The World of Grants with Give Light
When Steph asked me to run Give Light’s communications during presidential campaign season, I had no choice but to laugh. Who would want to open our emails about financial partnerships with politicians overwhelming every inbox? It was going to be quite the competition. With a twist of luck, grassroots organizations, healthcare foundations, and Delta Air Lines took a chance on us and emailed back their replies.
As I approach the one-year mark of working alongside and learning from Steph, I feel a sense of pride for what we have accomplished together. Even though I have been studying abroad, no time difference has stopped us yet. We have gotten into a productive rhythm through our near-daily communications and bi-weekly catch-ups to review projects. The focus this fall has been on securing underwriting for her documentary Give Light in a new way. We continued to research potential corporate partners and find creative ways to reach out to them, utilizing LinkedIn, Google Suite, and Apollo Io (AI) Software, but we have also shifted into grant research and applications.
The writing, editing, and reviewing of each of these are a labor of love - to say the least - and I am very pleased to announce that we were awarded funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In coordination with the foundation’s Birth Justice team, the RWJF will be featured in Give Light's upcoming PBS broadcast. While we will continue to host film screenings and Q+A panels, both virtually and in-person, this opportunity will provide millions of American viewers access to the film and all the wisdom it encompasses about childbirth.
Looking ahead into next semester and beyond, I plan to continue with Steph as we scale Give Light’s educational impact. From researching new grants and co-writing applications for funding, to developing pitch decks for meetings and tending to our email correspondences, you can find me streamlining our communications. I hope that by the end of next semester, I will have another successful grant update. In the meantime, I encourage you to watch the trailer at www.givelight.info.
