LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – Au courant is a fancy way of saying, “aware of what is going on; well informed.” Why is this important to the success of any charity seeking grants?
Right now, for example, the U.S. military has just shot down a People’s Republic of China (PRC) spy balloon that seemingly drifted across North America for most of the past week. As indicated in the footage from a Fox News video, shown above, the deflated balloon fell into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after it passed the South Carolina coastline near Myrtle Beach on February 4, 2023.
Should a charity mention events like this in its grant proposals?
I think the answer is yes. After all, a charity is meant to be a living, problem-solving organism that is continuously scanning its environment, and looking for ever better ways to come to the rescue of those who can most benefit from its help.
There are many ways to show that your charity is a thriving organization that fits this description.
One of the best ways to make sure that you are sending a message that your charity is au courant is by documenting your evidence of need or the quality of your solutions by relying only on peer-reviewed research articles that were published within the last two years. If you depend on older citations, it makes you and your staff look lazy. Even worse it may make it look like you and your program are dangerously out-of-date.
You may be inadvertently leaving the funder with the impression that you are taking action on behalf of others when you really do not know for sure what is going on or what are the best practices for helping your clients. Ideally, your grant applications should be teaching the funders about both the actual needs and the best possible solutions.
Next, it did matter whether or not you mentioned COVID-19. Failing to mention the impact of a pandemic makes it look like you and your organization are out of touch with reality. This is true whether or not your program has any COVID-19-related challenges.
Along the same lines, there is nothing wrong with acknowledging that things are happening in the world in terms of rioting in the streets or shooting down a People’s Republic of China (PRC) spy balloon. There is no reason for you to take any sides when acknowledging current events. It is enough to simply signal that you realize the world is changing is dangerous and that you are on top of that change.