| | believe that the best way to understand the future is by viewing it from the perspective of being an "on the street" professional. Here is an overview of my work and why I started VentureCharities.biz.
Please feel free to contact us to learn more about how we can use this experience to your financial benefit! You can also click over to see my California State Resolution, which summarizes some of my past accomplishments.
PROFESSIONAL FUND RAISING AND NONPROFIT MANAGEMENT
Over the last 25 years my work has been divided between fund raising consultations, grant writing and administrative management project for numerous nonprofit agencies. I’ve also prepared a good number of for-profit business plans and investor materials for small business ventures. Most of my work involves seeking grants or donations from foundations, developing contracts, arranging business loan package materials or hunting for potential investors. I’ve created hundreds of project packages to support program implementation or expansions with budgets ranging from $5,000 to $2,000,000. I’ve successfully secured over $10,000,000. Currently, the majority of work centers on writing and designing double bottom line efforts seeking to help achieve a balance using for- profit and nonprofit business and operational models.
CURRENT OR RECENT GRANT AND INVESTOR SERVICES
Not-for-Profit Packages:
• Consulting Grant Writer, Grant Writing Partnership. Currently serve as a consultant who is assigned to various writing and proposal packages for diverse clients, mostly Title 1 (Low Income) schools. Presently completing school library and multi-media resource proposal for $250,000 equipment, software and neighborhood networking Literacy for Life Initiative for Dollarway Schools in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. (Current position. I also write for spontaneous clients seeking short-term writing consultants.) • Grant Writer, Latino Resource Center on Alcoholism, Addiction and Community Involvement, Latino Commission on Alcohol & Drug Abuse (Alameda County). Developed and wrote a 5-year NIH/NIAAA Specialized Alcohol Research Center grant application for $8 million to focus core scientific research within community-service settings. Over nearly two years, I prepared approximately 20 packages averaging over $250,000. December 2007- November 2009. • Grant Writer Consultant, Delray Credit Counseling Corporation, Delray Beach, Florida. Prepared educational and investor materials to create online forms and learning activities to empower consumers to better understand and use debt management and credit counseling or support services. May 2009 to January 2010). • Project Writer, Children’s Network, Solano County. Prepared the final report and survey assessment of a 2009 salary and benefits review of family and center-based child care facilities in Solano County. Final brochure report expected to be released in early 2010. • Grant Writer, Benicia Historical Museum. Prepared basic funding applications and City funding documents seeking special project and operational money for local historical initiatives. 2009 • Grant Writer, Priority ONE Licensed Family Child Care Initiative, Solano County Licensed Family Childcare Network and Solano County Office of Education. Developed and continue to refine series of foundation and business LOIs for a Priority ONE family child care initiate to reduce the eligible waiting list and to empower family child care programs. Original application sought over $400,000 to create a network of family childcare providers to enhance and expand the availability of critically needed services while integrating research-supported educational elements to facilitate each child’s successful transition from day care to public schools. • Grant Writer, Mom’s In Bloom. Developed initial grant application materials and project descriptive materials for the creation of a new peer and professional doula birthing and lactation support consultant agency serving Southern Solano County mothers and families in need. Start-up grant requests for $60,000 are pending, as are donor and business contribution inquiries of $1,000 to $3,000. Secured $5,000 from Solano First Five project for writing fundraising strategy. November to December 2007. • Grant Writer, Benicia Unified Schools, Put together Career Technical Education and Physical Education Enhancement grant applications for the California Department of Education. Prepared separate application proposals seeking funds earmarked for outstanding extensions of existing school programs. Both applications received funding, with a CTE grant of $19,000 to purchase equipment and supplies, and Physical Ed. Elementary school grant of $70,000 to increase health and wellness activities at 4 schools. June-Oct. 2007.
For-Profit Business Packages
• Marketing/Advertising Development, Shiroco’s Fusion Décor Commercial Enterprise. Developed multi- faceted writing, promotional, investor and sales/partnership package for small-town retail store with emphasis on integrating new media technologies into successful growth and sector integration. • Business Plan Writer: Circle of Friends Child Care Center. Prepared investor loan package. Includes project overview of existing business. Developed idea statements, core marketing, sales, outreach/marketing, implementation and graphic financial cost and ROI spreadsheets for expansion in Fairfield, CA. • Business Plan Writer, A Place to Grow, Green-Learning Sustainable Child Care Center. Prepared start-up loan/investor loan package for new business in Concord, California.
NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT:
May 2001- March 2004 Executive Director, California Coalition for Youth/California Youth Crisis Line (www.CalYouth.org), Sacramento, CA. Fully responsible for all agency management, board interaction, fund raising, public policy oversight, legislative liaisons, and youth empowerment directions. Also successfully maintained and completed the program elements of widely acclaimed teen pregnancy and violence prevention initiatives with a focus on giving voice to young people in the California legislature. Co-edited and created the book Young Enough To Matter, a manual for teaching advocacy and empowerment techniques to adults seeking to work with young people to generate community change.
