• Advanced Grant Writing and Grants Management Certificate

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 similiarities 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

Week 1: Overview of course, 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

Week 2: Prospecting and ROI: identifying potential funders and assessing fit as well as potential return on investment using real-world examples

Week 3: Stepping into their shoes: grant writing from a funder’s perspective, using a funder-focused lens to critique and improve proposals

Week 4: Beyond the what: ensuring that proposals powerfully link needs to actions to outcomes through logic models, theories of change, etc.

Week 5: Relationships matter: cultivating relationships within the organization and with funders -- funder cultivation, relationship-building, networking, and maintenance

Week 6: Walking in their shoes: assessing funding requests as a funder using rubrics

Week 7: Work smarter: developing systems for increasing grant writing efficiency such as templates, organized standard attachments, internal deadlines, internal relationship-building, etc.

Week 8: Shining even brighter: revising proposals for maximum impact

Week 9: Working even smarter: refining systems for maximum efficiency

Week 10: Bringing it all together: reflection, discussion, career opportunity exploration

Are there course materials?
There are no required textbooks for the course, but there will be readings suggested by faculty.