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The introduction of digital environment into global economy marked a uniquely disruptive and impactful milestone. Less than two decades have passed between the first warning about new digital toys that have emerged to threaten the existing economic order and the general acceptance of the mainstream narrative about living in the digital age and working in the modern digital economy. It took only a few years for the world to come to terms with the fact that, whether it wanted it or not, it had irreversibly stepped into digital reality. However, acknowledging the change is one thing. Understanding the whole range of consequences and adequately responding to each one of them – is a process that can’t be put in a time frame. Disruptiveness, inseparable from the very nature of the digital economy, has a slightly unconventional path in the context of the fundraising industry and its own digital transformation. Though it does have a conventional one as well. Online fundraising campaigns we have today are incomparably more extensive and financially ambitious thanks to crowdfunding platforms that have digitized the industry. But the key value of digital disruption in the fundraising industry comes from another direction and is somewhat more complex. The emergence of the digital economy, and especially the spectacular rise of tech startups, acted as the trigger for the penetration of fundraising into a for-profit economy. As we were able to learn from the nonprofit sector, gathering (financial) support for positive social change is a field where values, ideas, interests, policies and regulations overlap – with particular projects acting as operational frameworks for achieving incremental steps forward. In Serbia, the central pillar of the fundraising narrative in the nonprofit sector has always been a post-socialist transition, along with several related concepts. Recently, thanks to the digital economy and new realities imposed by the digital environment, the for-profit economy also has its fundraising narrative. The main pillar of this narrative is innovation. From innovation, the narrative continues through efficiency, competitiveness, profitability, economic growth, living standards, social and institutional development. Once it enters the development discourse, it becomes obvious why innovation, along with those who create it, is so interesting to regulators and policy makers. This sudden commitment to innovation is perhaps best illustrated by the famous Horizon 2020, the program framework designed to support the competitiveness of the European economy. Implemented in the period 2013-2020 as a mechanism for converting academic excellence into market competitiveness, it relied on innovation, its creation, commercialization and market deployment. Horizon Europe, the successor to Horizon 2020, will bring additional 100 billion euros into the European innovation ecosystem over the next 7 years. It will do so through the distribution of grants for scientific research projects, projects linking science and economy, the development of innovative products and services, and the strengthening of regional and cross-border innovation ecosystems. From the perspective of fundraising and its transition towards a for-profit economy, one specific component of Horizon Europe stands out as a historical turning point. European Innovation Council (EIC) In the period from 2018 to 2020, the European Commission has allocated 2.7 billion euros to support high-risk innovations that will create markets of the future. To that end, the European Innovation Council (EIC) was launched for the period 2019-2020, with a budget of around 2 billion euros. It brings together a number of existing financial instruments complemented by a number of new ones introduced by Horizon Europe. EIC is described as: One-stop-shop for breakthrough ideas and disruptive innovators in any field, at any time regardless of status and legal form Agile financing from idea to investment (Pathfinder grants for advanced research, Accelerator fund for innovative startups, private investments) Building ecosystems and communities through access to funding sources for mentoring and advisory services The Widening program will also be important for innovators in our part of Europe, as it aims to connect national innovation ecosystems in the region and further with ecosystems in the EU. This orientation of the Widening program recognizes the role of a slightly different profile of stakeholders in a wider innovation arena – those who see their mission in articulating the growth and potential of innovation communities into a coherent ecosystem with strategically designed mechanisms for mutual support among its members. It is important to stress that the EU is not the only key player whose activity has opened the doors of a for-profit economy for the fundraising industry. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are commonly accepted as a backbone of modern democratic societies, as they employ a critical percentage of the population and introduce the most productive segments of the global population into state-building partnerships with economic and political decision-makers. The long-term development perspective of the SME sector, especially after the global financial crisis of 2007, was unanimously recognized as a priority in the effort to preserve the competitiveness of the Western world in global economic relations. This is reflected in the fact that the European Commission, USAID as well as agencies of other developed countries have all shown interest in financing projects aimed at increasing the innovation capacity and better access to finance for innovative companies and tech startups. Numerous projects are currently advancing towards that goal, and their implementation is increasingly entrusted to a relatively new profile of stakeholders which can demonstrate complete and well-rounded expertise, as well as notable presence in both – the consulting and fundraising industries. This new profile of key stakeholders is often referred to as „ecosystem builders“. The most notable example of such stakeholder within European innovation landscape would be F6S platform, whose undisputed industry leadership, as well as success in building an innovation ecosystem can serve as an indicator of the renaissance of fundraising in the for-profit sector. Even more importantly, the story of F6S introduces us to another category of gigantic importance within this changing role of fundraising narrative – Cascade funding. Stay tuned.

