Stop Chasing Grants and Start Winning Them with Alanna Taylor

[00:00] Here's a riddle for you: What costs less than my coffee [00:03] actually makes me money and makes my mom proud, [00:08] a domain, from Wix. Mine cost me less than two bucks, and only took a minute to register. And I even built a whole website in minutes using Wix Harmony. [00:18] After two years of dragging my feet, I'm finally in business. [00:23] Don't wait like I did. Get your domain at wix.com slash domains. That's wix.com slash domains. [00:30] Okay, don't laugh. I'm gonna laugh. [00:33] I bought a domain at 2 a.m. last night. [00:35] I love that for you. It was just there, calling to me. Where? On Wix. I even built a whole website last night with its AI website builder, Wix Harmony. But I was still in bed by 2.30, so you should be proud of me. [00:50] That was very responsible of you. You should try it too. Maybe I will. Just go to wix.com slash domains. [01:00] You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged. [01:23] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. [01:28] We are joined by a visionary leader and a strategic architect.

[01:31] who has spent three decades transforming bold ideas... [01:36] into fundable realities. With the staggering 60% plus value [01:41] grant win rate. [01:42] and over a million dollars raised annually for her clients. She is a nationally respected expert in program design, funding, and marketing. [01:50] and sustainable growth for mission-driven organizations. It is my distinct honor and pleasure to welcome the transformative, the strategic, the unparalleled [01:59] Ms. Alana Taylor. Ms. Taylor, how are you doing today, dear? I'm doing great. How are you? I am doing amazing now that I am here with you. [02:06] You know, we met. [02:08] like a year ago, right, with Dr. Darnielle, amazing leader, [02:13] herself puts on amazing events for a lot of people. And you and I like instantly connected, right? Like we were talking about, you know, our backgrounds and talking about life in general and our faith that kind of brought us together. So I'm honored that we can sit here and have a few moments together. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, you know, I asked all my guests this question about your because, that thing that's deeper than your why, like your [02:43] with granted success. [02:45] If I were to ask you today, what's your because? Why do you keep doing what you do? I believe in the missions of the organizations I work with. [02:53] Just about all of them are Black-centered, Black-run nonprofit organizations. My recent client list is really Black women executive directors. I actually do screenshots.

[03:04] of the Zoom meetings where it's just all Black women on the screen. And I would say that's my because. It's really meeting the needs of Black women who are in the nonprofit space. Very few are executive directors. And when they are executive directors, [03:20] Many of them are founders of the nonprofit. For whatever reason, they position themselves as the executive director. That's a whole nother podcast. [03:28] And then... [03:29] a disproportionate number of them get terminated by their board. So, yeah. So I'm really, am I because Black women that are in the nonprofit space? I love it. I love it. And I know you said this is for a different podcast, but I'd love to go there and have that conversation because you just said something that I want everybody that's watching to pay attention to. So you found this nonprofit, meaning you started this nonprofit. You then put yourself as the executive director. [03:59] well and the board's like, you're out. [04:01] You're out of the business that you started, right? Talk to us about that. I want to get to the brevity of that topic. [04:10] What I'm finding is that because there's a need for a paycheck, many founders of nonprofits will position themselves as the executive director and a disproportionate number of them will be black women. So a lot of times with founders of other races, they'll position themselves as a founder and then get on the board and then they hire the executive director. Right. [04:33] They work to hire the staff. We, for whatever reason, we position ourselves...

[04:38] To be the executive director and we create our boss, that's the board. So what I found is that many of the Black-centered, Black-run nonprofits that are run by a Black professional, a Black executive director, they put friends and family on the board. See? [04:55] That's getting around like, okay, you know, I'm not going to get fired. But then you stack the board with people who they're there in name only. [05:04] They're not going to raise money. They're not going to help with structuring the vision and the mission of the nonprofit. So then your nonprofit, you know, it ekes along not having... [05:15] a substantial budget. [05:17] MeTV is America's number one classic TV entertainment network, airing over 60 of the greatest TV series every week. Now, MeTV presents the Golden Girls of Summer, showcasing the best of the Golden Girls. Watch Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia weeknights on MeTV at 10 p.m., 9 central. Log on to MeTV.com now to find out where to watch MeTV free over the air and on cable, satellite, and select streaming services. MeTV is memorable entertainment television. [05:47] MeTV is America's number one classic TV entertainment network, airing over 60 of the greatest TV series every week. Now, MeTV presents the Golden Girls of Summer, showcasing the best of the Golden Girls. Watch Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia weeknights on MeTV at 10 p.m., 9 central. Log on to MeTV.com now to find out where to watch MeTV free over the air and on cable, satellite, and select streaming services.

