Heart and Soul program puts poetry into grant-making | Social Signal

If part of your job with a non-profit organization is to chase grants, then you may have found the proposal-writing process... well, a little dull at times.

That's especially true if you're applying for support from the kind of buttoned-down funding source that favors turgid, lifeless prose over imagination or creativity.

But here's some good news: your brain's left hemisphere can release its death-grip on your right hemisphere. Because the CTK Foundation—which celebrates non-profits and promotes technology to address the root causes of social issues—is offering a $10,000 USD grant to an American, British or Canadian non-profit... and the way you apply is by writing an original poem.

The poem should be four to eight lines long, and you have until March 28th to write it. The $10,000 award also includes having your submission turned into a song performed by Bill Dillon (recently exonerated thanks to the Innocence Project of Florida after nearly three decades in prison). You can find the details at http://communitytech.net.

There are additional awards on the line as well:

• 2nd place award is a cash grant of $5,000 (US) or its value in foreign currency
• The 2011 Blogger's Choice Award, where a randomly selected blogger participating in spreading the word among nonprofits about the H&S Grant Award Program will choose a nonprofit applicant to receive a $1,000 cash grant or its value in foreign currency
• 2 steel-stringed guitars, signed by all members of Los Lonely Boys (which you can auction for fund-raising)
• Up to 20 technology grants, valued at $10,000, to nonprofits that indicate an interest

The deadline for applications is March 28, so wake up your muse—or challenge your staff, volunteers, supporters or clients—and find the poetry in your organization's mission!