Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson
The Association of Development Officers has graciously agreed to offer discounted tickets to GPLH members for their Annual Philanthropy Awards Breakfast, which will be held on March 4, 2020 at Tappan Hill in Tarrytown.
Join us as we salute the 2020 Philanthropy Award honorees, recognize their efforts to make our community a better place and celebrate their extraordinary contributions.
The 2020 Honorees are:
Ticket Discount
GPLH members have been offered tickets at the special ADO rate of $75 This is a $25 savings on the non-profit rate and a $50 savings on the business rate.
To receive this discount:
There will be a GPLH table at the breakfast. To be seated at our table, include a note with your RSVP card. If purchasing tickets online, add your request to the “Company” field of the online form. Please also send an email to info@gplh.com so we can be sure you’re added to our table.
The Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI) presented Lydia Howie, Founding President of the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson (GPLH), with its 2019 Pauline G. Annarino Award, the grant writing industry’s highest national honor for impact on the grant writing industry and profession.
The award was presented on November 8, 2019 in Washington, DC, at the national Grant Professional Association’s annual conference attended by 880 attendees.
Ms. Howie was recognized for founding the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson in 2008 (an organization that has grown to 234 members and “friends”) and for her many other contributions to the grant writing industry, including: regularly guest speaking on grant writing both locally and nationally; authoring numerous industry articles; encouragning and supporting more than 10 individuals who have become grant writers or consultants; promoting and assisting three others to obtain their Grant Profession Certification (GPC); and fielding hundreds of calls from nonprofit agencies, grant writers, and individuals considering a grant writing career.
Through the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson, Ms. Howie has firmly established a grant writing legacy in Westchester County. GPLH has become one of the major regional nonprofit support agencies in the County providing: quarterly education; a Meet the Funders event; an internship program to “breed” grant writers; free counseling to individuals interested in becoming a grant writer as well as to nonprofits who seek grant writing advice; job/consultant referral; speakers bureau; free website resources; and networking.
Ms. Howie was the first in Westchester to earn her Grant Professional Certification - the “CPA” of the grants industry. Since 1999, she has been owner of Howie Marketing & Consulting, a grant writing firm that has raised over $40 million for area nonprofits.
About the Grant Professionals Certification Institute
The Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI) administers the nationally recognized Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential to grant professionals who meet eligibility requirements and successfully demonstrate proficiency in the required competencies. The GPC certification is based on rigorous standards and ongoing research to meet real-world demands of grant professionals. GPC-credentialed grant professionals demonstrate excellence in the grants profession.
About the Pauline G. Annarino Award
The Pauline G. Annarino Award acknowledges the efforts of an agency, group or individual who has elevated the status of the grants profession by promoting, steering, and/or marketing our profession as a significant contributor to our society. The awardee’s contributions have had a lasting impact on the grants profession and will serve as a foundation for the growth of the profession.
Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson is hosting two conference calls to discuss the mechanics and actual writing of the Impact100 Westchester Letter of Inquiry application. The LOI's are due 1/17/20.
GPLH is providing these sessions as a free community service to Westchester County nonprofits. Part of our mission is to help increase the likelihood of grants being funded. These sessions are being held independently of Impact100 Westchester.
The sessions are not “mandatory,” and participation will not influence Impact100 Westchester’s review of your application. However, over the past few years, many organizations whose grant writers or other staff members participated in one of the support sessions ended up as semifinalists and finalists.
The sessions will be led by Joanne Stewart, Owner/President of goodworks Advisory Group, LLC, a consulting firm specializing in Grant Writing, Marketing and Communications, and Board Development for nonprofit organizations. Joanne is currently GPLH Secretary, and is also a GPLH founding Board Member and Past President.
SESSION DATES*
(*One session per participant please)
TO REGISTER: Email Joanne Stewart at jstewart@goodworksadvisorygroup.com. Please include your name, agency, email address and the session you plan to participate in. The dial-in information and a copy of the questions will be sent to you prior to the conference call.
GPLH Board Member Alison Paul will be teaching Grant Writing Basics this fall, in Valhalla, NY, through the Continuing Education Department of Westchester Community College.
The class covers the basics of how to write a strong grant proposal, with a close look at each section, especially needs, writing realistic measurable objectives, and evaluation. The curriculum covers core components of a strong proposal, letters of inquiry, letter proposals, and online grant applications. The program includes how to find grants to apply for, do’s and don’ts, how to launch a grant writing career, and more. The culminating activity is putting on a "grant reviewer hat" and evaluating proposals written by peers.
The class will meet from 6-9 pm on four Thursdays this October: 10/3, 10/10, 10/17 and 10/24. There will be a short dinner break mid-way - no starving grant writers allowed!
Details can be found in the fall 2019 WCC Workforce Development & Community Education catalogue. The course title is Grant Writing Basics, CE-GRANT 2000. It is listed in the catalog on page 5, under Careers in Business.
Registration:
For more info, contact Alison Paul at apaulconsultant@gmail.com.
About the Instructor: Alison Paul is a fundraising consultant and freelance grant writer who has written grants for the arts, advocacy, children, the environment, human services, social justice, and other causes. She assists clients with grant writing, prospect research, assessing grant readiness, editing, and creating fundraising plans and cases of support. She was a grant writer for 10 years at the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns, raising over $12 million. As Executive Director of the Pelham Art Center she was involved in all aspects of fundraising and management. She worked previously as Director of Education at the South Street Seaport Museum and The Hudson River Museum.