[06:17] Thank you. [06:18] So you have this catch-22 here where... [06:22] It's like, yeah, you're not going to get fired, but then you don't have a strong board. And then if you do build up your board, many times you're going to end up putting people on your board who don't look like you. And before you know it, you could get pushed out of your position as executive director. And you're seeing that happen more often than not. So how, what's your first conversation when you come into an organization and they're hiring you for consultancy or advisory? [06:52] I really talk about I talk about bringing in I don't do board development. I know I have other consultants, other colleagues that do that. [07:00] But the first thing I talk about is board development. And it's okay to ask board members to leave. In many cases, they're relieved. You're asking them to leave. They really are. You'll be surprised. [07:13] And start getting your board together. But more importantly, you have to be comfortable with the fact that you could be let go as executive director. So the idea is maybe move yourself from being the executive director to. [07:26] to getting on the board. And so then let's look at maybe you becoming a consultant. [07:32] yourself and having your own business [07:35] becoming a board member of the nonprofit you founded so that you're not beholden to the board as your boss. [07:44] So that's what I say to a lot of people.

[07:48] Many nonprofit executive directors, if you're a founder, get yourself out of that position as the executive director, unless you're willing to get let go eventually. And position yourself as a board member and look at starting a business, a consulting business. Because if you could create a nonprofit, you can create a business. Absolutely. [08:10] Because you're doing the hard part. You're doing the hard part, right? [08:13] Absolutely. [08:14] And then I've had younger people come to me saying, I'm interested in starting a nonprofit. And I say, stop. [08:21] Don't do it. You could do social good. [08:24] and have a business. [08:26] You can have an S corporation, an LLC, and still do social good. And then they're like, well, how do I get grants? You look for a nonprofit with a similar mission, and they become your fiscal sponsor. There you go. [08:37] There you go. So [08:39] You know, let's talk about the grant writing and the funding, because there's not three people who, [08:46] on the planet that I can name that are better than you, right? I mean, that's your kudos. Those are your flowers. When and how did that start for you? When did you know [08:56] that that was the superpower you had? I knew it was a superpower in 2015, but I wasn't willing to step fully into that lane. So my journey goes back to when virtual administrative assistant became an occupation. I think it started around the mid-90s. It was crazy. [09:13] listed as an occupation. And then I think the four-hour work week,

[09:19] That book popularized having, you know, people, entrepreneurs getting a virtual assistant. This was around 2006, 2006. I already started working remotely for small business owners, real estate agents, entrepreneurs, like doing graphic design, administrative work, calendar management. And one of my friends, like, said, you're a virtual administrative assistant. [09:39] So I built a business around that. So since 2019, [09:42] 2008, I have been, I was doing virtual admin work. Then I started getting hired by nonprofits. And I noticed that I was doing event planning, social media, content creation and management, and grant writing. [09:57] Then 2015, I said, forget event planning. [10:01] I'm just going to do social media and grant writing. And I saw on the horizon that social media content creation, people were really getting into digital communications doing that. There was many people getting in that field of doing digital communications and social media. I was like, uh... [10:19] Grant writing. That's it. So by 2018, I just leap of faith. [10:25] I said, it's going to be grant writing because I was having an 80% win rate then. And I was like, yeah. So that's when I did it. But I started off as a virtual administrative assistant. Wow. Wow. So you started Granted Success. [10:40] Right. Talk to us about that business. I know you do so many different things within that business. Right. It's not just the grant writing piece. But talk to us about Granted Success and what you're doing there. OK. So in Granted Success, we do.

[10:54] Grant writing. And even there, there's different tiers. Sometimes people come to us with an idea already in how they want to approach it. [11:03] the proposal. They want to get funding for an existing program to expand it. So I then work with them in pulling information from previous proposals. But more importantly, I look at their outcomes. This is a running program. Well, what are your outcomes so far? Because that is, [11:20] Funders are now looking at outcomes. They're not looking at a whole bunch of narrative. [11:26] and fancy marketing information and proposals. They now have strict character limits and word limits on applications now. So you can't be wordy. [11:35] But they want the quantitative data. They want outcomes. So I work with a client on that. In some cases, they come to me to create a whole new program. So not only am I writing the grant proposal, they're asking me to create a new program and ask a funder, hey, this is new. We haven't implemented this, but this is what we want to do with your money. [12:05] And can I? [12:07] Some clients will ask me to serve as what I call a fractional executive director. [12:13] I come in as a part-time executive director. [12:16] Not with the goal to become one. So I don't have any skin in the game to... [12:21] you know, to take over the position and to get hired full time. So I,

