Certificate in Grant Writing
Program Details
Duration: 8 sessions
Times: 5-6 p.m.
Cost: $1,750
Location: Online
Next Start Date:
January 20, 2025
According to Grants.gov, there are over 1,000 federal grants available to government, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Further, foundations awarded $3.7 trillion dollars to U.S. nonprofits. By earning this certificate, you are well-equipped to apply for these grant opportunities.
About This Program
The course is a blended format of online and on-demand materials, combined with a series of eight live video conference meetings with a learning cohort for problem- and case-based discussions. Course topics include proposal writing, organizational readiness, grant strategy, developing budgets, building relationships with grant makers, ethics and reporting.
By the end, you'll have written an exemplary grant proposal for the organization or project of your choice with feedback and encouragement from your instructor and peers.
Upon assessment of the final course project, you’ll receive a Certificate in Grant Writing from Western Washington University and 2.4 continuing education units.
Meeting Schedule
This course meets online on the following days: January 22, 29, February 5, 12, 19, 26, March 5, 12. Final project is due March 19.
Who Should Attend
This course is for individuals whose current role requires writing grants, those who will need to write grants in the future, and those with a general interest in grant writing.
Career Outlook
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics cites job growth in the field of writing at 9% between 2020 and 2030, with just over 15,000 grant writing jobs available each year – and that’s just formal jobs offered by organizations. There are tens of thousands of gig grant writing opportunities on freelance platforms.
What You'll Learn
- Organizational Readiness
- Prospect Research
- Grants Management
- Grant Strategy
- Proposal Writing
- Project Budgets
Gain an understanding of an organization’s lifecycle and how it relates to capacity for grant-seeking.
Learn strategies and resources for researching grant funding sources. Interpret guidelines, limitations and requirements to assess grant maker intent.
Understand how to track grants, write grant reports, and build long-term relationships with grantmakers.
Write a complete ‘real-life’ grant proposal step by step with personalized feedback and encouragement. Learn advanced grantwriting strategies such as framing theory and incorporating storytelling to present ideas in a logical, persuasive, and compelling way.
Discern effective practices for developing realistic, accurate line-item and narrative budgets and expressing the relationships between line items and project activities in the budget narrative.
Connect with an Advisor
Meet Your Instructor
Allison Jones is an adjunct professor and one of only twenty-five approved trainers in the country for the Grant Professionals Certification Institute. She is an approved trainer of the Grant Professionals Association and Certified Fund Raising Executives. She is the founder of Spark the Fire Grantwriting Classes and has over 25 years of experience in grant writing and nonprofit management. Her courses have been rated as one of the best grantwriting classes in the nation for two years running by Instrumentl. She is a grant reviewer for several grantmakers, enabling her to offer insight from the other side of the table. Jones consults for 501 Commons and state nonprofit associations across the county. She loves working with nonprofit and government professionals who are passionate about making a positive impact in our community. Jones has an M.Ed. in Adult Education and a background in social services.