Week 9: Microsoft and a Helping Hand

Hey there, What’s up?

So, this week, after I discovered the Microsoft Grant Program, I got super excited and immediately started talking about applying to it. In case I didn’t write about the program before, I have to register my organization with Microsoft and then they determine our eligibility for the grant and only then will we find out what benefits we’d get by sending in the full proposal and sharing the idea of our project. Ok, back to the story.

I got super excited to talk about the program and I wanted to register the organization and everything. So, I clicked on the registration link and then it asked my questions about employee compensation and all of this other stuff that goes into running a non-profit I guess and I mean I don’t really know those details. So, I went to my outside advisor and I told her about it and she said she would register it but I had to dig up more details about the program before she would. Like you know, to prove if the program is real or if it’s worth it. Basically, I was super excited about it and then, reality check. Anyways, I did some digging and here is just a quick overview.

1. Project’s Mission: The hold themselves accountable for promoting diversity and inclusion.
2. Seems like a promotion of diversity in law; talks about how they want to invest in people who represent unique personal experience and are diverse themselves(Is this program for employees?). But, then why would they be registering non-profit organizations?
3. American Bar Association’s Pledge for Change: Disability Diversity in the Legal Profession.

All of that aside, there is this person who has been working with my outside advisor but his/her work is making my job much easier, to some extent.(I haven’t met him/her in person so I don’t know if it’s a him or a her and their profile has no picture). This person told us about how best to get grant programs, which is good because the way I’ve been doing it is looking up the name of a company that I can think of and attaching the words “grant program” to the end. Not very productive or efficient, if you ask me. But, I learned things from this person. The Health Resources and Services Administration(HRSA), a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, sponsors a lot of grant programs for medical mobile units, and the goal of it is to improve healthcare access for people who are uninsured or isolated. Those grants we’d probably be eligible for.

They also pointed us to a grant search website where you could look through a compilation of different grant programs and read about them and then apply to the ones you are eligible for. Interestingly enough, there is another way to attract donors: through actual fundraising campaigns(for a lack of a better word) such as golf-outings or dinner dance galas. We had a dinner dance gala thing earlier this year but that was for a different project, and I don’t think golf-outings are in mine or my outside advisor’s team’s future, but you never know!  And, I also learned that there are companies out there that will help write grant proposals.

Summary: I need to look at all those grants and understand them and then relay what I’ve learned and our next steps back to headquarters! I’ll be keeping you guys posted.

Anyways, thanks for reading!