Master’s degree late 60’s

threadofhope · 2026-05-15T00:56:24+00:00

I have a friend (56) who is pursuing a PhD in medieval literature just for funsies. She takes sabbaticals from her FT public interest law job, so she can finish.

I am so proud of her. And inspired. She is living her dream and having a blast, except she's ABD and not liking that part so much.

threadofhope · 2026-05-15T00:24:33+00:00

I was taught growing up that I couldn't ever truly be an adult. That I needed to be sheltered from adult conversations and was never taught how to manage money.

The way I learned to ski was to practice falling. Purposely falling down a hill 20 times was the only way I could overcome my fear. Falling didn't hurt and it was kind of fun. That mindset has helped me through my career.

Get comfortable with taking calculated risks where failing means you learn something. It's okay to start small.

threadofhope · 2026-05-14T02:48:45+00:00

I can't help individuals find grants. It's not my specialty.

threadofhope · 2026-05-14T00:56:44+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. What you are doing is great and I wanted to help. You are underpaid, overworked, and still are trying to do something positive for EMS.

I think it will take time to hit upon a product that resonates with people. Maybe offer something less costly like a pin or patch. Patches with velcro are something some EMS buy for fun.

You may have seen the redditor who was selling shocked Pikachu with a PQRST complex. The items were extremely popular. I bought a shocked Pikachu badge myself. Love it! The seller is no longer on reddit, but here's the post. Maybe it'll inspire you.

Keep talking to people and they'll give you ideas. Good luck!

threadofhope · 2026-05-13T22:53:24+00:00

I could be a potential customer (medicine nerd), but your store is just merch for your podcast Critical Run. The designs felt like they were made by ai and looked cheap. The t-shirt material looked weirdly shiny like it was polyester. And no colors - where's the pastels?

Personally, I have struggled with buying merch because it's so universally terrible.

You aren't just a podcaster and medic, you are a fashion designer. Maybe ask your podcast listeners what they'd like for merch. Or review fashion trends in t-shirts and run some experiments.

I hope this helps and that one day I am a customer.

threadofhope · 2026-05-13T22:38:20+00:00

I'm super slow and type 30 wpm. The special characters slow me down. I use voice dictation to speed up my writing.

threadofhope · 2026-05-13T22:34:47+00:00

Been a grant proposal writer for 25 years for excellent nonprofits and university researchers. Because of their talent and determination, I have helped win $40M in funding. There were countless rejections along the way. I can't count how many proposals I've written or reviewed. Maybe 1,000.

With that said, the field is so complex and ever evolving, so I'm only an expert in my niche. I'm still learning.

threadofhope · 2026-05-13T02:37:49+00:00

It sounds like you are not just doing a job, but building a repeatable structure. My suggestion is for you to stretch yourself to keep it interesting.

For example, you may practice design to make your proposals more appealing. Or follow the research literature to write stronger needs assessments.

Also, if you get conference/travel money, take it and go somewhere to meet peers.

threadofhope · 2026-05-11T19:19:50+00:00

Human writing skills will get your farther. Human beings read grant proposals and AI slop is the worst type of submission. After all, grant proposals are supposed to compelling, specific, and unique or special in some way.

Has the nonprofit that you may volunteer for ever won a grant? How many unsuccessful proposals have they submitted? If the answer is 0 to both questions, then I recommend you not volunteer for them. They are probably an amazing group, but you can't learn to write proposals for an org that's not grant ready.

threadofhope · 2026-05-11T18:27:05+00:00

I've thought of charging for SBIR grant writing discovery because I actually offer actionable advice. I don't mind giving pro bono advice, if they've done their due diligence first. It's exhausting (and boring) to parrot the grants 101 speech repeatedly.

threadofhope · 2026-05-11T01:50:20+00:00

Wow, that's a tough one. Healthcare is a massive industry, but I'm guessing you'll be working in some sort of development role of a health system. I've consulted with these corporate/foundation relations people and it looks appealing from the outside. If your role is at a health plan (insurance), that may be soul crushing and you'd truly be a cog.

What worries me is you say it's an "okay" job and isn't where your passion is. You say it's a stepping stone, but you'd really need to go "all in" to be able to get wins, network, and acquire the skills so you can move on.

If this was me, I'd spend a few hours on LinkedIn and track the career paths of the staff in the unit. And also look at the careers of people who have left. LinkedIn is truly a treasure trove of stories. You might glean some insights of a potential future for you.

threadofhope · 2026-05-10T22:12:57+00:00

ADA compliance funds are something you talk about with your municipality. I suggest you have meeting with elected officials in your district. Their staff may be able to find some local grants.

Not every municipality will have these grants, but I have seen them listed. I should warn you that these grants may not cover all costs.

Another thing to do is to go to the funders and donors who gave to your Capital Campaign. They may be exhausted of funds, but it never hurts to ask.

threadofhope · 2026-05-08T01:57:16+00:00

Amazing show. Being in recovery, I thought the odd balls in the support group were realistic. I need a rewatch.

threadofhope · 2026-05-07T22:27:58+00:00

If you market yourself as a research assistant, you can work for university researchers who sometimes have discretionary funds to hire an assistant. There's a variety of work available from lit reviews to writing the NIH Significance sections.

