2025
Grant Writing
Lunch and Learn Series

The 2025 DH Leonard Consulting Lunch and Learn Series is a virtual event designed to offer nonprofit professionals valuable insights into grant writing and capacity-building techniques. Through short, informative sessions, participants will gain practical tips, tools, and resources to enhance their grant development skills and strengthen their organization’s funding efforts. The series covers topics such as grant readiness, proposal writing, funder relationships, and emerging trends in the nonprofit sector, providing actionable advice in a convenient format that fits into busy schedules.

Each session includes a $19.99 guide FREE

Interested in being a 2025 sponsor? Learn more by clicking below.

Full Series
Secure your seat for all 6 sessions and save over $100!
Purchase includes access to all 2025 sessions and recordings.
Take advantage of early bird pricing until January 1, 2025!
(Regular pricing - $239.99)
February 12th | 12:00pm ET
How to STAY Grant Ready as Your Organization Evolves
Trainer: Diane H. Leonard, GPC, RST
Description: Being grant-ready is so much more than "just" wanting grant revenue for an organization. Organizations of all shapes and sizes work to achieve "grant readiness" so that they can be competitive for a wide range of grants. And then... Life happens. Staff turnover happens. Funder priorities shift.
What was once a grant-ready organization may now be a partially grant-ready organization due to how the organization has evolved. It happens to the best of organizations!
In this live session, we will look at ways that organizations can STAY grant-ready as their organization evolves.

Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to maintain grant readiness as your organization evolves, despite changes like staff turnover and shifting funder priorities
- Understand key components of grant readiness and how to assess your organization's current capacity to be competitive for diverse funding opportunities
- Learn a variety of strategies for adapting your grant-seeking processes to ensure ongoing preparedness in a dynamic organizational environment

Guide: Grant Readiness Guide
February 12th | 12:00pm ET
April 16th | 12:00pm ET
How to Make a Go/Strategic No Decision for Grant Opportunities
Trainer: Diane H. Leonard, GPC, RST
Description: For a higher level of successful results from grant research, organizations should strive for helping your team learn to agree on a "strategic no," or at least a "not now." This is a difficult muscle for some teams to develop, because of the constant, simultaneous push to secure additional funding to support the mission. In this session we will share tactics and processes you can utilize in your team to build this ability within your organization.

Learning Objectives:
- Learn about what proactive grant seeking is
- Learn how to use the variety of research tool options to help your colleagues make a go/no-go decision
- Learn how to develop a strategic, manageable, annual grant-seeking plan
- Learn how to help your team and organization feel comfortable with making "strategic no" decisions about funding opportunities

Guide: Grant Research Guide
April 16th | 12:00pm ET
June 18th | 12:00pm ET
Don't Treat Your Grantmaker Like an ATM
Trainer: Diane H. Leonard, GPC, RST
Description: When do you go to the ATM? When you are out of cash, and need more for an upcoming expense. Grantmakers should never feel like an ATM—that is, grantmakers should not feel that your interactions with them are purely transactional. Yes, you need their funding to operate your programs and deliver your services, but the relationship should be focused on creating a funding partnership. Both parties in the relationship need each other to achieve their goals.

Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to approach stewardship of grantmakers
- Understand how to avoid treating a grantmaker in a transactional way
- Learn how to utilize the individual stewardship activities of your organization to help improve relationships with grantmakers
- Discover how to engage board members in helping to steward grantmakers

Guide: Grantmaker Relationship Toolkit
June 18th | 12:00pm ET
August 13th | 12:00pm ET
Don't Just Write the Grant - Find Your Red Thread and Tell a Story
Trainer: Diane H. Leonard, GPC, RST
Description: In this webinar, you'll learn how to craft a compelling "red thread," inspired by Tamsen Webster's book, that weaves through your entire grant application, engaging reviewers and motivating them to advocate for your funding. We'll explore how to integrate SMART objectives into your narrative, ensuring that each objective strengthens your overall story. By the end of the session, you'll be equipped to align every part of your application, from objectives to narrative, into a cohesive, persuasive case for support.

Learning Objectives:
- Master how to craft a "red thread" throughout your entire grant application that compels your reviewers to advocate for your grant to be funded
- Learn how to include compelling SMART objectives in your story
- Know how to ensure that the story you craft for the entire application aligns with and builds upon the objectives

Guide: SMARTIE Objectives Toolkit
August 13th | 12:00pm ET
October 15th | 12:00pm ET
Don't Make Your Grantmakers Do Algebra: How to Present Clear Budgets and Budget Justifications
Trainer: Diane H. Leonard, GPC, RST
Description: Whether or not grantmakers loved math back in school, we can PROMISE that they do not want to be solving for a variable and thinking about algebra when reading your budget or budget justification. So in this webinar, you'll learn how to design grant budgets that accurately reflect the total cost of a program or project while meeting the specific formatting requirements of different grantmakers. We will explore strategies for maintaining key details when customizing your budget and for creating a detailed budget that clearly outlines proposed costs. Participants will also learn how to ensure that the budget tells a consistent story aligned with the rest of the grant application.

Learning Objectives:
- Learn how to design a grant budget that shows the total cost of a program/project
- Understand how to customize the organization’s grant budget into a grantmaker’s required format without losing key details
- Know how to develop a grant budget that demonstrates the details of the proposed costs
- Be able to tell a consistent story in the budget that aligns with the rest of the application

Guide: Grant Budget Storytelling Guide
October 15th | 12:00pm ET
December 10th | 12:00pm ET
Don't Surprise Your Grantmaker: How to be a Fantastic Grantee
Trainer: Diane H. Leonard, GPC, RST
Description: Grantmakers do NOT like surprises (good or bad) about a funded project at the time a grant report is submitted. Surprises in a report lead to additional work for the person managing the funding program, and that does NOT endear you or your organization to the grantmaker. This can damage long-term funding relationships, even if the surprise was a good one. In this webinar, we will work through situations that commonly arise in grant-seeking organizations to help you be a fantastic grantee even when the implementation of grant-funded work does not go as planned.

Learning Objectives:
- Understand how to involve your grant team in relationship development and maintenance
- Learn how to manage and improve relationships with grant funders
- Know how and when to communicate with a grantmaker outside of required reports

Guide: Grantmaker Relationship Toolkit AND Grant Stewardship Success Checklist
December 10th | 12:00pm ET