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Winter Roots Podcast: Grants with Tiffany Thibodeau
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The Winter Roots podcast features thoughtful, practical conversations with nonprofit leaders about the nuts and bolts of nonprofit work.
Each conversation is shaped by real questions submitted by nonprofit professionals who participate in the Winter Roots learning community. The result is grounded, experience-based dialogue that reflects what people are actually wrestling with in their day-to-day work.
Winter Roots is a seasonal learning space rooted in reflection, shared wisdom, and humane approaches to nonprofit work. These podcast conversations are designed to stand on their own — whether you’re part of the Winter Roots community or discovering it for the first time!
Find out more about Winter Roots: https://www.harlownonprofitconsulting.com/the-way-we-work-winter2026
Connect with Abbey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harlownonprofitconsulting/
Connect with Tiffany: https://www.tiffanythibodeau.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffany-thibodeau/
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Transcript
Introduction to Winter Roots Podcast
00:00:01
Abbey Harlow
Welcome to the Winter Roots Podcast. I'm Abbey Harlow and I'm really glad you're here. If Winter Roots is new to you as a listener, it's a free seasonal virtual learning space that brings together nearly 250 people from across the country and Canada working in and alongside nonprofits.
00:00:21
Abbey Harlow
It's rooted in the belief that how we gather matters just as much as what we're learning. and that this sector needs more spaces that center care and connection alongside strategy and skill building.
00:00:33
Abbey Harlow
These conversations are just one way we extend that gathering. So even if this podcast episode is your only point of entry, you're part of Winter Roots. Hello. This podcast is the nuts and bolts piece of Winter Roots. It's where we bring in people with deep expertise and invite participants to ask very real, very specific questions, because sometimes we just need the chance to pick someone else's brain and ask them a burning question.
00:01:00
Abbey Harlow
The questions you'll hear today were not written by me. They were entirely sourced from our Winter Roots community. People who registered early shared what they most wanted to ask. Specific, practical, sometimes thorny and complex questions that were fascinating to read and for me to share with our podcast guests.
00:01:19
Abbey Harlow
Across the season,
Expert Topics and Partner Acknowledgements
00:01:20
Abbey Harlow
I'm speaking with experts on topics like databases, programming, branding, recruiting and supporting leadership, plan giving, and then today, grant writing.
00:01:32
Abbey Harlow
Each conversation is shaped by what the community is actively working through right now. Before we begin, I just want to take a moment also to thank our partners in this work.
00:01:44
Abbey Harlow
Thank you to the Alchemist Foundation, who supports the so stability and strength of local nonprofits, Front Porch Forum, Vermont's locally owned online space built to help neighbors connect and build community, and to Little Green Light, which is an affordable donor management and fundraising software solution specifically built for the needs of small to mid-sized nonprofits. And you can try it for free at littlegreenlight.com.
00:02:08
Abbey Harlow
I'm joined
Guest Introduction: Tiffany Thibodeau
00:02:09
Abbey Harlow
today by Tiffany Thibodeau. She is a ah GPC, which is a credentialed grants professional, and she is Massachusetts based grant consultant specializing in helping education and youth development nonprofit organizations secure grants to fund their programs. She brings over 20 years of experience spanning education, the arts, health care, community libraries, and environmental conservation.
00:02:34
Abbey Harlow
She's a former pre-K through eight educator, educational leader, and nonprofit development professional. She founded her consulting firm to help organizations focused on educational access and equity get the resources needed to support young people. As a consultant, Tiffany has partnered with dozens of nonprofits and community-based organizations, providing grant strategy and technical assistance.
00:02:58
Abbey Harlow
With that, let's begin. hi Tiffany.
00:03:04
Tiffany Thibodeau
Hi, Abby. It's so nice to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
00:03:07
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, I'm really glad you're here. Thank you um Should we dive into some of these questions? We have ah quite a list where i'm like I'm excited.
00:03:16
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yeah, I feel like that's always true of of the grants world. I love the questions. So yes, fire them away.
How to Prioritize Nonprofit Projects
00:03:23
Abbey Harlow
Okay, great. So the first one we have from um the Winter Roots community is, what should you focus on when there are so many competing ideas that you want to pursue?
00:03:33
Abbey Harlow
How do you develop priorities?
