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I think that the storm on the Capitol and the insurrection tells us a lot about the need for intersectionality. The storm on the capitol was something that was organized by a group of people who knew exactly what they were doing, but in the process didn’t realize what they were actually doing. There are people out there with different situations and oppressions that could have been set back by the storm on the capitol. The ignorance of the group that did that were not thinking about how their families, friends, and communities could have been effected. The damages made on the capitol means there has to be a deficit in funds, meaning that money would be taken out of the pockets of the community putting economic pressure on everyone who wasn’t involved. Families that could be financially drowning had more on their plate than before because of an immature act of crime. Some people do not understand that there is always someone that has it worse than them so taking that into consideration could help people in tremendous ways.

The personal is political in many different ways in which evidence is provided in A Day Without Feminism. This article proves the fact that society has shaped our jobs as females and males to be completely different for the sole reason of keeping women oppressed and left out of important jobs and activities. For example, Being female in school in the 1970’s means that they are not able to perform in activities like a lot of sports. Men are not allowed to participate in “female” related activities like sewing. Men are also allowed to be out as long as they want, and females have a curfew and are not allowed out during most dark hours. This has definitely changed a lot up until I was in high school considering there were no gender specific activities and required classes or gender exclusive classes for males or females. My parents also made sure rules like curfew were earned between my brother and I and were more determined on age rather than gender. However, a lot of my friends growing up who had brothers would complain a lot about how their brothers were treated differently which made me appreciate the environment that I grew up in. The phrase of if the personal is political to me hasn’t effected me that much up until this point, but there are some instances that I have seen it affect other females of my age.

What’s interesting/helpful/curious about this chapter? (pp 29-37)

One of the things that I found interesting about this chapter was that the proposal has to be as short as 8-10 pages. I feel like that is not a lot if you are trying to convince someone to give you money. It almost seems like once again, the funders do not want to have to read a lot or put in any more work than they have to. Including reading something as short as a 10 page proposal. These 10 pages have to pack so much information and convincing words, it just almost seems impossible to fit it in just 8-10 pages. Another thing that I found interesting what that using up-to-date government documents are vital for public funding organizations. I would have never thought that using government documents should be included in why you should be awarded money for a non-profit. One thing that I am curious about is to why you shouldn’t use circular reasoning in the problem statement. I feel like explaining how the funding would be a solution is a good way to show why you need the money which leaves me a bit confused on how to go about writing a problem statement. Basically, when writing a problem statement, you have to write what you what without actually stating why it’s a problem and how funding could potentially help.

Detail your process for selecting your non-profit.  Was it a negotiation?  What made you sure this was the right non-profit for you and your group?

The process for selecting our non-profit started with the mutual love for making the environment a better place. More specifically, the marine environment. We talked about how I lived near the ocean my whole life so I know a lot about what the marine life looks like around here and my partners have majors/minors relating to those things. We all chose Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation which is based on what our interests in conserving the marine environment entails. We looked through a lot of the different non-profits around here and Grace found that the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation non-profit was the best fit for our group. This non-profit is located in Maine which is perfect.

Feminism impacts me for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons would probably be body image. I have been through a lot of ups and downs with my body image throughout my life so far. Starting with an awkward age and feeling uncomfortable in my body as most people do. I didn’t like the way I filled out as none of my friends in school did until later in high school. I had issues with my back and most of the time had to wear more clothing than others during sports to support everything and other girls fantasized being in my position. I would tell them often that I wouldn’t wish the back pain I had on anyone. They didn’t understand and still don’t understand why and how my situation might impact my life. Most people were just blinded by the fact of having curves because of the trends in pop culture.

Read Step 2, Developing Relationships with Founder’s pp. 21-31.  We’ll spend some time next week on that sample letter of interest (LOI), so don’t worry about the worksheet on p. 27. What’s interesting/helpful/curious about this chapter?

