My Journey into Grant Writing and Nonprofit Consulting

Just over a year and a half ago, I made the transition from working as a full-time employee to establishing my own grant writing and management business, Transformational Grant Consulting, to help non-profits and other socially minded organization’s secure the funding needed to actualize their mission and create community change. As the second year of running a business approaches, I figured it’s about time I share a bit about how exactly I ended up on this road. I’ll preface this journey by stating that while writing has always been one of my most treasured tools, never did I imagine I would create a business built on words. Let’s just say, I once was a seven year old little girl who temporarily tattooed herself in red ink come spelling test time. To the inventors of spell check, I extend the utmost gratitude. 

My first experience with grants was in my Junior year of College where I was hired as a Research Assistant by Jacquie, the most badass Professor, to help evaluate the effectiveness of a grant that was awarded to a local municipality. The goal of the award was to reduce recidivism rates by connecting individuals who were incarcerated to resources before they were released from Jail. The project didn’t quite take off as intended, but through this experience I came to truly understand the platitude, “money makes the world go round.”

(A photo from the intern days, when my passion for community advocacy was further ignited.)

Later that year, I interned with the Washington State Legislature working for a local Senator. Part of the experience was having one on one time with the program administrator, Collene, who stressed the importance of networking. Connect with anyone and everyone who is doing any work that you are even remotely interested in, reach out to them, invite them for coffee or lunch, and pick their brain. So, I had Collene connect me with John who worked as a Grant Writer for a local university. I asked John to lunch, which he so kindly ended up treating me to, and we spent a few hours talking all things grants. We discussed what it’s like working as a Grant Writer, the struggles, the joys, about how to overcome the inevitable discrepancies between writing a grant and implementing it. He shared about some of the most impactful projects he was able to get funding for like providing on-site daycare to increase college graduation rates for single mothers. After the conversation with John, I became even more infatuated with the realm of funding for good.

By the end of my internship, it was time to enroll in courses for my senior year, and boy was I in luck, because Whitworth offered a Grant Writing Course. Now, at Whitworth a full-time student is anyone taking 12-18 credits, and we were charged the same base tuition regardless if you enroll in three classes or five. Wanting to maximize my tuition dollars and with room left in my schedule, I approached Jason, my interim academic advisor, as Jacquie was on Sabbatical, doing all the things, establishing Drug Courts in Columbia. I explained to Jason my new found appreciation for Grants and desire to learn how to address community needs through fundraising. Jason quickly crushed my hopes, and informed me that while Whitworth did offer a Grant Writing course, the class was only available to continuing education students. Rude, I know, but luckily pathways to places are very rarely linear. 

After graduating, I was working 50-60 hours a week for two different non-profits as a Residential Counselor for traumatized boys in the foster-care system and as a Case Manager at Family Promise of Spokane, an emergency housing provider for families experiencing homelessness. After six months of this, a kid 50 pounds heavier and inches taller than me attempting to stab me, and several bruises later, my sensitive spirit was left feeling somewhat burned out. As I was contemplating finding just one, slightly less stressful job, Family Promise had an opening for a Grants Coordinator. My inside knowledge of the organization’s mission, vision, and direct work helping families find stable housing, provided just the change I was looking for, and with no formal grant writing experience, I was hired for the job. 

(The best part of the job, when funders announce an award. Numerica coming in with a $25,000 grant.)

The onboarding and ongoing training one receives can be vital for overall success in a position, and I was incredibly fortunate to have Hilary, the organization’s Grants Manager at the time, as my direct supervisor. Hilary taught me the ropes with all things grant writing from conducting research, to crafting narratives that effectively convey intended goals, to reporting funder’s impacts, and maintaining internal records. Once I was fully onboarded, Hilary and I walked through performance measures for my first year. My goal? Raise $1,000,000. Yes, that is in fact the correct number of zeros. Depending on the field you’re in, a million dollars may or may not be a lot of money, but to a recent College Grad making just over twenty bucks an hour, that was indeed quite the lofty goal. Now if anyone’s ever played any type of game with me or intends to in the future, know this, I am fiercely competitive. The idea of losing just doesn’t sit well with me. So, like most things I am tasked with, I stepped full force into the competition. Once I was awarded my first grant that totaled more than my entire year’s salary, I became hooked, and the race to a million was on.

Within my first year as a Grant Writer, my goal was actualized. I served as the lead Grant Writer on applications that raised a million dollars! Plus, I assisted with several other grant applications that generated roughly four million more. 

After a year of working as a full-time Grant Writer for Family Promise, I applied and was offered a job at a local university to write grants that raised funding for the institution and faculty research. This offer came with the whole nine yards- a nice salary, benefits, and the promise of a free master’s degree after a year of employment. You could say I was rather excited at this proposition. However, I was set to be married in six months and my soon to be husband and I had the radical idea of spending our first year of marriage traveling around the world. At the time, we only had a few month's of travel expenses saved, but had faith that somehow this dream would work out. Left with the decision of job security or the odyssey of a lifetime, I talked with Family Promise's leadership team and they said while they could

(Grateful for the journey that promotes adventure while helping others create lasting change.)

not match the benefits the university was offering, they would be interested in hiring me as a Consultant when I got married. That gave me just enough runway to establish Transformational Grant Consulting, and I secured my first client. Taking the leap of faith into entrepreneurship, while difficult at times, has paid dividends in so many unfathomable ways. As a full-time consultant for the past 500+ days, I've helped nonprofits and small businesses across the globe raise $5 million- all the while experiencing the beauty, wonders, and diversity the world has to offer with the love of my life. Now I am honored to be living in alignment with what matters most, embracing my values and helping entities create equitable and thriving communities.

And that, folks, marks the origin of my start into nonprofit consulting. If your organization, or one you know of, is looking to make a meaningful impact and needs grant writing expertise to get there, I’d love to help. Feel free to reach out, and let’s explore how we can work together to transform your vision into a funded reality.