P is for Passion or is it Perfection.

This week my class  was introduced to two more grant writers. Well, at least two people involved in the business of grant writing. A business I am slowly learning is a lucrative one. Who would have thought the non-profit world was swirling in money, almost an oxymoron. These two speakers definitely cemented my belief that in the non-profit world as well as in the real world, p stands for passion. Whether that is passion in preventing domestic violence, feeding the hungry, emergency management, or music in elementary schools, you must find yourself in the cause. But, I also found out this week that p may stand for perfection.

A foundation might have 2 million dollars and be interested in saving the hippos, and 5,000 non-profits may think great we are only worried about saving the hippos leave everything else to Sarah Mclachlan. But, as with all good things this money comes with catches, first they are only giving out 20 grants. What? You are telling me that I must compete with 5,000 organizations for twenty grants. I am getting money or into Harvard Business School? Now here is catch two, they only care about hippos in zoo in the eastern part of the United States. My example may be silly, but now you see where perfection comes in. Not only do you have to have the perfect grant proposal, along with the perfect project idea, but you also have to be graced with perfect timing, and the perfect foundation. It seems my mother might be right and attaining perfection a lot harder than the eight your old in me might have once thought. I think that is why p must stand for passion and perfection, because it is your passion that pushes you until you are graced by the grant Gods with perfection.