00:03:37
Tiffany Thibodeau
Oh yeah, um this is such a big thing, especially for the small and midsize nonprofit organizations, especially in New England where we're both based. um I think really my advice is to sort of carve out small blocks of time that are just enough for you to get the work done without it being too overwhelming, and then do things in chunks. So I i like to think about it as putting it putting it into buckets. So maybe you have your organization has um two to three programs that you run throughout the year. um
00:04:16
Tiffany Thibodeau
Rather than looking for funding opportunities for all of the programs, really focusing and honing in on what types of funding is suitable for each program and really spending just like an hour or two um a week or you know carving out a couple of hours per month to really just do a deep dive into that particular program and seeing what's out there and what's available. um So that would be one of the things that I would suggest. And I think it helps kind of
00:04:48
Tiffany Thibodeau
save time overall if you just have like those focused buckets of time when you are looking for potential opportunities.
00:04:58
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, that's a really great point.
Crafting Impactful Grant Proposals
00:05:01
Abbey Harlow
um And when you have found those buckets of time and you're working through some of these ah grants, applications or projects, um another question we have is, how do you balance data reporting with storytelling? That's tricky. And the person says, discussion around this topic would be lovely.
00:05:24
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yeah, um so, okay, so in full transparency, I am a former middle school math teacher. So um to me, storytelling and data is the storytelling. So storytelling and data go hand in hand, but I definitely,
00:05:42
Tiffany Thibodeau
know the challenge of how do you strike the right balance within your proposals, within your grant application that isn't just the quantitative what we've accomplished this year, what we've accomplished since our inception, but is instead it really tells a story and connects strings all of those important data points together in a way that really gets the reviewer or the funder to say like, yes, this is the program that aligns with our mission and we want to support it. And I think one of the ways that you can tell that impactful story with data is thinking about
00:06:23
Tiffany Thibodeau
what kind of qualitative components you can include in there. What are the quotes or the stories that you have from, say, graduates or participants in your program or alumni who you connect with one year later or two years down the line? And really bringing that so that it um captures not just what you're doing in the moment, but how is really making an impact overall in the sort of the greater um change that you're, it affecting And then I also think taking not only your organizational data, but being able to sort of zoom out and say like, well, this is what's happening at the local level versus the national level, and this is what's happening within our organization, being able to give sort of each of those, I guess, viewpoints, the the lenses in which you're looking at what's the impact of your program, really helps to sort of give a picture of scale.
00:06:55
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm.
00:07:28
Tiffany Thibodeau
And then of course there's always the, not just presenting the data, but also talking about the so what. So when I'm looking at grants, I do a lot of audits and reviews.
00:07:40
Tiffany Thibodeau
of grant applications and when I'm looking at that, sometimes when I see data, one of the things that I'm thinking about is, okay, so you've shared this data point with me, but what exactly does this mean? So so what? What does this tell us about um the young people that you are supporting through this program? So always connecting the dots between this is what the data says and this is why it actually matters and this is why our approach to the the programming that we do or the way in which the model that we use to support young people or support
00:08:11
Tiffany Thibodeau
the community at large or whatever it is, how does this what does it really matter? um it's like It's really connecting the dots between that this is what we do and this is why it matters.
00:08:25
Abbey Harlow
That's great. Yeah. And i I love that interpretation of an explanation of storytelling. You know, when i work with small nonprofits, not in the grant space, but in other places, I think, you know, there's so much thought that needs to go into storytelling, you know, at to your point, the the smaller pieces, the data pieces, the the larger national or global scale, and then always that so what?
00:08:50
Abbey Harlow
Because for somebody who's working in it, it's it's clear, but always taking you know that extra step to say, let me connect this for you. So that that's a really great point.
00:09:00
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yeah.
00:09:00
Abbey Harlow
Thank you. um
00:09:02
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yeah, I think it's so powerful.
00:09:04
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. um Our next questions pivot more into finding and connecting with potential funders. um
Finding and Engaging Funders
00:09:14
Abbey Harlow
what What websites do you recommend um nonprofit programs staff use to identify potential funders?
00:09:25
Tiffany Thibodeau
Okay, um so there are so many websites out there. um There's like, think it can be so overwhelming at times, um but I find that there are couple that i I use as like my kind of go-to's.
00:09:30
Abbey Harlow
Yeah.
00:09:39
Tiffany Thibodeau
And so, of course, I think most people are aware of like Candid, GuideStar as being a place where you can go and you can find information about nonprofits, and that includes grantmakers as well as grant seekers.