[12:25] I am, I'm able to be objective and tell the organization what is needed moving forward when they do bring on a full-time executive, I mean, executive director and what I'm doing. [12:36] areas, what challenges they need to address to move the organization further along. So there's that. And then my favorite service is what I call the Grant Ready Elevation Audit. And that is where [12:49] a nonprofit comes to us. They said, well, you know, we haven't won any grants or we haven't applied or [12:56] You know, we're just nervous about it. And my partner and I look at four pillars in their organization to determine their winnability for a grant award. And so we look at their internal controls and operations. [13:11] The second area is we look at their messaging. Then the third area is their digital footprint. And finally, the fourth area we evaluate is their current grant writing strategy. [13:24] as well as their fundraising strategies. So those are the four areas. And we give a score. So we look at their strengths and weaknesses in each one of those areas. And then we give them recommendations based on those strengths and weaknesses. And then with the recommendations, we create a timeline to tackle those recommendations. So it's like a mini strategic plan without paying $10,000, $20,000 for collecting dust. Real talk. I'm always on the move. [13:54] Wi-Fi or hotel network without thinking twice. Then it hit me how exposed my passwords and banking information really were. And that is when I started using NordVPN. It locks down my data wherever I am, even on public Wi-Fi. It's the fastest VPN out there. No buffering when I'm streaming. And one account covers up to 10 devices. And it's the price of a cup of coffee a month. Premium cybersecurity, total no brainer.

[14:22] To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com slash mickunplugged. [14:29] Our link will also give you four extra months on the two-year plan. [14:34] There's no risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box. Go check out Nord VPN.com slash Mick unplugged. There you go. You know, earlier I talked about giving you your flowers. Um, [14:49] And I believe in statistics and numbers. And so, you know, you've got a 60% [14:55] win rate, more than 60% win rate. [14:58] on your grant writing, you know, securing over a million dollars annually for your clients. What's one pivotal strategy that you consistently implore that kind of allows you [15:11] to make that happen. [15:12] Because that's a phenomenal number. I know people that haven't won 10% of the grants that they apply for. And you've got 60 plus percent. Well, you know, because I've had control. I can say no to a client. Client can present an RFP and I review it carefully. I review the eligibility requirements. But more importantly, I review the end of the RFP. The end of the RFP has what's called term and conditions. [15:37] stating what you are required to do if you're awarded. And I say to Klein, can't, [15:43] Are you going to have this insurance in place? Are you going to have this in place? Like you got to meet these. And if they say no, I say you have no business applying. Correct. And that's actually really my.

[15:52] My win rate was low. Like one time it was 80%. It got lowered at 60% because I was running the clients insisting that, [16:00] that I still apply. Another area of weakness for RFP's [16:05] Will you apply... [16:07] The funder will have what's called their focus areas, their priority areas. And if what you're proposing is not really in line with their focus areas or priority areas, and I've had clients like, well, make it work. You know, you're a great writer. Make it work. Look, I'm a great writer, but I am not Jesus. [16:25] I cannot make this work. But hey, if you want to waste your money and pay me, I'll take it. Yeah. [16:31] But then it lowers my win rate. [16:35] Yeah. [16:37] I love the truth. I love the truth. You know, beyond securing that initial funding, you... [16:44] also emphasize that [16:46] Building organizations need to sustain it as well, too. [16:51] Right. Which I think is really important because once you have funding, what are you going to do to keep the business moving, to keep the business tied to the mission that it was started for? So what are some key elements for you that truly define sustainability? [17:09] for the nonprofits that you work with? Or I guess to say it better, what do you look for in those businesses before you agree to say, yes, I'll work with you? Yeah, I'm finding now, and this is thanks to Dr. Darnielle, really evaluating my clients.