February 1998 – April 2001 Assistant Director, Xanthos, Inc., Alameda, CA. (www.Xanthos.org). Primarily responsible for general, ongoing fund raising for seven major program components, community partnerships and capital purchase/renovation campaigns for family counseling, education, mental health training and project services for runaway/homeless youth. Helped double the agency’s overall operating and program revenues from about $2 million to nearly $4 million.
September 1992 – September 1995 Executive Director, Oakland Men’s Project, Oakland, CA. Served as first executive director, where I helped increase budget from $80,000 to over $250,000 while implementing several recognized anti-violence and gender-awareness initiatives, including helping coordinate the boy’s component of the first Take Our Daughters To Work Day activities.
January 1986 – July 1992 Development Director, Rubicon Programs, Inc. Richmond, CA. (www.RubiconPrograms.org). Undertook the full- scale development of fund raising campaigns that included securing federal and state funding for transitional and supportive housing, critical care counseling, money management, and education/vocational training skills for persons with severe mental disabilities and formerly homeless men. Agency’s annual budget was about $600,000 and has grown to nearly $14 million and is now recognized as a national entrepreneurial project for highly vulnerable populations in need.
Other ongoing or one-time consulting projects:
• Bi-Bett Corporation, Concord/Oakland, CA. Broad-based drug and alcohol recovery and substance abuse services provider. Prepared grants for recovery, prevention, and intensive counseling services. • Alameda County Office of Education, Oakland, CA. Health & wellness programs. • Asian American Drug Abuse Program, LA, CA. Vietnamese gang violence reduction initiative. • Berkeley Unified School District, Berkeley, CA. Desegregation proposal packages. • Filipino AIDS Task Force, San Francisco, CA. Foundation/corporate proposal packages. • Kings County Office of Education, CA Mentoring/business programs for rural youth. • La Chiem Schools, Inc., San Pablo, CA. Alternative school revenues for mental health projects. • Mobilization Against AIDS/International AIDS Candlelight Memorials, San Francisco & Worldwide (precursor to elements of World AIDS Day.)
NEW DONOR SOLICITATIONS:
* Conducted follow-up calls for California Council of Churches in effort to generate donations specific to social justice projects for open and affirming Churches addressing gay/lesbian marriage. * Sought project and financial contributions from religious organizations and leaders throughout California. (National Religious Campaign Against Torture; National Religious Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons Dangers, Faithful Security/Project 2030). * Developed case-statement and donor information packages to encourage planned giving contributions, with successful commitments of properties. * Conceived of and implemented new and ongoing donor solicitation campaigns seeking to develop new and ongoing small donor bases for each agency. (Successfully established Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Steinem as personal major donors for Oakland Men’s Project.) * Succeeded in doubling (or greater) overall intake of donations for each agency listed during the course of my tenure. (Generally developing plan to double average gifts of long-time and new givers.) * Developed project-specific fund raising events and conferences to serve as stable income resources (including coordinated $500,000 annual San Francisco AIDS Dance-a-thon in late 1980s).
CAPITAL CAMPAIGN CASE MATERIALS:
o Divine Mercy Shrine and Retreat Center, Alameda County, CA. Currently under development, this $30,000,000 project has achieved a below-market sale of 100 acres of land, and more than $500,000 in personal and professional donations. This project continues to move forward using glossy fundraising materials and the trainings that I provided board members and church supporters, who are now doing their own fundraising. o Xanthos, Inc. Sought and received approximately $2 million in grants, loans and directed donations to purchase and renovate a 12,000 square foot office and program headquarters, which is currently still in use. The largest funding source was a below-market nonprofit loan (of about $750,000), and a grant from the California Endowment for $400,000, the first direct capital grants made by this funder before they decided to link such grants to program goals. o Rubicon Programs, Inc. Put together a broad-based campaign to solicit numerous small grants and donations (under $20,000) to purchase and renovate a large facilities site, estimated at $750,000. Also successfully wrote and implemented several HUD grants directed toward the purchase and renovation of multi-unit supportive, emergency and transitional housing projects for persons with significant mental disabilities.
EDUCATION:
• Masters, Sociology/Criminal Justice, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 1983. • Bachelors, Sociology/Political Science, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI 1980.
RELATED TRAINING:
• Grant Reader, CA Departments of Education/Justice, School/Police Community Action Grants (2004-2005) • Workshop Facilitator, Northern California Chapter, Society of Fundraising Professionals, July 2005.
"Reliable funding is required to achieve scale, but the amount of capital needed for large-scale growth of non- profit programs has proven to be too much for any one funder to consistently provide (including government)," according to Growth Philanthropy.
IS YOUR AGENCY READY FOR THE EXPECTATION OF A CREATIVE PARTNERSHIP THAT WORKS?
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