Nonprofit Grants and Fundraising

The nonprofit world is every bit as competitive as the commercial world. It can take the same skills,  and seemingly as much effort, to win a $300,000 state grant as to win a $3,000,000 federal basic ordering agreement. I know; I’ve captured both. See my Track Record.

Using skills developed over twenty years  in federal environmental business development and  non-profit fundraising, today Carlson Foley Enterprises, LLC (CFE) is helping nonprofits to win the grant game.

Some examples of Carlson Foley Enterprises nonprofit support:

• Won dozens of grants annually for nonprofit organizations with a win-rate of over 90%.  Identified targets using Grants.gov, SAM Assistance, GrantWatch, The Foundation Center, GuideStar and personal contacts.  Services included opportunity identification, relationship building, proposal writing, coordinating letters of support, developing financial projections and project budgets. Donors include corporate and private foundations, quasi-governmental foundations, local and county governments, and the federal government.  The majority of donors have made multiple awards.
• Served as Executive Director of the regional nonprofit Piedmont Regional Dental Clinic for four years.  Served as interim Director of the nationwide Hazardous Waste Action Coalition trade association within the American Association of Consulting Engineers.
• Provided support in creating and negotiating key performance indicators and implementing analytical methods to capture the data throughout the grant performance period and generated program metrics that demonstrate impact to the donor.  Data analytics and visualization are key elements of developing high quality grant reports that lead to new grants.
• Led the capital campaign to raise $500,000 for a new nonprofit organization wishing to open a new dental safety net clinic in the Piedmont region of Virginia.  Challenge was great because the nonprofit was new and had no track record and the project did not yet exist.  Campaign successfully met its goal in six months with a 99% win rate for grants.
• Co-chaired the first Mission of Mercy project in the Piedmont as an awareness-building event prior to starting the capital campaign that could open the Clinic in July 2011.
• Created an annual direct mail campaign for an animal rescue organization. Campaign raises approximately $30,000 annually with an average donation of just $50.  Mailing goes to 6000 households in the US and Canada.  The mail campaign is now in its 22nd year and is the largest fundraising activity of the nonprofit organization (Aussie Rescue and Placement Helpline). Services include design and writing the mail piece, coordinating review and list management with organization volunteers and interfacing with the fulfillment house.
• Served as Interim Executive Director of the Environmental Business Action Coalition, formerly known as the Hazardous Waste Action Coalition.  In addition to serving as Treasurer of the organization, I was responsible for the daily operations of this 60-member trade association.  Work included programmatic support including lobbying Congress and the Executive Branches (particularly EPA) as well as development of Congressional testimony and policy positions.  It also involved member recruitment and retention; Board of Directors coordination and support; publications fulfillment; website maturation; conference development and publicity; public relations support during name change; and employee recruitment/independent contractor management. Created (in 1996) and served as editor of the weekly newsletter, EBAC At Work, identified by the members as the service of greatest value to them from the trade association.