Mommy, mommy, I wish to become a grant writer when I grow up! Said no kid ever. Including me. My wishes ranged from firefighter to president, with a small universe of professions in between (among others: gas station worker, battlefield journalist/reporter, football pundit). None of them was a grant writer. It was a mix of necessity and coincidence that set my path. But now that I am here - I really genuinely enjoy it. Why? They want you Grant writers are always in short supply. Good ones at least. Not many people find it exciting to deal with mountains of paper and write paragraphs where short sentences can do just fine. It means that outside of big non-profits with grant writer army dwelling in their offices, you are an absolute master of your world. In that particular little world - you always know better. Some really smart folks, authors of great project ideas, must follow your lead when it comes to transforming their own ideas into project proposals. Those are their great ideas, but still you know better. Ego likes it. Stealing the craft left and right Most of the time you engage with the very elite, people and projects alike, from many different fields of work. One day you write for a fintech start-up looking to break into the global market. Next day you write for local online media trying to diversify their production and introduce new content formats. Then you write for a grassroot community center that provides training to young entrepreneurs. It is likely that none of those things is your expertise, but you learn a great deal about all of them anyways. You constantly meet creative people with relentless drives to push their own limits, and you learn from them while researching and preparing their proposals. In addition to this diversity, which I enjoy as a benefit per se, there is always an opportunity to discover something new that can become a challenge or even your new career path. Not skipping your band's rehearsals The nature of your work in most cases allows flexible work hours. Occasionally, a Monday-submission-deadline-situation will occur, so the weekend will have to cope without you, but more often than not you are able to work at your own pace and even sneak out for a quick jam session with your band in the early afternoon, knowing that you can make up for it later. Wizarding around effortlessly You routinely make people’s dreams come true. It is your writing that drives the transformation of big dreams into real, fully funded projects that enable great folks to do great things and make an impact. I find it very fulfilling when I provide a final push for a noble intention to become a game-changing reality. Doing that kind of wizardry for living has been very rewarding for me so far. Writing’s on the roll So much writing day after day inevitably keeps you on top of your game all the time. A need for writing, in general, is something that pops up quite often, and whenever it does – you are ready to routinely accomplish the mission. If nothing else, most of the time you don’t have to think about hiring a writer. #grants #grantwriter #grantwriting #fundraising #projects #proposal #projectdevelopment #writing #funding #finance #funds

Fundraising has outgrown the non-profit world. People who see it as a toy for those not capable of making real money should not waste their precious time here. For the rest of you, I hope this will be an interesting read, assembled by a very passionate insider. Here is Part 1. Part 2 will be out before "Winds of Winter", I promise. I made up my mind long ago. Fundraising was always going to be my weapon of choice, and my kill count so far says it was a good call. It could have been even better had I opted to stick to the easy way of raising funds for charities, human rights, and all kinds of empowerment. Well, somewhat predictably, I just could not do that. Easy has never been my thing, though I wish I had that option at times. So here I am, doing fundraising in a for-profit, inside a very profitable industry. For 6 years I have been following the path of innovation, eventually ending up as a fundraising consultant who almost exclusively works with SME’s and startups in one form or another. It took a lot of strategy and patience to get to this point, but also a fair share