get to implement and then at the end is going to be some networking, yeah, so there's for them to be able to connect. So it'll be a half day virtual event that anybody can participate in that has that's interested in grants, so that's non-profits, uh, small businesses.
Speaker 1:Um, you think about hospitals, the medical grants. There's a lot of money in that education. Any anyone in the education sector would benefit from that. And I'm doing this also because of what's happening with trio programs and federal funding. There you're going to have to access different kind of grants and you're going to some of these some like educations, where they were relying a lot on federal grants. They're going to have to shift into some of these, some like educations where they were relying a lot on federal grants they're going to have to shift into some of these foundation grants as well, and it's like where do you start exactly?
Speaker 2:I would have no idea where to start. And um, after watching my ceo, he manages three different businesses, right, he's the ceo of this co-working space, our marketing agency and then another business and it's like. These are things I know he doesn't have time for.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, how could he stay up to date on all these changes and really know how it's going to affect him? Without someone like you?
Speaker 1:Literally, Like I mean the way. I mean I listen to NPR every day to keep up with news, just to keep up with what's going on. I follow PBS on TikTok so I can keep up with the most current information on grants. Like keeping up with grant news, I'm subscribed to several newsletters. I'm a part of several different associations on different state level, national level. Like I've like, at the beginning of the year, I went to two state level conferences that talk specifically about grants and funding and stuff. Like I have invested so much time and energy into going and finding all this information out, a small business owner, you barely have enough time to get your accounting done no kidding, you know, sometimes not even that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like I mean, like, did you eat breakfast yesterday? You know what I'm saying. Like it's just challenging and so, like it's just like anything else, you have to outsource it for it to be done.
Speaker 2:Well, absolutely and be able to, because people buy and hire from people they know like and trust right and the fact that you even take the time and opportunity to have gotten your degree graduated and continually keep that education going when you're not working with a client is imperative. The initiative since COVID, it seems like in the whole society is just a little more lax. The effort, the willingness to take an opportunity when it comes your way is less and less. I'm seeing especially our generation and next generations to come, so what you do would be invaluable to me. But what I want to know is if I'm in New York or if I'm in Louisiana. Can you still help me?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So I have clients. So me being like I lived in Dallas and so like I just moved to Chicago like 30 days ago. So I know I miss, I already miss it here, but I had clients. So actually when I was a grant administrator that was based in San Diego, I was virtual that whole time. I was there for like a year and a half. So I have clients, some everywhere. I have a client in New York, I have clients like in the DC area, I do have clients in Chicago and some clients in Dallas. Um, I've have had because of like I guess you end up having with one client and then they introduce you to somebody. So so I have a lot of folks like in the New Jersey, that side of the country.
Speaker 2:Wow. So you would definitely say your referrals are your primary source of new clients coming in Referrals.
Speaker 1:Yeah, referrals, definitely. And then like referrals and then followed by that is social media. Okay, like I have, I went really ham for like two Instagram and like was just like going crazy and like I got a few likes. Actually, one of my New York client came from Instagram DMs.
Speaker 2:Wow, that is incredible so.
Speaker 1:I think you like there's some of. It is like you just have to be bold enough to try.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just get who you are and what you do out there. Right Whether it's professional or not, just get out there.
Speaker 1:Absolutely right. Yeah, whether it's professional or not, just get it out there absolutely and like being like k-pop is just like the way. It like has nothing to do with grants and everything to do with my grant world. That's where I like got a following and got comfortable being on social media on k-pop content creator, on tiktok, and so when I dropped my business, all of those people I was like, hey, I started my business. They were like we know nothing about grants, but we'd love to support you, so they were sharing my stuff. I had people that I've never met in person before referring me to their friends that needed a grant writer.
Speaker 2:Wow, you've taken the title influencer to a whole new level and the most positive way I can think of, which is great, because it seems like everyone is starting their own business after COVID. It's so, I think, with technology and AI and all of the different variables you we've grown into, it's so much easier.
Speaker 1:it is to start your own business. It is, and you can start a business at home on your computer. You can start with what you have at the house. There's so many ways to start a business at home. I had no idea, so it's like just try just try. Just be bold enough to try something like literally I've had other grant writers see my TikTok and DM me on TikTok just to connect with another grant writer like, if you're just bold enough to just put the stuff out there.
Speaker 2:You just never know what's gonna happen and I'm so thankful you did, because who would have known that legislation would have shifted this month and now you're in the spotlight to help people. I'm sure you're about to be pulled 15 different directions by the end of the year you know, I mean like that is the fortunate and unfortunate part about all of this.
Speaker 1:It's a good problem to have.
