Grant Writing & Planning Consulting for Nonprofits and Other Social Impact Organizations


I have a confession to make - everything about writing and managing grants used to intimidate me! 

When I first started as a university professor, I felt like everyone around me kept saying, “You have to get grants to be successful,” but I felt totally unprepared and ill-equipped to bring in the funding that it seemed my career would hinge upon. 

I stumbled around in the grant world during those early years, seeking out trainings, readings, and other information to learn what I could. I had a few “hits,” but a lot more misses (i.e., rejected grant applications) for several years. I felt so much pressure to keep writing grants, but the lack of success had me wondering if all the time and energy that went into grant writing wasn’t worth it.

It was about halfway through my 19-year career in academia when I finally realized two core things that had been missing in my previous grant writing endeavors: (1) an effective strategy and (2) the right mindset for approaching grants. 

All the pressure to bring in funding had influenced me to seek funding, but without an overarching strategy for why and how to approach grant writing in a way that focused on grant writing as a means to an end. Once I started to view grant work as a way to expand and deepen the real-world impact of my work, rather than as a key to simply staying employed or making the powers-that-be happy, everything changed for me.

Fast forward to 2019, when I became the Director of a grant-funded research center within the university. At times, the pressure remained high, especially because keeping funding levels high was the key to keeping a wonderful team of center staff members employed. However, I was determined to do two things:
  1. Stay focused on the right purpose (i.e., leveraging funding to expand the center’s impactful work, rather than simply chasing dollars), and
  2. Develop a strategy for writing and managing grants that would help provide a solid, stable financial foundation for the organization.

I served as Center Director for 4.5 years, and during that time, I increased the external funding from an annual budget of about $1.5 million in the first year to $6.8 million in my last full fiscal year in that role, and I served as the Lead Principal Investigator (PI)/Contract Administrator on virtually all of that funding. 

I’m proud to say that, despite my scared and intimidated start in the world of grant writing, by the time of my retirement from the university, I had been the Lead PI on a total of over $17 million brought into the university. I’m even prouder to know that the impact of the work done through the support of that funding has had ripple effects on the mental health, relationships, and well-being of the lives of thousands of people across North Carolina and beyond.

Now, through Start Here Counseling & Consulting, PLLC, I'm grateful for opportunities to partner with social impact organizations of all kinds to support their grant writing efforts. I do this both through consulting services focusing on grant writing and management, including strategic planning around developing a strategy for seeking and leveraging grant funding to expand organizations’ ability to carry out their missions to make a positive difference in the world. 

Please reach out via the Consulting Services Inquiry Form if you’d like to discuss how my grant planning and writing services may be a fit for your organization.

To learn more about my experience relevant to grant writing and planning, prospective clients are invited to connect with me on LinkedIn or send me a message to request a copy of my resume or CV.

Christine E. Murray, Founder of Start Here Counseling & Consulting, PLLC