Our regularly scheduled Grant Connections conference calls, held on the first Wednesday of every other month, are generally open to GPLH members only. However, our August call will be open to all grant professionals!
The call will follow our usual format. There’s no planned speaker. It’s an open-forum discussion led by the GPLH members who have phoned in. One of our two Co-Presidents will moderate.
It's a great networking opportunity and a chance to:
It's always an informal, 30 minute conference call. Call from your home, car or office. Stay on as long as you like: for 5 minutes or for the entire half hour. Just bring your questions or industry news and a cup of coffee.
Join us in August! No need to RSVP. Just dial in:
Date: Wednesday, August 7
Time: 8:30 am
Dial-In Number: 515-739-1403
Access Code: 621-539
Questions? Contact us at info.GPLH@gmail.com
We recently distributed a survey to GPLH members, seeking feedback about how we’re doing, and asking members what they need and want. In addition to receiving excellent ideas for future program topics, we learned a lot about who GPLH members are, and why they value our organization.
We learned that our members:
Would recommend GPLH to a friend or colleague: 100% of respondents agreed they would recommend that their friends and colleagues join GPLH.
Have many years of experience: 57% of respondents have been writing grants for 11 years or more. Another 13% have 5-10 years experience.
Have many other skills and are rich in experience: Many respondents are doing more than just grant writing. They are involved in a wide range of fundraising and related tasks, including Grants Management (71%), Special Events (32%), Marketing/Communications (32%), Individual Giving (21%) and Major Gifts (14%).
Participate in other professional organizations: We asked whether our members are involved with other professional groups for grant writers or fundraisers, and many are: 63% belong to the Association of Development Officers, 47% are Association of Fundraising Professionals members, and 31% belong to the Grant Professionals Association.
Respondents also shared specific comments explaining why GPLH membership is valuable:
A big congratulations to the recently announced 2019 IMPACT100 WESTCHESTER winners, many of whom were assisted by GPLH members!
We are delighted to report that Gilda's Club Westchester was one of the three $100,000 transformational project grant winners, for their proposal in support of a Teen Cancer Center. Gilda's Club Westchester is a client of Howie Marketing & Consulting, the firm owned and operated by Lydia Howie, GPLH founder and current Co-President.
The other two Transformational Project Grant Winners ($100,000 each) were:
Three Core Mission Grants ($12,333 each) were awarded to:
Also: A $15,000 Focus Area Grant, given for the first time this year, was awarded to Prison Communities International: Rehabilitation Through The Arts
A HUGE congrats to all the nonprofit winners, and the amazing GPLH members who helped make it happen! And thank you to IMPACT100 WESTCHESTER for being such a wonderful supporter of these important programs helping residents of Westchester County.
GPLH is happy to announce that two of our member organizations - Westchester Jewish Community Services and Howie Marketing & Consulting - have submitted 4 of the 6 grant proposals chosen as finalists in the Impact100 Westchester competition.
The six finalists vying for three $100,000 awards are:
Submitted by WJCS:
Submitted by Howie Marketing and Consulting:
Other Finalists:
The three runners-up will receive unrestricted Core Mission Grants of $12,333 each.
Best of luck to all the finalists, and special congratulations to GPLH members Westchester Jewish Community Services and Howie Marketing & Consulting!
We hope to see you at the Not-For-Profit Leadership Summit XVII on Monday, May 6, 2019 at the Doubletree Hotel in Tarrytown.
Presented by United Way of Westchester and Putnam and The Business Council of Westchester, this annual conference is dedicated to building professional and volunteer excellence in the purpose-driven organizations of Westchester and Putnam. It's a full day of informative workshops. Some will be eligible for continuing ed credits for Social Workers, CPAs, and Certified Fund Raising Executives.
Click here for details and to register.
GPLH will have a table at the Summit.
Be sure to stop by to say hello!
Also: Bring along friends or colleagues who are not yet GPLH members. For that day only, we’ll be offering a Membership Special for $50 which will include full membership benefits through this calendar year, expiring Dec. 31, 2019.
Through our Member Referral program, if you refer a new member who joins that day, you’ll receive a $10 gift card as our thank you.
In honor of International Grants Professionals Day (March 8, 2019) GPLH invited members to share their unique grant writing stories for a chance to win a free GPLH membership. Members were asked to tell us about a heartwarming grant story, or a success they were most proud of.
All of our members do great things, so choosing a winner was hard! Nevertheless, we are happy to share the winning entry from Maria Smith Dautruche:
As the Grants Officer at Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation (now New York Edge), I wrote 21st Century Community Learning Center grants to support out-of-school time funding in NYC public schools. Many were funded and renewed. What I didn't expect was the opportunity to make history - collaborating in writing the winning proposal for the first 21st CCLC grant to service a NYCHA residence.
Still, my greatest source of pride was winning grant funds to support much-needed out-of-school time funding for programs in my hometown of Mount Vernon, NY, renewable for up to 5 years - expanding the organization's service area and serving families I knew personally. To this day, seeing children on Gramatan Avenue or Lincoln Avenue wearing SASF t-shirts and knapsacks brings me such tremendous joy! We win grants that can really change the course of people's lives. I hope we find great fulfillment, motivation, and pride in that possibility and potential.
Congratulations to Maria on receiving her free GPLH membership! And congratulations to all of our members for the fantastic work they do every day!
CONTACT US:
info.GPLH@gmail.com
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