00:09:53
Tiffany Thibodeau
um And then of course, GrantStation, which is a great tool for finding opportunities, especially if you are looking for things that are at like the international level. They have ah a very large collection of of funding.
00:10:12
Tiffany Thibodeau
The other tools that I like to use a lot are Instrumentl and Grant Gopher, and those kind of sit on like different ends of the like financial spectrum in terms of whether an organization, i know um for some people, Instrumentl can be a bit of a pricier one, but it is really good at saving a lot of time in sort of the grant research process. and you' being able to sort of set up a profile and um identify what it is that you're looking for in a funding opportunity and getting some really good fit um funding opportunities back in just a few seconds and and then being able to sit through them and sort through them a little bit more. And I find that Grant Gopher is also really good for finding opportunities and they also tend to have a lot of things that are not necessarily advertised
00:11:04
Tiffany Thibodeau
widely or so for like funders who don't necessarily have websites they may have a phone number or something like that where you can contact them or mailing address or um something so i I find that those are really good tools for grant seeking but I also like to do things like just thinking about who are the people who give the grants and where would they go to get support? And so looking at grantmaker associations for your particular field is also a really good way to just see who's out there.
00:11:39
Tiffany Thibodeau
and grant magazines that focus on philanthropy, just different ways in which you can sort of look for who, like what's the landscape looking like and who might be someone or some organization that would be worth connecting with.
00:11:57
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, that's a great, robust list. And I will i wrote all that down. I will pop it in the show notes um for everybody as a resource. um Along those lines, how do you gain the attention of large national foundations? This person's saying, my org has been around for over 100 years, and every local funder who wants to give to us has been doing so for ages. It makes bringing in new prospects incredibly difficult. Yeah.
00:12:27
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yeah, I totally get that. um One of the things I think, so I think there's there's a couple things, right? So there is
00:12:39
Tiffany Thibodeau
always just like there are more ah nonprofit organizations that are sort of being founded every day to,
00:12:49
Tiffany Thibodeau
do a direct service, there's also the same thing with grant makers. So there's there is always seemingly a a pool of new funding opportunities that may come around, even you know they may not necessarily be ah the best fit for you, but they do exist. um I think one of the things that I recommend for organizations that I work with who have been in existence for a long time is really tapping into their network and um taking a look at who are some of the people that you know. so thinking about like that six degrees of separation and really just
00:13:30
Tiffany Thibodeau
um having conversations with people and talking about your program. And those people may know other people um who know other people or they've been funded by a grant maker who might be a good fit for you and they can help sort of make the introductions or at least get your get your organization, you know, sort of be an ambassador for your organization.
00:13:37
Abbey Harlow
Thank you.
00:13:50
Tiffany Thibodeau
um The other thing I think about is auditing your external communications, so thinking about what, how visible are you to funding, um to funders and to grantmakers?
00:14:09
Tiffany Thibodeau
What is your, is your website up to date with the information that you want ah donors and funders to see and to know about your impact and the people that you serve? um Are you using social media? And I'm not saying you have to use every single social media channel, but being having a presence so that they know that you exist and that's when they are looking for organizations in their community to support yours is one that comes up is at the top of the search so that they can find you as well. um i
00:14:39
Tiffany Thibodeau
I've heard from a few grant makers that one of the things they do when they hear about an organization is the first thing they do is go and look and see like what is their presence online so that they can find information about them. um They're not going to call you first probably. They're probably going to look for information that they can find publicly. So just making information visible um and showcasing what you're doing in your community, just sort of making that, just making it more wider known to the community.
00:15:10
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, that's such a great point. You know, the idea that we apply organizations, submit grant applications, and you think, okay, I'm presenting the information to them, but the idea that they can do some research on you as well and see what's out there is such a, you know, a thing that I think a reminder we all need, you know, i think that's really important to think about. Yeah.
00:15:35
Abbey Harlow
um Along those lines, sort of part, maybe a sub question to this one that we have, the or to the last one that we have from somebody is, how do you find out about grants that your organization has a shot at getting if you don't know anybody in the granting institution?
00:15:52
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yeah, yeah, this is very similar to the the last question. I would say tapping into your network is one of the biggest things that I can think of doing. So if you are, and I'll use the example of a youth organization. So if you are a least youth leadership organization and you have a network of organizations that you um are in contact with or as part of like say the afterschool network, um one of the things to do is just see like who are
00:16:28
Tiffany Thibodeau
the who are the funders who are funding organizations that are similar to yours? And um not necessarily like, you know, it's not necessarily like pilfering or competition of of your partner organizations, but instead it's seeing if um if you all have this mutual goal of supporting a particular cause, then can they help make an introduction to someone that they know?
