A team of your friends and fellow parishioners are working
diligently on the Capital Campaign to help ensure our church building can be
repaired and made ready for our future.
Their efforts and their talents are appreciated. Here is a behind the scenes look at what one
member of the Capital Campaign is working on:
Mary Fransden’s role
in the Capital Campaign is to help secure major gifts. In Worcester, there are many private family
foundations that award grant funds to local nonprofit organizations for different
purposes. They all have their own
specific guidelines and grant proposal instructions that must be followed to
the letter. My job is to research these
funding agencies to find the best “fit.”
Since most of these funders support the Worcester community,
I will be writing the grant proposals with that in mind. How does First Unitarian contribute to the
Worcester community? How is it tied to
the history of the city and the United States?
What does the architecture of the building add to the city? Therefore, requesting funds to install HVAC
in the offices is not going to appeal to these funders. I do think the funders will view favorably
restoring, painting, and lighting the steeple.
Prior to submitting grant proposals, it is wise to schedule
meetings with potential funders. Once
all the estimates are in, I will work with the Capital Campaign committee to
determine exactly the purpose and amount of funds to request. Sarah and I will meet with these potential
funders and get insight into the amount of funding possibly available to First
Unitarian and what projects most likely will get funded.
The final task is to write the grant proposals and submit by
the funders’ deadlines. All grant
proposals have similar requirements, and some funders have specific online
forms to complete. Once the proposals
are submitted, all we can do is “pray.”
Feb. 2018
Feb. 2018