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Hello and welcome to The Impact!
The end of the year is a great opportunity to pause, reflect, and share our gratitudeāespecially for our funders and donors!
This weekās edition is all about how you can showcase your year-end impact and celebrate with your supporters the difference youāve collectively made.
Weāll cover how to reframe your narrative to let the donor shine, share technology to bring your story to life, provide expert tips to close the year strong, and so much more.
Itās one you wonāt want to miss, so letās jump in!
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Pitfalls and Pointers
ā ļø Pitfall: Focusing Too Much on You
Of course, your nonprofit has done incredible work throughout the year. But when youāre working on impact reports for funders, it can be easy to fall into the self-congratulatory trap, highlighting how much you have done while losing sight of the funders, donors, and community partners who helped make your work possible. By doing so, you run the risk of making them feel underappreciated.
š” Pointer: Let the Funder Be the Hero of Their Story
Remember, your success is their success, so donāt be afraid to position the funder as the hero in their impact and grant reports.
Hereās how:
- Center the narrative around them. Thank them for their contributions, share how they have helped enable the work, and reinforce the importance of your continued partnership.
- Be specific about their impact. Donāt just share general statistics about the overall good you have done throughout the year. Share how their grant helped feed 100 families or provided 500 books to local schools. Use an infographic to make the statistics feel more concrete. The more you personalize, the more your funder will see themselves in your work.
- Feature real-life stories of the lives they transformed. Whether itās a short video testimonial or a picture, be sure to put a face to their impact. Make it clear that their story is only possible because of the funderās support. You could even invite the funder to a lunch or site visit to interact directly with the beneficiaries.
š Check out 10 Impact Report Tips to keep your supporters engaged!
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Tech You Should Know
What:
Storyraise is an online tool that can help you better showcase your impact, leveraging online storytelling, engaging visuals, and personalized reporting that will blow your funders out of the water.
How Grant Writers Can Use It:
- Create custom reports. Its drag-and-drop interface is easy to use, allowing you to take advantage of show-stopping templates to help your data shine.
- Streamline your workflow. Collaborate with your team to help create annual reports without fear of version control that often plagues report development.
- Share your impact. You can quickly get a link to embed your report in your website, email, social media, and more. You donāt have to worry about hosting it locally, which can be a challenge for those with limited space or tech savvy.
Keep in Mind:
- Storyraise is a premium paid tool, with annual subscriptions starting at $5,990.
š„³ Explore how Storyraise can help you level up your impact reports!
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Expert Perspectives
š Sheleia Phillips on Communicating Year-End Impact
As part of the āFinish Strong: Your End-of-Year Checklist for Nonprofit Success,ā Sheleia Phillips, Founder and CEO of SMP Nonprofit Consulting, shared tips to help nonprofits effectively communicate their impact.
Hereās her expert advice:
- Embrace informal updates. Communicating your impact doesnāt always have to be formal. The long, detailed drafting and approval process can actually slow you down. Instead, call your funders when something exciting happens or send an email if you have a funny anecdote to share related to their grant. These small moments can build genuine connections.
- Go beyond the surface. Look for ways to help your impact jump off the page. Photos and videos are a great way to do this, but you can also host virtual lunch and learns to help funders connect with your organization; just be sure to also include participants or beneficiaries.
- Donāt just wait until the end of the year to share impact stories. Consistently share impact throughout the year with regular reporting, email updates, social media posts, and more. Frequent updates help foster a strong sense of partnership and drive engagement.
š„ Watch the full session for more tips to capture and communicate impact!
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The Latest Numbers
Fidelity Charitable recently released its 2025 Giving Report, providing a look back at 2024 giving trends in donor-advised funds (DAF). Based on a review of more than 350,000 donors, giving was up by more than $3 billion. Micro-trends demonstrate the year was fueled by resilience, innovation, and impact.
Hereās what the report found:
- More than 213,000 unique nonprofits received DAF grants across local, national, and international groups. Education, human services, and religious sectors received the most grants.
