Numbing Disappointment

With a To Do list that never seems close to being done, you'd think I'd be happy when one item drops off, right?

Not so much.

Last fall, I scoped out a foundation that makes grants to non-profits in the western U.S. and planned to apply during their spring grant cycle.

Started amassing the information. Updated a policy they require with all applications. Formulated ideas about specific projects with concrete goals and objectives. Emailed the administrator to ask a question (as the web site suggested) about how to organize the proposal when it covered three specific projects.

The admin wrote back to say I should not put in a proposal at all. They are not funding any new organizations this year and will be cutting funding to groups they already work with.

I started bawling.

I had TOTALLY been counting those unhatched chickens. Never mind that I've never written a grant proposal in my life. I have great ideas. I'm an excellent writer. Surely, they'd see the merit in my proposal.

So, one less thing to do in the upcoming week. And I'm completely bummed to cross it off my list.