of luck. Even after all those years of industrious writing and almost permanent scheming, being introduced directly to the founding fathers of the national innovation ecosystem is not something that a reasonable person takes for granted. It is fair to say that it was a combination of misfortune, strategy, hard work, scheming, luck and the perfectly timed rise of innovation that brought me here. Now, here is a fun fact: That is exactly the same set of circumstances that brought fundraising itself to the for-profit sector, though it has yet to be universally recognized as its mainstay. Make no mistake - as grotesque as it sounds, many hardline capitalism worshipers still see raising money as an obvious antipode to making money - their deity of choice. I remember my first day with current employer. I did a little tour of the workplace with my new boss who was introducing me to the people that happened to be there at that time. One of them, a very opinionated fellow, upon hearing why I was brought in, made a memorable short remark. - Oh, free money. Sure. Obviously unimpressed by my line of work, he painted a perfect example of the image that fundraising has yet to shrug off. However, hard facts are pretty much one-sided and hardly allow an interesting debate. Winners are clearly those business owners and managers that can see fundraising for what it is – externally funded development that they would otherwise have to finance out of their own pockets. Making money VS raising money - the epic clash of philosophies is of course a fantasy. It is the same money, and most of the time it serves the same purpose. Only the skill sets needed for each of them are different. Winners recognize, integrate and benefit from both. Not-so-winners prefer to see contest in this narrative. Back at my workplace, my boss and the opinionated unimpressed fellow reflect this difference convincingly enough. One has led his company from strength to strength and managed to grow even during the pandemic. The other is long gone and nowhere to be seen. He somehow managed to lose the same non-existing contest he felt so superior about. The traditional view of fundraising as exclusively a non-profit thing certainly has some reasonable roots. It has been developed to empower those who fight for a better society, and this battle remains its main conceptual pillar. Sure, new theatres of war have been opened, new formations are advancing and new weapons are in use, but in essence - it is still the same old battle that rages on. There was no clear cut-off point when fundraising entered the for-profit world. Some of its elements have always featured there, just not very prominently. However, when the rest of the world finally started experiencing the full splendor of the fundraising travelling circus, with all of its shiny colors, freakshows, jugglers and acrobats – the change has been triggered by some momentous events still vivid in our collective memory. Europe’s desire to avoid being caught in another vortex of passion between legendary lovers – French and Germans, led to the tighter economic integration and gradual development of the European single market. Being the best thing that has ever happened to Europe, single market propelled a proliferation of SME’s - small family businesses driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of Europeans, fresh out of muddy trenches, and fully focused on making the most of this new invention called peace. By the year 2007, SME’s were proudly wearing the flattering title - Backbone of the European economy. But then 2007 happened, and with it, a great misfortune that was the global financial crisis. Cracks in the European economy started spreading like wildfire, which led to a significant drop in its competitiveness, as new global economic powerhouses began emerging from the east. In response to this era-defining challenge, European Commission made a faithful decision that was about to change everything. The idea was quite straight forward: In order to grow and create jobs, European SME’s must be more competitive globally. Competitiveness was to be achieved through innovation driven by scientific research and disruptive digital solutions. But individual SME’s simply could not develop and implement innovation on