Herald the Holidays and Make the Most of the Season

Welcome to the holiday season, the best season of the year! This year, it’s an all-inclusive holiday season, with Channukah, Christmas, Kwanza and many others all celebrating in December. For example, Hindus celebrate Gita Jayanti on December 3rd and Buddhists celebrate Rohatsu or Bodhi Day as well. It’s a joyous season all around! And this holiday season, GrantWatch is so grateful for our readers, our subscribers, and our amazing customers. We love being able to help nonprofits and small business organizations continue their critical and impactful work. Thank you so much for letting us be part of your journey, and for all that you do all year to make the world a better place!

This year, to celebrate the holiday season, we want to try something different. Today, we want to talk about how to celebrate the holidays, while also connecting with your stakeholders in some really great ways.

The Power of The Holidays: Outreach to Stakeholders

In the nonprofit and small business worlds, relationships are everything. And how you build and cultivate those critical relationships with stakeholders is key to an organization’s long-term success. When we talk about stakeholders, this means funding sources, contacts, regular donors, and even other organizations you are partnering with. It could also be more internal, like your board members, or volunteers. Regardless, these relationships are all important to the future of your organization.

So, during the holiday season, how can we further these critical connections?

Here Are Some Holiday Outreach Ideas:

1. Send holiday cards: Consider personalizing your holiday cards. Put the person’s name and a personal holiday greeting. This makes people feel like you’re going out of your way to reach out to them. Around the holidays people can feel overwhelmed and overworked. Sending a personalized card makes a big difference, and it can spark a conversation that leads to a long-term professional connection.
2. Invite stakeholders to your holiday events: Have a fun party and bring stakeholders together in a holiday setting. Everybody loves an invitation and it’s a great time to show funding sources the great value of the your work. Making people feel included around the holidays is an excellent opportunity to build long-term relationships.
3. Share your end of the year audit: Allow your stakeholders to feel involved in the process. This lets you show real metrics and results for what you’ve been doing all year. Think about sending an end of the year newsletter. You might even include a donate button at the end if people get inspired after reading about the great work you’ve done. You can include impact statements as well as stories from the communities with whom you work.
4. Partner with other organizations for holiday and impact events: This is such a great way to get the community involved. You can have giveaways, fundraising events, holiday themed activities and so much more. This brings more people into the equation and can help you develop more community around the work your organization is doing.
5. Send messages to donors and past stakeholders: This can restart a conversation, and may even turn old donors into recurring contributors. You can send a nice message, tell them they’re missed, and follow-up with them after the New Year. Some people may not respond until after the holidays, and that’s okay!

Now, while we’re super excited for you to use this list to connect this holiday season, we also want to share some joy to the world. Here is a list of some of our favorite grants to help you continue the amazing, impactful work you do all year.

From Our Team To Yours: Grants To Ring In the Holidays

1. Alleviate Hunger in Communities: Grants up to $10,000 to nonprofits for programs and projects to alleviate hunger. Funding supports activities that focus on nutrition education, food rescue, and direct food assistance.
2. Health and Well-Being of Children: Grants up to $2,000 and $10,000 to pediatricians and medical residents for projects to improve children’s health and access to healthcare. The purpose of the grant is to meet the health needs of children with a wide-ranging community approach.
3. Oral Health, Animal Health, and Youth Agricultural Leadership: Grants to nonprofit organizations for projects and programs related to oral health, animal health, or youth agricultural leadership training.
4. Domestic Violence Survivors and Their Pets: Up to $60,000 to nonprofit domestic violence and animal organizations partnering with other organizations to help domestic violence survivors escape abuse together with their pets.
5. At-Risk Military Veterans: Grants to nonprofits to improve the lives of injured military veterans and their families. Funding supports things like therapeutic and recreational activities, career training and education, rehabilitation programs, shelters for the homeless, and the supply of mobility items.

Make sure to give your organization the gift of GrantWatch this holiday season! Signing up for a paid subscription to GrantWatch will help you to gain access to resources to aid in your grant journey!

GrantWatch Wishes a Joyous Holiday Season to All!

GrantNews Notes:

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