- Donors prefer to give to organizations theyāve already supported in the past, with more than 77% of funding going to organizations they have an existing relationship with, especially those within their home state or local communities.
- Donor-recommended grants were five times greater than they were just 10 years ago, which shows the growing role donor-advised funds are playing in the nonprofit world.
Based on these findings, itās clear that tapping into DAFs can be game-changing for nonprofits looking to grow their support.
š Read the full report here!
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Opportunities Spotlight
š DanPaul Foundation Grants
Who Itās For: Nonprofits focused on serving the health, education, development, and welfare of the worldās youth
Next Deadline: Rolling
Grant Amount: Up to $15,000 (median $4,750)
The Details:
The DanPaul Foundation strives to provide enrichment and growth opportunities for children, equipping teachers, parents, and communities with resources to help provide a brighter future.
š Apply Here!
š Improving Veteran Mental Health
Who Itās For: Nonprofits that provide housing services to veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces
Next Deadline:Ā Letter of Inquiry: August 7, 2026; Full Proposal (Invite Only): September 16, 2026
Grant Amount: $100,000-$150,000
The Details:
- The CIGNA Foundation is committed to positively impacting mental health and ending homelessness, especially amongst the veteran community. They are providing grants to fund programs that:
- Increase permanent housing availability for veterans
- Improve affordability for housing for veterans through rental or mortgage assistance
- Enhance the offering of wraparound services for veterans transitioning from shelters
- Nonprofits must leverage evidence-informed programs and services to help veterans feel stable
š Apply Here!
š Explore even more grant opportunities in our database!
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Networking Nook
š» Webinar: How to Get Sub-Awardees to Understand and Follow the Rules: A Lifecycle Approach to Uniform Guidance Compliance
December 10 | 1-2 p.m. (ET)
If you have sub-awardees and are struggling with compliance, this session is for you! In it, youāll learn effective communication techniques, tools to help you monitor compliance, and how to build collaborative relationships to help foster accountability. By the end, youāll feel equipped to overcome common compliance challenges.
Hurry!
š Conference: The Nonprofit Consulting Conference
Sept. 16-17, 2026 | Asheville, NC
Presented by Funding for Good, the Nonprofit Consulting Conference will bring consulting professionals together for two days filled with learning and networking. At the conference, youāll learn how to build and grow your nonprofit consulting business so that it remains sustainable no matter the economic landscape.
Donāt Miss Out!
To check out more recent and upcoming live events, go here.
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In Case You Missed It
š Article: Storytelling for Social Good: How to Inspire Action Through Compelling Narratives
Turcois Ominek, CEO of FreedomOrg, shares tips for crafting compelling narratives that open peopleās minds, call them to action, and inspire their generosity. It all comes back to effective storytelling.
š Get the Full Story!
š¼ Video: Can You Use ChatGPT to Find Grants? Instrumentl vs. AI
ChatGPT has become many peopleās go-to research tool, but is it really the best out there? This quick video explores whether ChatGPT is effective at finding grants and if there is a better tool for grant seekers available. Spoiler alert - there is, and itās Instrumentl.
š Watch the Video!
šļø Podcast: The 8 Fears Stopping You From Using AI (And Why Theyāre Wrong)
Join the Grant Writing Unicorn Podcast as they debunk common fears many grant professionals have when it comes to using AI. By the end, youāll be ready to use AI safely and effectively in your organization.
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Itās About Impact in the End
You know youāve made an impact throughout the year; now itās time to effectively communicate it.
Hereās how Instrumentl can help.
- Pull reports to get data to back up your impact. You can export your opportunities and awards to understand your yearly totals.
- Find contact information. Easily locate funder contact information to make reaching out to them a breeze.
Instrumentlās end-to-end grant management capabilities make it easy to find new grants, track your progress, and communicate your impact.
š Sign up today for a free 14-day trial and see it for yourself!