the scale necessary for the critical continent-wide economic push. They needed structured long term support in funds, skills and collaboration tools. They needed all the science they could possibly apply and all the digital fixes for their leaking and rusty business models they could possibly score. Out of necessity, innovation has become the most precious commodity in Europe, and engine constructed for its production, testing, distribution and multiplication was named Horizon 2020. All of a sudden, there were hundreds of calls for proposals, with billions of Euros offered to those who knew how to get them. Over the next 7 years, Horizon 2020 has mobilized grassroots, repurposed fundraising, and built up the whole structure conveniently replicated from the non-profit sector. Today, as we count down to the start of Horizon’s successor framework, the fundraising travelling circus has long settled among hardline capitalism worshipers, with some of them even claiming that they've actually been clowns all along. This time, there will be no major construction works, as flags are already flying high and fundraising hype is in full swing. This time the show begins immediately! And there you have it. Misfortune, strategy, hard work, scheming, luck and innovation. In an ironic twist of fate, fundraising has penetrated the for-profit sector through some of its most profitable segments. Just as European scramble for innovation was about to begin, another unstoppable force was gaining its own momentum, preparing to burst out of the shadows and make its mark. It would go on to take the world by storm, and round up a remarkable rebirth of fundraising along the way. Next time, I will tell you the story about this other force. It also starts with innovation, but then drifts away from the EU administrative procedures and fades into mythology. A story in which fundraising is no longer feeding the bureaucracy, but unicorns. #fundraising #startup #socialimpact #smes #funding #grantwriter #projectdevelopment #horizoneurope #eicaccelerator #innovation #nonprofits

Predvidljivo – nema prevoda. Postoji mogućnost da je zastoj lingvističke prirode. Ali ta mogućnost je isključivo narativni kontra teg kojim se balansira ton teksta, da ne ispadne ovo i ono. Fluff takoreći. Zastoj nije lingvističke prirode. Celu svoju karijeru sam radio kao Grant Writer. Povremeno bih tome pridodao neku sekundarnu ulogu, ali osnovna je uvek bila ista. Na listi poslodavaca za koje sam radio u prošlosti imam univerzitetski istraživački centar, gradsku i opštinsku upravu, dom kulture i dva udruženja. Trenutno imam dva poslodavca, jedan elektronski medij i jednu konsultantsku firmu. Kod jednih sam zvanično menadžer projekata a kod drugih koordinator za razvoj projekata. U prošlosti sam bio zvanično raziskovalec (istraživač), rukovodilac projekata i koordinator za administraciju i finansije. U realnosti, uvek i svuda sam bio Grant Writer. U svakom dogovoru sa poslodavcima sam imao izričit uslov da mi u osnovnom opisu posla ne stoji ništa drugo osim pripreme projektnih predloga i građenja relacija sa donatorima na strateškom i operativnom nivou. Radio sam samo kod poslodavaca koji su to prihvatali i razumevali zašto je to važno. Svejedno sam uvek imao neki funky naziv radnog mesta, manje li više daleko od suštine. Zašto nisam i zvanično bio Grant Writer? Ne znam. Najočigledniji odgovor bi bio – zato što u srpskom (i slovenačkom) jeziku ne postoji adekvatan prevod za termin Grant Writer. Ali taj odgovor za mene više otvara nego što zatvara ovu temu. Zašto nemamo prevod za termin Grant Writer? Bukvalni prevod ne bi ni na šta ličio, ali nemamo ni termin koji bi u duhu jezika pojmovno odgovarao sadržaju termina Grant Writer. Uz svu korektnost i diplomatsku umerenost, posle pune decenije u tom poslu, tvrdim da to nije nikakva slučajnost, niti je zastoj lingvističke prirode. Činjenica da Grant Writer kao zanimanje nema svoj odgovarajuć prevod direktna je posledica činjenice da se to zanimanje u našem poslovnom okruženju uglavnom ne prepoznaje. Izrada projektnih aplikacija u OCD svetu se uglavnom smatra delom projektnog ciklusa, i od autora projektnih predloga se očekuje da kasnije preuzmu neku od uloga u implementaciji. Izvan OCD sveta, gde donatorski projekti imaju nešto manji