Grant Writing

The Grant Writing Certificate Program consists of four courses designed to be taken in the order listed.

Fall 2026 Schedule

(Four courses, 7.0 CEUs required for certificate)
Total cost: TBD

• Introduction to Grant Writing
• Building a Competitive Application for Funding – Part 1
• Building a Competitive Application for Funding – Part 2
• Grants Management – Beyond the Proposal

Course Offerings

Introduction to Grant Writing (GW 101)
1.5 CEUs

This course introduces the skills and strategies for writing effective grant proposals. The course will provide students with an overview of the nonprofit sector, and an understanding how fundraising fits into a nonprofit’s overall fundraising strategy. This course also introduces the fundamentals of grant writing, including understanding the grant process, identifying funding sources, and assessing organizational readiness for grant writing.

Building a Competitive Application for Funding – Part 1 (GW 102)
2.0 CEUs

This course offers practical insight into the grant writing process. It will introduce the seven components of grant-writing: 1. Statement of Need/Problem Statement; 2. Project Description, including: narrative, goals and objectives, activities and timeline 3. Evaluation 4. Budget, including personnel, operating and indirect costs 5. Sustainability 6. Conclusion, Executive Summary 7. Organizational Capacity, including Mission. This course will go into depth on components 1 and 2 listed above. Topics will include defining root causes of community problems; building an evidence-based needs statement; developing a strong program service design; and utilizing the logic model as a systematic roadmap for guiding the entire grant writing process.

Building a Competitive Application for Funding – Part 2 (GW 103)
2.0 CEUs

This course is part 2 of Building a Competitive Application for Funding. Part 2 will focus on grant writing components three through four: 3. Evaluation 4. Budget, including personnel, operating and indirect costs 5. Sustainability 6. Conclusion, Executive Summary 7. Organizational Capacity, including Mission. Topics will include grant budgets, applicant capability statements, application guidelines/requirements and developing an executive summary. This course will address these elements using practical examples and exercises to prepare you to tackle these essential elements of competitive grant applications.

Grant Management: Beyond the Proposal (GW 104)
1.5 CEUs

This course provides an opportunity for students to apply fundamentals and principles of grant writing into real-world scenarios for grants management. Topics focus on submitting the proposal and beyond, including funder relations and engagement, grant implementation and maintenance, and reporting impact through storytelling. Students will apply critical thinking skills and brainstorm effective strategies for specific scenarios in grants management and funder engagement. In addition, possible new uses for AI in grants management will be explored.