Grant writing has a rhythm to it. A grant opens, you go through the process, you submit. Round and round, like a sushi conveyor belt. I enjoy that conveyor belt, because when the grants come in and my clients get what they need to do their work in the world, it is a beautiful thing. But sometimes an idea arrives that pulls you out of the routine entirely, and the best thing you can do is follow it.
That is what happened with Street Roots.
Street Roots publishes a weekly newspaper. Anyone can walk in, buy a copy for a quarter, and go out and sell it for a dollar. Mostly these are people experiencing houselessness, and they are called vendors. During my research I discovered that one of the foundations I wanted to reach appeared to be right across the bridge from where Street Roots operated, a five maybe ten minute walk.
I still cannot fully explain where the idea came from. More accurately, the idea came for me!
I built a large box and covered the sides with photos of the vendors who sold the paper, dozens of faces looking back at you. Inside the box was a little confetti and a note that said, hey, we are your neighbors. It would be great to meet and see if we can make something happen.
When I walked across the bridge to deliver it, no one was at the address. The foundation had moved.
I emailed them, explained what I had done, told them I had this large box waiting for them as a playful way to connect. They wrote back and said that was a former address. When I read that, I was crushed.
But the idea was not finished with me.
I made a video walking them through the entire process of creating the box, using their own website to have a conversation with the people on their staff, their photos, their words, their work. Creating that video was genuinely fun. I sent it to the Harborton Foundation and watched the link tracker. Thirteen people viewed it, right around the number of board members and staff on their team.
Then I got an email back. They said they were open to having a meeting. They said this was a very unique way to get to them and that it had never happened before.
We met, and later we closed a five figure grant.
Here is why I am telling you this, and why it matters to you as a funder.
The Harborton Foundation could have ignored the email. They could have had a policy that all inquiries come through the portal. They could have decided that a video was an unusual form of outreach and moved on. Every one of those responses would have been defensible. What they chose instead was curiosity. Someone on their team saw something they had never seen before and decided that was a reason to lean in, not a reason to pass.
I am not saying get rid of your your process. They exist for good reasons and they protect your time. But no system is perfect, and when something comes across your desk that does not fit the usual shape, it is okay to let it ride. The process is there to serve the mission, and sometimes the mission shows up in a box covered in photographs with a little confetti inside.