One of the things I found interesting from this chapter was that a lot of funders don’t particularly like sitting down and having a conversation about what the future holds for the grant being discussed. This is because they don’t what to have “unrealistic funding expectations”. It almost seems like it is another obstacle that the grant seeker has to overcome. They would have to find a funder that is willing to sit down and talk about their options with confidence. I would not want to be applying for a grant with someone that didn’t know what they were able to provide for me before hand. I also thought it was interesting that it’s very important to build a good relationship with the funders because it makes it easier to communicate and stay on communicative terms with them. It might seem to some people that these non-profits are kissing ass a bit, but that is the whole point.

1. In groups I tend to communicate and compromise well with others.
2. I tend to be a good listener if others have stronger opinions.
3. I can organize presentations and scripts for presenting well to make sure topics are covered and for conversational flow.
4. I’m good at argumentative assignments and am able to put in the time to find good evidence to make work more credible.

Finish watching the Grantspace video (above).  What else did you find interesting/helpful/beneficial?

Grantspace video included a lot of information that I found interesting or beneficial to learn more about grants and what work goes into funding non-profit organizations. One of the things that I found interesting was the fact that most funding comes from individual organizations and is usually not all from big funding groups. Most of the individual funding is around 77% (including both individual and bequests) which I thought was very interesting because of the fact that it’s a lot more than 50%. The second thing that I found interesting or beneficial to know was the third point in the video about how foundations have to give money away. IRS rules states that private foundations, in order to be qualified as a private foundation, have to give away at least 5% of the profits they made the year before. The more assets that they attain for the year, the more they will be required to give away and that is how the IRS regulates these foundations. The last thing that I found to be interesting or beneficial was the ninth point in the video where it talks about knowing someone who gives out grants is an easier way to get rewarded one. I thought this was beneficial mostly because when I was younger I had someone say to me “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. For me, that saying is coming full circle in this particular subject because it falls into that category as well. It really is who you know because if you know someone with a grant, they might work with you, or talk to other board members or donors for better recognition and credibility.

Consider the organization your group decided on being part of in class.  Did you like it?   In order to start drafting a grant proposal, I’ll need to match your interests with real organizations.   So then, imagine you’re working/part of an organization that is seeking funds.  What kinds of non-profit organization would you like to be part of?  A Soup kitchen?  An animal shelter?  A hospital?  An environmental organization?  For the purpose of our group project, spend 15 minutes thinking and writing about what kinds non-profits you’d like be part of and why—provide 3 examples.

The organization that my group decided on looking into was childhood development and education. I like this topic because there are so many different non-profit organizations that could come about this. Other non-profit organizations that I would like to be a part of would be beach clean-ups or anything that has to do with creating a cleaner environment. I enjoy being outside and an organization to help better the environment interests me a lot. Another non-profit that I would be interested in taking part of would probably be at a hospital. I could do volunteering at a rehabilitation center or I could do something with children at a children’s hospital. I used to babysit a lot and I enjoyed it so I am good with kids which connects to the group idea of childhood development and education in a way. The last non-profit that I would enjoy taking part of would be working in an animal shelter. I love most animals and working with them and giving them love would be worth the time.

Journal # 2:What are you looking to get out of the class?  How might it apply to your future life and career? (150-200 words).

I’m honestly not sure what I want to get out of this class. I like to learn a lot about real world things that could possibly help me in the future even though there isn’t a clear reason as to why I would need it in the present day. Grant writing is obviously very important and I thought it would be cool to learn about it in a class. My dad owns a lot of businesses now and in the past and I also do work for him outside of school. I like learning from him of course, but learning something for myself that could apply to what he is doing interests me a lot. My mom also wanted to open her own salon at some point in the future and this class could maybe teach me something that I could use to help her with the grants that she may need for open houses to acquire new customers when the time comes. Like I said, I do like learning real world things and this class seems to be a good place to start when it comes to that. I want to start my own practice once I am done with school and this class could be essential to my knowledge once I get to that point.