značaj, prava je retkost videti firmu koja ima svog in-house Grant Writera. Tamo gde se izrada projektnih aplikacija doživljava kao nešto što svako može ali niko ne želi, obično pisanje padne na grbaču zaposlenih koji to rade kao sekundarnu stvar i nešto što im se nameće iako im to nije u opisu posla. Pišu nevešto i ključaju od besa nešto kredibilnije. U firmama gde postoji izvestan nivo svesti o veštinama neophodnim za ovaj posao, angažuju se ad hoc konsultanti za jednokratnu ispomoć. Međutim u svim ovim modusima gubi se iz vida suštinski bitna činjenica da je u razvijenijim poslovnim okruženjima posao Grant Writera definisan kao takav s razlogom. Nasuprot jednokratnim ad hoc intervencijama, kad isuviše očigledna prilika za eksterno finansiranje iskoči i ne dozvoljava da je se previdi, stoji realnost u kojoj je Grant Writing posao koji se, kao i većina drugih, može i treba raditi strateški i u sinergiji sa ostalim segmentima poslovanja. Ovo najpre važi za profitne kompanije kojima je primarna delatnost po definiciji komercijalna i tržišno usmerena, iako je jednako primenljivo i na OCD. U trenutku kad firma ili organizacija ima osobu koja puno radno vreme posvećuje istraživanju tržišta, strateškom razvoju internih kapaciteta i dugoročnom nastupu prema donatorskoj zajednici – postoje uslovi da se eksterno finansiranje integriše u poslovni model. Ubrzo firma počinje da uživa u benefitima. To znam iz sopstvenog iskustva. Primera radi, u portalu Novine Vranjske sa redakcijskim komandantom sam napravio dogovor da budem oslobođen svih poslova u implementaciji i operativi generalno. To nam je omogućilo da se strateški pozicioniramo, i iz nekoliko pažljivo kombinovanih eksternih izvora obezbedimo sredstva za izgradnju i opremanje Medijskog skloništa (sazidali smo i opremili za konferencijske događaje celu zgradu!), za formiranje studija za snimanje, za proširenje tima i prvu godinu produkcije nekoliko različitih formata medijskog sadržaja. Time je redakcija ostvarila potpunu finansijsku odživost i platformu za rast koji je u službi njihovog primarnog cilja – očuvanja samoubilački nezavisne uređivačke politike u sredini gde se tako nešto jednostavno ne radi niti je opšte prihvaćeno kao neka vrednost per se. Ovih dana je ekipa iz Vranja snimila i objavila prvu epizodu svog podkasta (ako se ne varam jedina takva produkcija južno od Niša), čime je simbolično počela nova era u njihovom radu. Ono što javnost uglavnom ne vidi, ali mi jako dobro znamo, je mnogo meseci truda i taktiziranja koje je omogućilo ovaj iskorak. Bilo je potrebno nekoliko uspešnih projektnih prijava (uz koje neizbežno ide i nekoliko neuspešnih) da se zatvori finansijska konstrukcija i dostignu ciljevi koje smo postavili na početku. To se ne bi desilo da sam ja, kao predvodnik taktičke fundraising jedinice, morao posle prvog odobrenog projekta da počnem da se bavim njegovom implementacijom. Verovatno se ne bi desilo ni da su Vranjske angažovale agenciju i konkurisale za jedan veliki grant (kakvih realno ima u ponudi) za čiju implementaciju nemaju kapaciteta. Grant Writer daje najveći doprinos kad se bavi samo Grant Writing-om, a ne još gomilom koječega pride. Kad se tako formuliše ne zvuči ni najmanje revolucionarno. Zašto osim prevoda za termin Grant Writer nemamo ni suštinski pojam koji treba da stoji iza tog termina? Odgovor na to bi morao da bude mnogo kompleksniji. Delom je u pitanju loša reputacija koju konkursi uopšte imaju u Srbiji. Delom je krivica u nerazumevanju mehanizma kojim projektni posao nagrađuje one koji ga dobro rade. Ono što meni najviše smeta, jer uvek polazim od sebe kad vidim problem, je totalno odsustvo interesovanja za edukovanje i izgradnju tržišta kao i sopstveno brendiranje kod samih Grant Writera. Ok, malo nas ima i uglavnom nam je popunjeno vreme… Ali dosledno sopstvenoj tvrdnji da se naš posao, kao i većina drugih, najbolje radi kad je strateški postavljen, moram da se zapitam – kad smo jednom uspeli da se fokusiramo samo na svoj primarni posao, (priznajem da sam sa svojim poslodavcima imao sreće vrlo nadprosečno) šta je naredni korak u strategiji? Možemo da počnemo od prevoda koji će u srpskom jeziku odgovarati terminu Grant Writer. Ne ide se u boj bez zastave. #grants #grantwriting #fundraising #projectdevelopment #projekti #donatori