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About Me

I love working in the nonprofit sector to amplify the voices of experts in our communities. I specialize in foundation fundraising for human services, and I also have experience with municipal, state, and federal grants.

Coaching

I bring a career’s worth of experience to your team.

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  • More than 20 years of writing for nonprofits and professional services.
  • Human services focus, ranging from youth development to affordable housing.
  • Experience with private foundations and public grants, contracts and procurements.
  • Volunteer grant reviewer experience for a more holistic perspective on the process.
  • Program and operating fundraising; capital projects; job creation and business-development resources.
  • Project leader for cross-departmental staff.
  • Experience as an on-staff grant professional who helped to triple a human service organization’s revenue from $2.1M (FY11) to $7M (FY18).

Supporting your essential work.

Read endorsements from satisfied clients. Want to see what we can achieve together?

“Writing grants can be intense — it’s an objectively hard thing to do well and the competition is tough. Dawn brings with her years of experience and a quiet warmth coupled with discipline and smarts that can help you learn this critical craft.”

Founding Executive Director

“Your guidance has provided an excellent framework for what's reasonable and how to work effectively.”

Food Justice Grant Professional

“Dawn was great at understanding our organizational goals, she always exceeded our expectations with the quality and timeliness of her work, and made it feel like she was a partner in our work - and that she was as invested in our success as we are.”

Youth Development Fundraising Leader

“Valuable insight into both regional and national foundations, and the challenges of looking for funding for an organization based outside many Boston funders' eligibility area.”

Grant Professional in a Gateway City

“Your expertise, steady support and sense of humor was truly a blessing over the years, and I could NOT have done any of it without you.”

Education Fundraising Executive

“Dawn supported our organization through a time of transition and was successful in obtaining seed funding for an important initiative. She is an asset to development efforts and a pleasure to work with!”

Advocacy Coalition Executive

A note about my values.

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While I help nonprofits navigate our current philanthropic system, I also see part of my mission as working to change that system. This includes:

See more about my experience on LinkedIn. You can also follow Dawn Grenier Consulting for ongoing resources.

Spinning words into gold:

Coaching, strategy and writing for grants