Speaker 2:Yeah right, yeah so can you tell me how do you navigate through the misinformation that's out there about grant writing and what's going on in legislation and what people should be aware of? How do you know and navigate through that misinformation?
Speaker 1:Sure, so I stay connected with other grant writers and I'm a part of Well, I haven't paid my membership yet, but I have connected with one of the presidents of a chapter for the Grand Professionals Association. So that's like our like governing body. I connected with one of the presidents of a chapter for the Grand Professionals Association oh wow, so that's like our governing body and I'm subscribed to their newsletter so I stay up to date and so their information, I know, is like solid.
Speaker 2:That's your fact check. You go to? Yeah, fact check and go to.
Speaker 1:Coe is also like the governing body for like TRIO programs, and so I'm subscribed to their newsletter. Wow, also that president that I connected with she was like, yeah, you can just come to our bi-weekly uh catch-up meetings and and talk with other grant writers, so I go to that every two weeks man, that it's staying up to date and having a community I mean any industry.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's beneficial, right, yeah, to know, to know the do's and don'ts of what you guys are doing, and especially right now, it affects so many and you could really help so many, okay, so what is? What would you say is your most recent or best success story that you could share with some of our businesses and?
Speaker 1:oh my god. So actually I need to email this client again today. So I have a client that I was, that I'm working with, that works with providing a safe space for transgender women, a safe house, and we had to pause on working together for a little bit. We wrote some grants had to pause because we had a funder that because of what happened with the federal grants right.
Speaker 1:And so then she came back and was like hey, one of the grants we went for, I got invited for an interview and so we're prepping for the interview. Happened it actually? It just happened this week, and so we were prepping for that interview for this month and so she had the interview this month.
Speaker 2:So we'll wait to see what happens with that interview and how things go, but um, that's incredible because that community in itself, once the election and everything happened, I know there was a lot of nervousness or what's going to happen? Or what's going on, so that is an incredible story yes, that non-profit we were scared a little.
Speaker 1:I was scared, you know, because like when funders were pausing and then that specific community was being attacked and like that right and so, like at the beginning of the year, it's like, oh my god, like I hope, you know, like we get some funding and I hope funders don't all pull out and like completely dismantle stuff. And so then, a few months later, to come back and say, like one of the applications went through and it was one of the $25,000 ones, so I'm like this is gonna be like. So yes, so this is turning around.
Speaker 1:So I'm like this is gonna be, like so pivotal, yes, so this is turning around. So I'm like it's that, so I'm starting, it's starting to turn around. So if you're gonna apply.
Speaker 2:This is the time to go ahead and start applying, because things are starting to turn yeah, so if they did start applying today and they called you and they started putting the steps together that they need so that they can utilize you, how long would you say, from start to finish, will it take before they have a check in their bank account for that business?
Speaker 1:Three to six months.
Speaker 2:Wow, and that's if you have all the information.
Speaker 1:If you have all the information ready. You could still have all the information, because it doesn't depend on you and how ready you are. It depends on the funder and how fast they get their checks out. Interesting and so like, even like I'll use Chase as an example like they're so large but they still mail paper mail their checks. So, like old habits die hard yeah, they do so like it just depends.
Speaker 1:It just really just depends. I don't like to promise that it's going to be fast. There's nothing fast about grants. It's a marathon sprint, it's a marathon kind of thing. Sometimes you can get funding fast.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you can like apply and like the funding comes in a few weeks if it's a foundation, if it's a small family foundation and like you know they don't get that many applications, or your application was really great and they're ready to make decisions then, or they have hard deadlines of when they're going to make those decisions. Sure, you can get fast, but it shouldn't be the expectation in the grant world that this is a. You need to plan this ahead of time and just be ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1:And if you're not ahead of the curve, that's okay, we can play catch up. But it just know that it'll be playing catch up and it's not going to be an immediate turnaround.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you, you, making the audience or your audience, any audience more knowledgeable of when they should start this process is very, very important. I know it is for me, because I'm going to walk out of here and go to my CEO and say, hey, do you know all of these things that are going on? Because if not, I mean we should get started on it. So can you tell our audience maybe five bullet points to make sure they have collected information they need to have ready before they even consider applying for a grant or talking to you.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, so like let's see five things. So like you need one. Are you collecting data on your own organization? So like making sure Analytics your analytics. Okay, so, like you have your X number, you're saying that we serve a hundred people and this is the impact. Cool. Do you have any numbers, any assessment that can show me that that's what's happening? I believe you, but we need some numbers to back that up, because your funders want to see numbers to back that up, wow. So make sure you have your analytics and they're solid.
