Blog Posts, Articles & Announcements

Category: General

Grant Writing can be a difficult task!  It’s nearly impossible to “cut corners” and still obtain the funding you need.   Writing a winning proposal requires effort:  strategic reflection, accurate information, and adhering to all deadlines and requirements.

Mission Project Service provides Catholic missionaries with the knowledge and resources needed to achieve funding success. Our goal is to help you become a better grant writer so your projects and the people you serve can benefit.

Category: Encouragement/Motivation

Thanksgiving, 2020

Dear friends and fellow missionaries,

I suppose it is no surprise that we focus on gratitude, at least here in the US, during this time of year.  I want to suggest, however, that gratitude is worth focusing on ANY TIME of the year, and not just for it’s obvious spiritual and emotional benefits.

What do I mean?

Category: Funding Landscapes

Dear sister and brother missionaries,

I know that is NOT how the song goes!   And I also am pretty sure that the Wise Men were not submitting grant applications either ?.

BUT, I do believe there are at least two reasons to reflect on during this Advent/Christmas Season that each of you are like Magi as you write grant applications for your projects:

First, each of you, like the Magi, offer great gifts in the deeply important projects you “give” to a foundation to consider:  the GOLD of the boys and girls your projects assist;  the MYRRH of the health clinics and schools you offer;  and the FRANKINCENSE of your pastoral and prayerful works.   Any good foundation officer is always humbled by how much good he or she is being asked to support.

Category: General

In Memoriam:  MPS Founder Fr. George G. Cotter, MM

It is said that “we stand on the shoulders of those who precede us.”    As that is true, there is probably no Catholic missionary alive today who does owe some connection or debt of gratitude to Maryknoll Missionary and MPS Founder George G. Cotter, MM.

After 68 years as a missionary and 58 years as a priest, Fr. Cotter passed away on September 6 in Maryknoll, New York, at the age of 88.

Category: Funding Landscapes

“Dear missionaries,

“Sustainablity”  A sophisticated and popular word these days, but one with a simple definition:  “How we keep our projects going in the future.”  The attached document from the UN identifies the key principals we need to bring to our work insofar as we envision our ministries lasting not only during our lifetimes but even longer.  I encourage you to share this with your congregational leadership in hopes it will stimulate the type of leadership decisions necessary for the years ahead!”

Effective Governance for Sustainable Development

Category: Applying for Grants

For those of you missionaries who are avid readers of literature, I have a test question for you:  what is the length of the longest sentence in published literature?

Answer:  13, 995 words!  It is in The Rotter’s Club, a 2001 novel by British writer Jonathan Coe.  If you haven’t heard of Mr. Coe, you might recognize 2nd place for longest sentence:  4, 391 words by the famous Irish novelist James Joyce, in Ulysses.

Now for those of you missionaries who are avid readers but who also need to write successful grant applications, forget about those crazy-long sentences in The Rotter’s Club and Ulysses!  In our work as grant writers, the motto is “less is more.”

Category: Blog

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words…..Today’s blog is a great visual regarding the steps you should follow before you begin writing a specific grant application.

Category: Funding Landscapes

“Is there a Local Contribution?”  

This is the question that every missionary should ask her or himself when completing an application for a project grant.   If there is not a specific line on the application itself for this information, be sure to announce your “local contribution” as early in the application as appropriate.