Advanced Grant Writing and Grants Management

This course is designed for individuals with at least one year of experience writing proposals for nonprofit organizations or business proposals. Typical roles include:

• Nonprofit employees
• Regular volunteers
• For-profit professionals wanting a career change

• Identify and assess the fit between a potential foundation funder and a project or organization
• Apply advanced techniques for creating compelling, succinct proposals
• Expand your understanding of common pitfalls and challenges with proposal writing, grants management, and funder relationship management
• Utilize a funder-focused lens in critiquing and improving your own proposals and those of your peers
• Understand the differences and similarities between proposals focused on foundation funding and those focused on government/public funding
• Create systems and practices for increasing efficiency and effectiveness of grant writing, such as customizable templates and information banks
• Identify and utilize systems and best practices for cultivating and managing funder relationships

• Overview, discussion of the theory and realities of philanthropic giving in the modern era, common pitfalls, introduction to using a funder lens in strategy and communications
• Prospecting and ROI: identifying potential funders and assessing fit as well as potential return on investment using real-world examples
• Stepping into their shoes: grant writing from a funder’s perspective, using a funder-focused lens to critique and improve proposals
• Beyond the what: ensuring that proposals powerfully link needs to actions to outcomes through logic models, theories of change, etc.
• Relationships matter: cultivating relationships within the organization and with funders—funder cultivation, relationship-building, networking, and maintenance
• Walking in their shoes: assessing funding requests as a funder using rubrics
• Work smarter: developing systems for increasing grant writing efficiency, such as templates, organized standard attachments, internal deadlines, internal relationship-building, etc.
• Shining even brighter: revising proposals for maximum impact
• Working even smarter: refining systems for maximum efficiency
• Bringing it all together: reflection, discussion, career opportunity exploration

Are textbooks required for this course?

Yes. The required textbook to purchase for the Advanced Grant Writing and Grants Management Certificate is:

Karsh, E. and Fox, A. (2019). The Only Grant-Writing Book You’ll Ever Need (5th ed.).

Are any additional materials needed for the course?

Though not required, the following text is suggested reading material:

Clarke, C. (2009). Storytelling for Grantseekers: A Guide to Creative Nonprofit Fundraising (2nd ed.).