00:16:43
Abbey Harlow
um
00:16:59
Tiffany Thibodeau
um within the organization so that you can have a conversation to see if you are a good fit the way you suspect you might be. um Don't be afraid to pick up the phone and or send an introductory email and just introduce your organization and ask if you could have a conversation at least,
00:17:19
Abbey Harlow
Thank
00:17:19
Tiffany Thibodeau
least I would say at least know something about the organization that you're calling in their priorities before you do so, but definitely just setting a clear intention to get to know them, talk to them and see, you know, do we have this sort of shared interests or shared priorities and what we want to focus on and what goals that we're trying to accomplish within our community.
00:17:43
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, thank you. um Moving on to an entirely different kind of question.
AI in Nonprofits: A Strategic Approach
00:17:50
Abbey Harlow
Somebody asks, if you use AI in drafting grant applications, what is one way to offset the environmental impact of that?
00:18:00
Tiffany Thibodeau
i This is such a great question and I i struggle a lot with it. um I think that the rise of ai um as someone who is environmentally minded, um I think I understand the the value of AI and I know that like it's not going away. It's something that we need to know at least enough to be informed enough about it in order and use it to stay, um I guess, with the times, but also we wanna use it responsibly. And so I kinda liken it to vehicle.
00:18:38
Tiffany Thibodeau
yeah my my vehicle I use it strategically when it is necessary to use, but I don't use it for every single thing. It's just one of the tools within um my arsenal.
00:18:49
Abbey Harlow
Thank
00:18:51
Tiffany Thibodeau
And I know that for nonprofit organizations, especially the small and mid-sized shops, whatever arsenal whatever tool you can have in your arsenal to be effective and save time and to prevent burnout, it's definitely worth using.
00:19:07
Tiffany Thibodeau
So I think... it's really just making a judgment call and saying like you know these are some of the ways in which i use ai but i don't use it for every single thing um making it just making a decision about like what how do you sort of balance that so um for instance i use it for things like i need to sort of create a checklist that will help me just evaluate and make sure that I'm um submitting a strong proposal,
00:19:39
Tiffany Thibodeau
um or you know um but really not using I'm not using it for like every single task or doing multiple and iterations. I'm just trying to think about how, being mindful of your your footprint, I suppose, your carbon footprint and the ways in which you you use the any technology or any tool that you have available to you.
00:20:05
Abbey Harlow
Yeah, that's a that's a great plan. And i like I love the comparison to using something like your vehicle. It's like the same idea. You wouldn't leave air conditioning on you around when you don't need it, something like that. So just think about when you do versus when you don't need it and put some thought behind that. Thank you.
00:20:26
Abbey Harlow
So the last question i saved, um I saved for last because I like the way the person phrased it. um
Evaluating Grant Proposals: Effort vs. Reward
00:20:35
Abbey Harlow
and I'll go ahead and read. um i am low-key annoyed at all the small granting organizations that require long and detailed proposals and barely award any money. especially when they want a special project designed for the purpose of the grant, all for $2,000. I'm just trying to cover general operating expenses, and I'm wondering if this is just part of the work of fundraising to deal with these foundations. Okay, possibly just venting here, but would love a response.
00:21:02
Abbey Harlow
Same. i i am also low-key annoyed to whoever asked that question, maybe even high-key. So Tiffany, what are your thoughts?
00:21:10
Tiffany Thibodeau
You can see my face right now. You're just like, i am I am also super annoyed with those types of things. And I really appreciate this question a lot. um I'm really happy to see um a lot of mindful grant makers who are getting away from this type what I would say toxic behavior in the nonprofit sector.
00:21:34
Tiffany Thibodeau
um And i think One of the pieces of advice that I take myself and relate to my clients and and also kind of relate to other people who ask me about grants, which is you kind of have to do a cost benefit analysis for yourself. um I always think about like, what is the cost, the time, the energy, the resources that you spend applying for that grant funding and is it worth
00:21:34
Abbey Harlow
Yes.
00:22:06
Tiffany Thibodeau
ah like, is it worth applying in the first place? So I think it's really is just an honest conversation with you and your organization about whether it's worth your time.
00:22:19
Tiffany Thibodeau
um And if it's not worth your time, being brave enough to walk away.