[17:26] Better? [17:27] And it's a red flag for me if they don't have multiple streams of income revenue coming in. And I've had executive directors look like deer staring at headlights when I talk about, are you doing fee-for-service work? Is the nonprofit positioning themselves to provide technical assistance? [17:57] service and charge for it. And that's unrestricted funding. [18:02] You can spend it on whatever you want, whereas with a grant award, you can only use that money for what the funder stated in the RFP that you could use it for. Most cases is programmatic expenses. They allow a certain percentage. [18:17] to be used for salaries, [18:20] But not much, like what, 20% maybe? But if you create fee-for-service or you do a technical assistance initiative, you could use that money for whatever your board says you could use it for. Another thing is maybe the nonprofit publishing a book and selling that. You could create merchandise, you know, swag that you could sell on your website, right? [18:43] There's so many... [18:45] More importantly, having private donors. Your board should be donating. Your friends and family, you're the executive director. Get your friends and family to donate. That's right. [18:54] That's right. [18:55] That's right. So for the person that's watching for that, and I'm going to go to who you said, like your core because is to the black female entrepreneur who now is like, I want to start a foundation. I want to start a nonprofit. Give me two or three things that you want them to consider. I know you talked about saying, wait, is that something you really want to do? Like, let's talk to her specifically. What do you want her to consider?

[19:24] right now before she says, yes, that's what I want to do? I want her to consider how she's going to position herself in that nonprofit. I would want her to position herself as the board chair, not the executive director. I would want her to consider, I really want her to do market competitive research. Who are your competitors? If you create a nonprofit to serve youth, do you know how many nonprofits are out here serving youth? What's going to make your nonprofit [19:54] any other youth organization out here. You have to do market research as if it was a business. Third, what income streams are you going to create outside of grant writing donors? That's amazing. [20:07] Those are some beautiful tips, some amazing tips. So now I want to turn the floor over to you for a moment. Talk to us about what you have going on, where people can find and follow you. Like this is the moment for Ms. Taylor to give herself her flowers now. Well, I am. [20:23] I have a business page on LinkedIn, Granted Success Inc. on LinkedIn, and I'm going to [20:30] My profile's there, Alana Taylor. I must have been one of the first Alana Taylors to join LinkedIn because it's Alana Taylor. Or the URL. [20:39] Yes. [20:40] I must have been the first one giving away my age here. And my website is granted success dot. And then the grant ready elevation audit. We created a separate website for that. That's grant ready now dot com. And then my email address is a Taylor at granted success dot org. Ladies and gentlemen, one, I'm going to have descriptions and links to all of that in the show notes and the descriptions on YouTube as well. Do me a huge favor.

[21:10] sites that we have listed here that Alana just talked about, shoot her email. Like if a guest on my show gives you their email and you don't take advantage of it, that is shame on you. I can promise you reach out to her, pick her brain, go see the services that she offers on her website. She has a lot of affordable services. I would definitely take a moment and schedule a consultation because it's worth it. If you have a nonprofit, you have a mission, [21:40] Thank you. [21:40] I would start here because there is no one better on planet Earth than Alana Taylor. And that's coming from me directly. So Alana, I appreciate you more than you know. It's been an honor to spend time with you. I can't wait to see you again. We have to be in person again soon. [21:56] Just honor for all the things that you do. And real quick, you know, a teacher is also a student. Based on all that you know around leadership, what advice do you give to someone who is serving as a consultant in the nonprofit space? Yeah, so... [22:13] A few things. The first thing I'm going to tell you, which you kind of already know, is everyone isn't for you, right? No is a complete sentence. You heard me say that in person before. So you can have a heart, but that also doesn't mean that they should be a client. [22:28] A lot of times with consultants and coaches, our heart gets in the way and we want to do and give and give and give. But then we forget that we are for profit on the other side of that. So always understand that. But then from a coaching standpoint, I'm going to tell you the best thing you can do is being present, making sure that you show up.

[22:48] for your clients. [22:49] I would say one of the biggest things that I get from my clients is they just love the fact that me and my team are available. [22:57] Right. [22:58] being available. You don't have to know all the answers, right? But being available, being transparent about that, that would be my advice for sure. Thank you. I appreciate that. You got it. To all the viewers and listeners, remember, you're because. [23:11] is your superpower. [23:12] Go Unleash It. [23:14] That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged. If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen. Share it with someone who needs that spark and leave a review so more people can find their because. I'm Rudy Rush, and until next time, stay driven, stay focused, and stay unplugged. [23:41] Looking for more than just a job? Brightview Senior Living is opening Brightview North Facts in Fairfax, Virginia. And we're hiring across all departments, from dining and caregiving to maintenance, sales, and leadership. This is your chance to be part of something from the very beginning. At Brightview North Facts, you'll find a team that supports you, values you, and a career that can grow with you. Text BVJOBS to [redacted phone] or visit careers.brightviewseniorliving.com to apply. [24:11] you