News — Features

When I began writing grants for nonprofits, I assumed success came from pulling at the heartstrings of a wealthy benefactor. I knew I could tell a story about striving, need, and (with your generous support) lives changed. The nonprofit I worked for helped people in East Austin to start businesses. You could call them small businesses, but the term we used was microenterprises. These businesses had only a few employees. Sometimes, it was one single person employing themselves: a mother of two who lost her job and decided to sell the cupcakes everyone asked for at birthday parties; a person...