Grantsformation,
Inc. is a grant writing, training, and consulting firm that is available
to serve clients from public schools and school districts in all
50 states.
Our
mission is to EXCITE, INSPIRE, and EMPOWER people to access funding
for their dreams.
COMPANY
HISTORY
In
1995, our founder and President had already been toiling away for
many years as a middle school teacher in an urban district in Houston,
Texas when her principal tossed an inch-thick book of forms on her
desk and said casually, "Hey, you know how to write well. Write
this."
It was a state-level application for a reading program. She thought,
well, I can read directions and write a decent sentence; how hard
can it be?
We can hear some of you laughing...
A few
months later, she had her first $25,000 taste of success. Buoyed
by this, her principal kept tossing and she kept writing—and winning.
A successful $240,000 technology grant catapulted her, first, into
the position of Technology Grant Manager and then into an administrative
post in the Grant Development Department of the nation’s 7th-largest
school district.
In this position, she joyfully helped others make order out of chaos
and won millions in funding by editing and writing and teaching
and questioning and staying up REALLY LATE to meet deadlines. (They
called it a promotion!) Among other things (like how much she hated
the politics), she learned where every late-night FedEx drop-off
point was within a 10-mile radius, but after a few years, she grew
restless and thought she wanted to do something else—like become
a Principal.
And now the rest of you are laughing...
Foreseeing an impending shortage of qualified school administrators,
her district happened to be offering a 50% off sale on Master’s
degrees (they’d pay half and arrange all the classes), so for two
years, she studied to be a principal. But all through graduate school
and even during the ensuing years as an Assistant Principal and
Dean of Instruction, colleagues and friends kept asking (and paying!)
her to write grants for them, so she did, all the while hating her
real job and being mad that, after being Òfast-tracked, she STILL
wasn’t the boss.
To
amuse herself and to help her figure out this thing called life,
she took personal development courses at Landmark
Education ,and after the second one, she created who she was
in the world: The Possibility of Transformation and Fun!
But her job wasn’t Fun (certainly not with a capital F!), and most
days, it wasn’t about Transformation at all but about scheduling
and cafeteria duty and discipline reports and test scores. It was
basically the same day over and over and over again.
So
now what?
Soaking
in the bathtub one summer night, it came to her: What she REALLY
liked to do was to work on projects that had intense work periods,
a deadline, and an actual product. THAT WAS GRANT WRITING! Hmm...
Grants+Transformation=GRANTSFORMATION!
Eureka!
She had found it!
But being a sensible woman, she developed a plan. She’d work in
the school system for one more year and THEN strike out on her own.
Yeah!
She took another course with Landmark Education, and this one changed
her life.
The focus of Landmark’s Self Expression and Leadership Program is
to identify a community that you want to serve and then create a
project that impacts it. The community was teachers; the project
was a grant writing conference. It was a raving success!
Over
80 people came and paid money for 2 days of training complete with
keynote speakers, breakout sessions, good food, and the chance to
win more than $5,000 in mini-grants for projects of their own design.
Only
two breakout sessions were led by our fearless conference organizer,
but the reaction was life-altering. She was teaching AND THEY WERE
WRITING THINGS DOWN! They were ASKING QUESTIONS! They were BEGGING
FOR MORE!
This was not like her regular job, but this was only November; she
still had most of a school year to go.
And
then, on Monday, December 2, 2002, a drug-addled neighborhood man
came to her school wielding a gun. Although no kids or teachers
were in danger, the threat to the school police officer was scary
and real.
The man was subdued and the situation defused, but as she listened
to it unfold over the walkie-talkies, she made a decision RIGHT
THEN AND THERE: If she was going to die at work, it would not be
at THAT job, in THAT neighborhood, in THAT position, with THAT attitude.
She took the next day off from work and investigated the resignation
process. It only takes ONE signature on ONE sheet of paper? Really?
Okay then.
Now, Educators are loyal, ethical people. They don’t just quit in
the middle of the school year—it’s like a code or something. But
this had been a sign. The time was right; the time was now. She
gave notice, worked through the end of the semester, cleaned her
office, and quit. And a company was born.
Since
January 1, 2003, Grantsformation, Inc. has worked on more than 60
projects, earning over 23 million dollars for clients all over the
country—even the Navajo Nation!
What started out as one woman’s really good idea became successful
because we put passion, possibility, and joy into our work EVERY
SINGLE DAY. In short, WE LOVE THIS, and we want to do it for you
so you can do what YOU love.
Let
Grantsformation, Inc. find funding for YOUR dreams. |
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