Introducing Grants 101 Video Lessons!
Welcome to 8th House! Here's a few helpful links if you're new in town:
- More about the vision behind 8th House
- Information on upcoming classes and workshops, including the March 8th Prospect Research Workshop on sale now
- February subscriber newsletter on the moral crisis in government arts funding at Trump's NEA
- September subscriber newsletter on money, power and fundraising under capitalism
Listen. We're all surviving the systematic dismantling of democracy by the worst losers you've ever met on Twitter in our own ways. (Mine include Season 3 of The Traitors, getting really into those rejuvenating gel undereye masks, and a Costco-sized tub of peanut butter pretzel nuggets.) If you happen to be in the market for a new coping mechanism - and whomst among us is not? - please join me at Baumgartner Restoration, my emotional support YouTube channel. Julian Baumgartner is an elder millennial with dad jokes and nerd vibes who runs his family's Chicago art restoration studio, and he is probably extremely handsome if you like men, which I don't, except Spock. Nothing gives me 20-30 minutes of soul ease like watching Julian talk me through the process of repairing some horrifically damaged painting that seemed beyond all hope. Things come to him with like, soot stains and water damage and holes punched through the canvas, and somehow he manages to fix them every time. It's interesting enough that you always learn something, but quiet and lowkey enough for pre-bedtime unwinding. A+ comfort content to push thoughts of DOGE out of your head.
On a more practical note, I've also found it helps to distract from the macro by focusing on the micro. I've written about Trump's funding freeze and the chilling new NEA grant guidelines, but I have very little control over the federal government, aside from perfecting the art of the memorable constituent voicemail for my House rep and senators. What I can do is make sure as many of you as possible have the foundational grantwriting skills you need to steer your organizations through whatever is coming.
To that end, I'm delighted to share with everyone the first in a series of short videos which will break down last year's Grantwriting 101 class into bite-sized chunks. I'm sharing the first as a little preview of what you can expect from the series (casual energy, low production values, occasionally spicy takes, captions), but the rest will be a membership benefit for paid 8th House subscribers, as promised. If you've been thinking of upgrading, now is a great time! Plans start at just $5 a month for email content, going up to $50 or $100 a month for the learning cohorts which include hands-on mentorship and one-on-one time with me. Learn more here!
And now, without further ado . . .
"If You Can Write, You Can Write Grants"
Part 1: Intro
PROSPECT RESEARCH WORKSHOPS
We're not quite in a post-government grant funding landscape yet, but we're sure closer than I thought we'd be in my lifetime, and I don't have much faith in corporations to be reliable allies here. That puts a lot of pressure on private foundations, making this a good time to explore some new options. I've got a Prospect Research Workshop coming up on Saturday, March 8th which is specifically going to be focused on exploring new progressive sources of institutional funding that weren't on your radar before.
March Prospect Research Workshop
Hands-on Zoom workshop to help 8th House members learn the basics of prospect research and how to look for which grants to apply for. Saturday, March 8th, 10 am - 1 pm Pacific.
Stand by for more to come soon on the May installment of our new Collective Action Workshop Series, Love Our Neighbors: Skills and Practices for Bystander Intervention. And if you work with a group who is interested in a private Grants 101 or Prospect Research workshop, those are still available too!
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