Speaker 2:It's so funny how it circles back to what we do here at Atma, because we tell all of our businesses you have to have analytic programs or work with somebody that does to be able to target the correct audience. So it's mutually beneficial. Yes, for funding and for your outreach as well. Yes, and as a business owner.
Speaker 1:you should just know your analytics. I was, I mean, also like research methods was my class. I'm a math girl, I was a mathlete, I like numbers, so grants is kind of perfect for me because I like numbers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you look happy. I do not look the way you look at all, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, like your analytics, look at your verbiage for everything your mission, vision, value. Make sure that that's current, make sure that that is compelling and make sure that you know you're good with your mission, vision, value all your core.
Speaker 2:Some people don't have those Now, is there anything specific based on what type of grant you're applying for that they would be looking for? Well, that would sway or dissuade.
Speaker 1:Great to have your mission already there, because then I can look at all the other funders and see if there's mission alignment. Okay, you don't want to force it, you want to be honest exactly because if there's no mission alignment like if they're looking to like help the car industry and you're like with helping with sustainability, like why are we trying to make that work? Like no, let's just go on to a different funder, because there are funders out there.
Speaker 2:Don't waste the time.
Speaker 1:Don't waste the time, but like also as a grant writer and like writing is what I do, what I've done like, especially early on in learning how to be a business owner. I've rewritten submissions and rewritten some vision statements and stuff, and that can be done. It just takes time. So if you don't want my time eating up by redoing all your stuff, then then you call story and she'll help you put together that strategy there we go mutually beneficial.
Speaker 2:Everything in life should be mutually beneficial exactly exactly okay. So what are a couple other overview points, because I know we can dive into details of each one.
Speaker 1:Overview points. So I did two. So third one I would have a team, establish your grant writing team, like if you can't hire a grant writer, it's you and maybe two other three people that do different things. So you have the leadership brain. You need somebody that's on the ground doing the work and maybe uh, I'm thinking like a student or maybe somebody from the community that's impacted by your work. So you kind of have a well-rounded like vision of like what's going on to on how to write that is that something you offer?
Speaker 2:so say, they can't have you full-time, but can you help them with a strategy for grant?
Speaker 1:writing. Yeah, so like if you wanted me to come in and like, just help you get organized. Like you have your team together and y'all are going to write it, you just need to get organized. I can help you get organized from A to Z on just like how to get set up and then y'all go do it. Like I give you the template on how to do it and then y'all go do the stuff. Wow.
Speaker 2:OK, that's incredible. You're like a resource for everything right now. Ok, so is there? I do want to ask. I know we missed a couple bullet points, but they'll have to reach out to you to learn a little bit more, because we could be here all day talking.
Speaker 1:We could.
Speaker 2:So tell me how can people connect with you, what platforms are you on, what are you checking daily and how can they stay up to date on any important information you're trying to deliver?
Speaker 1:Sure. So I'm on LinkedIn At the Sailor Justice. Everything is the Sailor Justice Project, the T-H-E Sailor Justice Project, the Sailor Justice Project. So on LinkedIn, you can find me on the Sailor Justice Project, my website, thesailorjusticeprojectcom. On Instagram, I'm at the Sailor Justice Project Facebook same thing, the Sailor Justice Project. Facebook same thing, the Sailor Justice Project. I'm also on TikTok. That is a combination of K-pop and grant writing. I don't know how I put those together, but they're there together.
Speaker 2:The fact that you merged them is impressive. I'm curious.
Speaker 1:Now I'm just going with curiosity, yeah that one is your girl Sailor Justice, a little different, but everything else is the Sailor Justice Project.
Speaker 2:I love it. Well, I am so excited for your future this year and how many people you're going to help, and I cannot wait to see you next year to see how everything developed and what new changes are coming. So thank you so much for coming, for flying in today to be with us.
Speaker 1:Thank you for having me and thank you for, like I mean, come meeting you at the networking event and being invited to come.
Speaker 2:I was, like I've told, I called my mom and was like guess what, I love it. Would you have thought, when you made those impromptu videos educating people, that you would have so much outreach? I mean, you're worried about it not being professional and look at you. That's how I found you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely not. I had absolutely no idea. Like just I had no idea that this is where I would graduate to and that there's so much more to come from this. So I'm just so grateful that I got to meet you at the networking event and being able to come here today and this setup, oh my God is amazing. So, yeah, absolutely Well.
Speaker 2:I'm so thankful that we have you now as a resource, so yeah, we will be seeing each other a lot soon. So yeah, we will be seeing each other a lot soon and hopefully our audience out there, if you have questions if you're not sure, or if you've never even applied for a grant before, there may be funds out there that can help you reach out. Reach out and try, Because all you can do is try, and who knows what will come from it Until next time. We'll see you then.