00:22:19
Abbey Harlow
hmm
00:22:23
Tiffany Thibodeau
And I know it's hard to walk away from funds, especially in a time when you know funding does seem really short and competitive with federal grants kind of slipping away day by day.
00:22:37
Tiffany Thibodeau
But at the same time, the the limited resources that you do have, is it really worth chasing that? And just as the person who asked the question said, like the $2,000 or the $5,000 grant, is it really worth the time and energy that you're going to spend applying for it, um you know, managing it?
00:23:00
Tiffany Thibodeau
making sure that your staff complies with it, like is that all worth that energy? And if it's not, then say, you know what, this is probably a better time that I could spend really like talking to and a few individual donors or a major donor or a business sponsor who might be able to support our organization rather than applying for that particular grant.
00:23:08
Abbey Harlow
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:23:26
Tiffany Thibodeau
um And then I think if you have the capacity and I know that there's this power struggle that can happen, on power dynamics that can happen between the grant seeker and the grant maker, but if you have a relationship with that grant maker, I'd say having an open and honest conversation about the undue burden that is put upon grantees having to sort of follow that process.
00:23:51
Tiffany Thibodeau
I think the more conversations we have like that, the less of this we'll see. Or at least I'm optimistic that we will. So I think if you can have that conversation, it's absolutely worth having.
00:24:03
Tiffany Thibodeau
And if you can't, um there's a website or movement called ah Crappy Funding Practices. You can also submit anonymously.
00:24:10
Abbey Harlow
that. and well
00:24:15
Tiffany Thibodeau
and And other grit writers will go ahead and and sort of call that behavior out as well.
00:24:22
Abbey Harlow
Thank you for bringing that up because I was going to say, you know, what what can somebody or the community do when they see this? Because, you know, for for me, whenever I see my my thing that I always try to call out or email somebody about is when I see a job posting that doesn't have the salary listed, I'll always, eat eat or I'll often, I shouldn't say always, I'll often email the organization and say, hey, just so you know, like, this is,
00:24:41
Tiffany Thibodeau
Oh, yes.
00:24:49
Abbey Harlow
not great practice. And in fact, in some states like Vermont, it's often illegal. And then I ah i will always link to another favorite resource of mine, which is Nonprofit AF, run by Voulay, that he has a whole article about. um here's why not posting salary wastes everybody's time and is toxic and just not good practice.
00:25:12
Abbey Harlow
um So I love that idea of if you can, you know, having that conversation, but if not, like, you know, here are here are some other people who can who can do that in this community.
00:25:13
Tiffany Thibodeau
Yes.
00:25:25
Abbey Harlow
um Because yeah, it is, I think, like to your point, the more we talk about it, the more um it becomes normalized that, you know, 2000, you know, we shouldn't we shouldn't be having to to put in all this labor for for this grant that you're making.
00:25:42
Tiffany Thibodeau
Right, exactly.
00:25:46
Abbey Harlow
Yeah. um
Connecting with Tiffany Thibodeau
00:25:49
Abbey Harlow
Well, Tiffany, thank you so much for um your wonderful information and and thoughtfulness and humor that you brought to this conversation. Before i just get into my my little closing, where can people find you or learn more about your work?
00:26:07
Tiffany Thibodeau
Thanks, Abby. It's been a pleasure being a part of this conversation. um Well, anyone who's looking to find me, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn, so you can find me Tiffany Thibodeau.
00:26:21
Tiffany Thibodeau
And I also have a website, TiffanyThibodeau.com, and where I offer um resources, a newsletter, and information about my services,
00:26:33
Tiffany Thibodeau
um And yeah, and you can drop me a line, ask a question. i'm always happy to support an organization that is looking for resources and and however I can.
00:26:46
Abbey Harlow
Great. um And you you can connect with me on LinkedIn if you're listening and want to as well, or visit harlownonprofitconsulting.com. That's where you can learn more about Winter Roots for this year and next year. Join my email list and um be the first to know about any other offers I have. I'll put all of that and Tiffany's info in the show note as well. So you can grab that there. um And, you know, my favorite way to sort of end conversations like these is just to say, you know, this is a lot of information for a listener and that's great. Don't feel like you have to do it all in one day. Take one thing, think about how you might implement it, turn it over in your mind. And this will be here for you to come back and listen to again when you're ready to take something else away. So thanks so much for listening and we'll see you next time.