A long-time Jericho Road volunteer, Mitch Boretz, recalls being ready to retire–but that didn’t mean he was ready to shut everything down. So for the past 6 years, he’s been helping local nonprofits find–and win–grant funding to support their missions.
While the last proposal he worked on for a paycheck involved more than a dozen people and won $8.1 million, his work with Jericho Road often involves proposals that request considerably more modest amounts of “five figures, sometimes four.”
“A good grant proposal is a good grant proposal” but the context and the dollar amounts are dramatically different according to Mitch, who has worked with several Jericho Road clients and prospective clients to search for funding, set realistic priorities and pursue appropriate opportunities. “In grants, you often sit on the egg for a long time before it hatches. And, let’s face it, a lot of grant proposals don’t hatch.”
Having spent his own grant-writing career at a university, working mainly on research and training programs in engineering and computer science, Mitch admits he had to learn a whole new vocabulary to help JRP’s clients in education, human services, and the arts. But he now joins in the excitement when a small nonprofit wins or even advances to a subsequent round of review after submitting a proposal. Or it may be a new partner or resource that’s cause for celebration. One moment he recalls fondly:
“When the Primary Aldosteronism Foundation won enough money to hire its first employee and told me the good news on my birthday.”
So, what advice does Mitch offer to those considering their first volunteer opportunity?
- Know yourself. What do you want to do? Are you good at it? And will you find it rewarding at this scale and scope?
Are you patient and adaptable enough to share your expertise with nonprofit leaders who are passionate about what they’re doing but not necessarily equipped to do things the way you are accustomed to doing them?
Thanks to our volunteer, Lee Houck, for writing the JRP Volunteer Spotlights!
Want to become a volunteer? Sign-up to using this link: https://jrpasadena.org/how-to-apply-2/