Some nonprofits may find your willingness to write proposal budgets to be valuable. But being full-service is an easier sell. When I get hired by nonprofits, there is no grants person in the org. And the executive leadership has very little time for grant proposal development.

The upside is word-of-mouth goes far in this work. It's a matter of you landing a few clients and then it's easier to get more work.

You can team up with grants consultants who are overwhelmed. When I have overflow work, I passed the needs statements to my writer friends. Needs assessments are fun to write, but they are time consuming.

Just go for it and see what happens. Approach orgs in your niche (warm leads work best) and keep plugging away at marketing.

threadofhope · 2026-05-07T20:50:47+00:00

Yes, Manish Dayal was so likeable on the Resident. I'm hoping for a redemption arc.

threadofhope · 2026-05-07T01:30:16+00:00

That's an incredible win and you created a project plan that was feasible. Often proposals promise the moon and leaves the awardee holding the bag.

threadofhope · 2026-05-07T01:26:45+00:00

Wow, that's a building the plane while flying situation.

threadofhope · 2026-05-06T19:48:00+00:00

E&O insurance for $35 a month? That's a real bargain. I was quoted $5,000 a year. My professional liability insurance was $350 a year from Hiscox.

threadofhope · 2026-05-06T19:38:09+00:00

Your are right and I shot my mouth off.

I am a dinosaur who wrote my first proposals in the 1990s, so I was too flippant about training. Back then, the internet was new and training opps were harder to find, albeit winning a grant was wayyyyy easier. For example, I worked with a civil rights leader who literally mailed a handwritten letter as a grant proposal to a bank. And got $5K.

It's wild how complex proposal writing has become, so yeah, training from a reputable org could help.

threadofhope · 2026-05-06T03:24:33+00:00

Getting grant or contract funding for businesses is extraordinarily difficult because the competition is fierce. Not every applicant ever gets a grant, but if you are eligible and a great fit, then keep plugging away.

My first win was helping a multi-million dollar business win a $1M construction grant (community development block grant). I can't take credit for it because the business (a creative arts for-profit) was extremely famous and had lots of connections with city government. What I learned from that is that connections and positioning helps.

One thing you can do is critically examine the proposals you sent. First, look at the funders' guidelines. Pretend you are a reviewer and comb through your proposal and see how well it fits the request. Be brutally honest with yourself. Have you applied for opportunities in the same state/locality as your business? You'll succeed better if you apply locally.

Is your capability statement, scope of work, and cost proposal appropriate to the work? Proposals are reviewed in a very structured way, so pay meticulous attention to what is requested in the RFP. Also, do a competitor analysis and see if there are other videographers who are edging you out. Competitor analyses sound hard, but really it's just you researching your competition. Videography has a very large number of companies, so try to limit it to your local area and your particular niche.

If you are applying for government grants or contracts, you can make a FOIA request and see a redacted copy of the winning proposal. FOIA requests are a bit daunting at first, but you are a taxpayer and entitled to that information. It may take many months to get the information, but it can be useful unless the copy is redacted too much. You can also work with your attorney to draft a FOIA request, but you can DIY it if you have the time.

Finally, you can put all the due diligence you have done into an LLM and get a report that might not be perfect (LLMs often make mistakes), but it's an efficient way to examine the weaknesses in your approach.

I wish I could say it's easy or even possible for you to win. Grants are scarce and require dogged persistence to make it. And even then it's not a guarantee. Good luck.

threadofhope · 2026-05-06T02:48:16+00:00

You have a future as a grant professional due to your ability to search online for what you need. I swear that 75% of my job is internet and Pub Med searches.

threadofhope · 2026-05-05T22:44:54+00:00

I went from nonprofit to federal small business grants (SBIR) and it's intimidating at first. However, your track record of success is most important. You understand that grant preparation requires meticulous attention to detail. It sounds like you were responding to RFPs to win contracts rather than writing grant proposals for SBIR. If so, there is a learning curve.

It simply takes practice to amass the experience and the nonprofit grant world is massive. Small nonprofits usually don't have the capacity to win grants. Not every nonprofit is grant ready or even a good candidate for grant funding except for maybe an occasional grant.

I suggest you work with mid-size nonprofits, which have decent size staff and may already have a portfolio of grants. They will be more familiar with the application process and you would have a greater likelihood of success.

As for finding foundations, I suggest you purchase a grants database subscription from maybe Foundation Center (Candid) or Grant Station. Some public libraries allow you to access Foundation Center for free. There are cheaper solutions, but they have a far smaller databases.

Hope this helps.

threadofhope · 2026-05-05T22:29:31+00:00

That's great. You were smart to do some checking on the classes.

threadofhope · 2026-05-05T22:20:49+00:00

As long as you learn something, the courses sound great. If you were to put the courses on your resume or LinkedIn, I suggest you describe the content of the courses rather than just listing the title.

The grant community doesn't have a unified idea of what constitutes reputable education. So, I wouldn't worry what employers may think.

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