M. Palmer Consulting

M. Palmer Consulting An Arkansas-based nonprofit consulting agency specializing in grant writing, fundraising strategy, and staff and board development.

Lead by Melanie Palmer, GPC, CFRE.

09/03/2026

I've sat across the table from more EDs in this exact moment than I can count.

The email is open. The number is real. And the first instinct is always the same: panic.

Here's what I tell them first: the panic response is normal, and it's not the same thing as the decision-making you actually need to do right now. Give yourself a minute to feel it. Then shift modes.

Our new post walks through exactly what comes next -
✅ how to get the real number (not the scary number)
✅ your options depending on your timeline
✅ and the board conversation most EDs put off way too long.

If you're in this right now, or you've been here before and know someone who is - read it, or send it to them.

You opened the email. The grant didn't come through.The one that was supposed to cover $40,000 of your Q3 budget.👉 If th...
08/31/2026

You opened the email. The grant didn't come through.
The one that was supposed to cover $40,000 of your Q3 budget.

👉 If that sentence just made your stomach drop, this is for you.

New on the blog: the step-by-step triage guide for handling a nonprofit budget shortfall - without the panic spiral.
✅ What to check first
✅ your 90-day options
✅ and how to have the board conversation before they have to ask.

Link in the first comment.

An executive director came to me six months ago.She ran a $1.2M nonprofit. About 60% of her revenue was federal and stat...
08/24/2026

An executive director came to me six months ago.

She ran a $1.2M nonprofit. About 60% of her revenue was federal and state grants. She knew the funding environment was changing, and she wanted to get ahead of it - but she didn't know where to start.

We started with the honest conversation she'd been avoiding: what would happen to her organization if 40% of her current grants didn't renew?

The answer was uncomfortable. But having it clearly in front of her - on paper, with real numbers - changed everything.

Over the next few months, she:
✅ Restructured her board's fundraising expectations (and got buy-in)
✅ Launched a monthly giving program from scratch
✅ Had her first major donor conversation - and it went better than she expected
✅ Applied to two community foundations she had never approached before

She didn't fix everything. She's still navigating an uncertain funding environment like everyone else.

But she went from feeling like the crisis was happening to her - to feeling like she had a plan.

That's what I want for every leader in this sector right now.

If you're ready to move from reactive to proactive, I'd love to have a conversation.

Discovery call link in the first comment.

08/20/2026

The hardest advice I give nonprofit leaders right now is also the most important:

If the money isn't there - make the cut early.

I know that's not what you want to hear. Cutting programs feels like failure. It feels like abandoning the people you exist to serve. It goes against every instinct you have as a mission-driven leader.

But here's what I've seen happen when organizations wait until the very last moment:

Staff get no notice. Clients get no transition time. Leadership burns out trying to fundraise and run programs simultaneously with zero margin. And the organization that was trying to save everything loses the capacity to rebuild anything.

Compare that to what happens when a leader makes the call as soon as they know it's necessary:

Staff get a runway. Clients have time to find alternatives. The board isn't in crisis mode. And the organization preserves the financial stability to reopen those programs when the funding comes back.

Making the cut early is not the opposite of mission-driven leadership.

It might be the most mission-driven thing you can do.

If you're in this position right now, I wrote a full breakdown of how to think through this decision - including when cutting is the right move and what to do next. Link in the first comment.

Grants are a funding source. They are not a funding strategy.That distinction is the difference between a nonprofit that...
08/19/2026

Grants are a funding source. They are not a funding strategy.

That distinction is the difference between a nonprofit that survives a funding cut and one that doesn't, and it's exactly what I dig into in a free microlearning session I recorded for the Grant Professionals Association: "When Grants Aren't Enough: How Grant Pros Can Help Build Sustainable Revenue Beyond Grants."

If you're a grant professional, you've probably felt the tension: you're evaluated on the dollars you bring in, but you also know that the healthiest organizations aren't the ones with the biggest grants... they're the ones that aren't betting everything on any single source.

Individual donors, earned revenue, corporate partnerships, and grants all have a role to play, and grant pros are often the ones best positioned to help their organizations see that bigger picture.

In this session, I walk through what that diversification actually looks like in practice, and how grant professionals can be part of helping shape a funding model that can hold up when one source disappears.

🎓 Watch free on GrantSchool: https://grantschool.grantprofessionals.org/courses/250116

08/17/2026

So you didn't get that grant you were hoping for?

That's a tough spot to be in as a nonprofit who rely on federal grants as their primary revenue source.

We've put together a totally free 30-day plan that will help to stabilize your organization while you work through what to do next.

📄 Grab the Nonprofit Crisis Fundraising Framework in our bio!

08/14/2026

If your non-profit is facing a funding crisis, this is the FIRST thing you need to do.

📄 Find our 30-Day Nonprofit Crisis Fundraising Framework in our bio!

💬 What have you found to be your nonprofit's biggest struggle when it come to fundraising?

I wrote something this week for the executive directors who are watching their federal funding disappear in real time.No...
07/30/2026

I wrote something this week for the executive directors who are watching their federal funding disappear in real time.

Not a "here's why this is happening" post. Not a "stay positive" post.

A 30-day plan. Grounded in what I know works, from having been in this seat myself.

It covers:

- How to get honest about your actual financial picture (not what you projected - what you actually have)
- When to bring your board in, and how to frame that conversation so they show up as problem-solvers
- What honest conversations with your donors look like right now
- And the recommendation most consultants won't make - but that I think is the most important one in the post

That last one is Step 4. I'll let you read it for yourself.

If you know an executive director who needs this right now, share it with them. The people reading this are often the loneliest people in the room.

Link to the full post in the first comment.

"How do I tell my board that we might not make it through the year without panicking them?"First - you're asking the wro...
07/28/2026

"How do I tell my board that we might not make it through the year without panicking them?"

First - you're asking the wrong question.

The goal isn't to deliver bad news without panicking your board. The goal is to bring your board in as partners before the news gets worse.

There is a version of this conversation that goes well. It requires these three things.

💬 What questions are coming up for you as you think about your board conversation? Drop them in the comments - I'll answer.

Something I'm seeing across nonprofit organizations right now:Grant opportunities are being posted on Grants.gov - then ...
07/23/2026

Something I'm seeing across nonprofit organizations right now:

Grant opportunities are being posted on Grants.gov - then quietly removed. Without explanation. Without communication. Without any guidance on what to do next.

The organizations affected aren't small or careless. Many of them built their programs around funding that had been stable for years. Decades, in some cases.

This is not a planning failure. It's a funding environment that changed faster than anyone had reason to anticipate.

What I want nonprofit leaders to hear right now:

The goal for the next 30 days isn't to solve everything. It's to stop the hemorrhage - to stabilize your organization while you figure out what to do next.

That means:
- Getting honest about your 90-day financial picture
- Bringing your board into the conversation before you have to
- Talking to your donors before your next ask, not during it

The organizations that will come out of this strongest aren't the ones with the best grant writers.

They're the ones whose leaders stopped waiting for the funding environment to stabilize and started building something that didn't depend on it.

More on this next week.

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