Rejection -- can be a good thing????

I’ve just spent most of my morning reviewing my rejections.  Or rather denials of various grant proposals over the last five years.  While I can’t say that this is a particularly uplifting activity, it is something I should be doing at least annually. 

So why, one might ask, revisit all you past “failures”  -- proposals that didn’t fit a potential funders focus?  Here are some quick reasons:

1.     To create a solid history of what work has been tried, why (if it can be determined) we were not funded and whether it is worth trying again. 

2.     To have this history at hand when someone on board or staff says “have we looked at the XYZ foundation they look great!” and be able to answer “yes and unless you know someone on the board it’s not worth our resources….”

3.     To remind yourself that sometimes things change – encourage meeting with funders who denied in the past but seem like a future possibility.  Keep up-to-date notes so that if funders focus etc… changes you can re-apply. 

So it’s in my planner for next January – my annual denial/failure review – yippee!  Now on to finding new prospects and showing love to our current funders!