A primary prevention intervention strategy in ECD is pre-primary education. Children can demonstrate improved emotional literacy and coping skill development through traditional public education (Unwin, Kroese & Blumson, 2018). A study by Piper, Merseth, & Ngaruiya (2018) found that successful implementations of these types of educational programs must primarily focus on resource allocation. Nurses in leadership positions can address these needs by writing for grants, understanding and managing healthcare systems, and providing change leadership.

 However, implementing change may be difficult for organizations that operate on a strict budget. Writing a grant proposal is an excellent avenue to secure the financial resources needed to make a difference. GrantWatch is a company that encourages government agencies, foundations, and corporations to post their funding opportunities to improve their global visibility. At the time of this writing, there are over 200 grants available specifically for California organizations with a focus on health and medical (GrantWatch, 2019).

Some may find writing a grant proposal to be a daunting task. Interestingly enough, there is an equal distribution of grant proposers who are educated formally and informally about the writing process (Shuman, 2019). Nursing leaders can shape their ideas and writing process according to the Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) guidelines. The SQUIRE guidelines provide a framework for reporting new knowledge about the safety, quality, and value of healthcare. The SQUIRE organization has many resources available on their website that include examples, publications, and other improvement tools.

The journey to improve the current state of health in California will not be realized without the initiative of healthcare leaders. Pursuing grant opportunities, through resources such as GrantWatch, can provide financial support for implementing complex projects. Health care leaders need to continue to push for implementing evidence-based practices. Change starts with an idea and the repercussions are positively life altering.

References

Jordann Gilmer, MSN, RN, CNOR

A path to excellence

Jordann has spent her entire six-year nursing career in the operating room. In addition to her two years as the Spine Coordinator, she also earned her master’s degree in nursing leadership and management in October of 2018. However, Jordann says that she didn’t feel she had a chance to implement her leadership knowledge until she became a clinical supervisor and went through the Foundation for Leadership Excellence program.

“The ACNL program definitely made it more real-life,” Jordann shared. “The ACNL course went into more of the financials and lingo, where I think I understood it a lot better leaving that course than I did in my master’s program.”

Surprisingly, Jordann had never heard of ACNL before going through the Foundation program. However, she says that she is always looking for professional development opportunities, and the CNO at her facility, ACNL Board Member Giancarlo Lyle-Edrosolo, suggested she look into ACNL’s offerings.

“I’m forever grateful for him, because the course was amazing, and I think from now on I’ll definitely be a lifetime member,” Jordann said.

Office hours

While the Foundation for Leadership Excellence program covers many aspects of nurse leadership, Jordann says she found the section on managing finances to be the most impactful.

“I learned something new every day,” Jordann shared. “The financial section is something I think that a lot of people don’t get, especially in master’s programs, unless you do an MBA.”

Jordann also appreciated the networking opportunities the program provided, both with other students and with the instructors. Students sit in groups and brainstorm together during class activities, and during lunch each day they’re able to sit with an instructor at each table. The lunch sessions allow students to ask questions, get advice, and share their thoughts and feelings with some of ACNL’s most influential nurse leaders.

Jordann was able to spend some of her lunch sessions with ACNL President Kim Long. “She had so much energy,” she said. “She was just super inspiring. Every instructor there came off as very personable and was definitely available to ask questions and get insight from.”

Final thoughts

Since completing the program, Jordann says she’s been able to sit in on C-suite meetings as she approaches her interim manager position, and the Foundation for Leadership Excellence program has given her the knowledge base to better understand the concepts being discussed. She says that ACNL has helped her to feel more confident that she belongs in those conversations.

“The word I keep coming back to is ‘inspriring’,” she said.

Prior to 2016, ACNL raised scholarship monies through the Scholarship Walk and opportunity drawings (AKA “raffle tickets”) at the annual ACNL Conference. I am sure some of you will recall some of the lovely trips and other great gifts that were offered as part of those opportunity drawings. Whatever money we raised at the Annual Conference was disbursed to scholarship recipients the next year. Tuition to the next year’s Annual Conference was included with each student scholarship if recipients planned to attend the Conference to receive their scholarship.

ACNL began the Circles of Giving campaign in 2016 after hiring a consultant to assist in moving from a “Mom and Pop” bake sale type of fundraising during each Annual Conference, to developing a philanthropic arm for ACNL. ACNL wanted to engage our members to give on an ongoing basis and to attract philanthropists to consider endowments for scholarships. Philanthropists tend to donate to organizations where members also donate for a given cause. The consultant helped ACNL with the campaign to kick off the Circles of Giving program, and more than $125,000 was raised in the first year. This provided a nice nest egg to be able to give scholarships and still have money in a market account that will continue to grow.

Having that nest egg allowed us to provide larger scholarships. In the past, we gave scholarships that ranged from $1,500 to $2,000. We also had the ongoing scholarship funding from Alpha Consulting and Catalyst Systems. We were able to provide $5,000 to $10,000 scholarships with our new Circles of Giving funding.

Here is an accounting of the use of scholarship donation dollars since the Circles of Giving Campaign began:

In 2017 ACNL used:

$11,500 for program development

$24,500 for scholarships

In 2018 ACNL used:

$14,171 for Executive Leadership Academy scholarships

$24,500 for scholarships

In 2019 ACNL used:

$22,500 for scholarships

Many of you received scholarships along your career path. You may recall what it meant to have that boost when you were struggling to juggle all the balls of school, work, and life. ACNL needs your help to ensure the scholarship funds are there for RNs who want to improve their skill set as future Nurse Leaders.

ACNL will continue to ask you to help fulfill someone’s dream to succeed. Every donation helps another nurse to succeed. However, only 4% of ACNL members donate to scholarships each year, and we want to increase that number to at least 50% so we can attract philanthropists to assist with endowments along with your ongoing help. Please consider donating. If every member of ACNL donated $10/month we would have almost $200,000 per year to be able to give more and larger scholarships.

Click here to donate now.

We all know that paying it forward is important for our profession. Please let us know what other information you need or if you need assistance with donating.

As the Co-chair of the Philanthropic, Recognition, and Scholarship Committee, I am your resource to answer any questions or to entertain your thoughts on how we can all make a difference. Do not hesitate to reach out to me at srmearns@pacbell.net.