4-Week Grant Writing Cohort

• 4 sessions of 90 min each, live webinar

• Open to members of the Greater Northwest Area of the United Methodist Church

• Application required, 15 organizations will be selected to participate by 3/31

• Registration fee of $50 for up to 3 people from each organization

• Includes a one-hour individual consultation per organization

• Participants must complete one Get Ready for Grants session or reach out to Tim Overton-Harris (timovertonharris@gmail.com) to request exemption

This is a four-part seminar for churches and associated parachurch organizations looking to use grant funding to support their current operations or launch new projects. Interested groups will need to have basic budgetary information, a short summary of a project appropriate for grant funding, as well as a 2-3 person grants team from their organization (can include staff, board, and/or volunteers).

We have structured the course to walk participants through their own grant application process. Each session will teach a step in the process, then give suggested homework for grant teams to work through in between sessions. Organizations will get the most out of this series if they are able to spend 2-3 hours working on their grant plan or an application before the next session. Implementing the skills in real time will allow teams to come back to the next session and ask questions as they have them.

Session One: Setting up for Success

Date: April 14, 2026 at 12pm PT
Welcome to grant writing! This first session covers the nuts and bolts of grants, best-practices for team building, planning, workflow, and communication, and how to responsibly make grants a part of your fundraising plan. We will also discuss submissions, denials, and setting expectations for grant reporting

Session Two: Funding Goals and Finding Funders

Date: April 21, 2026 at 12pm PT
This session is about understanding your financial needs, making a funding plan, searching for grants (methods, resources), vetting funders, processing eligibility requirements, and mapping preliminary grant requests to be pursued. Each group will work on finding an actual RFP (Request for Proposals) to pursue as homework.

Session Three: Writing About Your Organization

Date: April 28, 2026 at 12pm PT
Now that you know which funders you’d like to solicit, this session will pull common RFP questions and walk you through a checklist of questions to help generate a strong narrative surrounding your organization as a whole. This will include a short clinic on best practices for organizational budgets and other official paperwork you may need for grant applications.

Session Four: Writing About Your Project

Date: May 12, 2026 at 12pm PT
This session will directly address the project for which you’re fundraising, whether that’s a pilot program, expansion of an existing program, or general operating support. We’ll talk through real application questions, tackle evaluative measures, and learn how to adapt your project to the funder without making unattainable promises or venturing outside of your mission. We’ll end with a second budget clinic that focuses on project budgets – both line item and budget narrative formats.

By participating in all four sessions, promptly scheduling your one-on-one consultation, and dedicating time as a team to work on real applications between sessions, you can leave the class with a competitive grant application. And, most importantly, the tools to write even more.

Apply Here

Application opens February 26th and closes March 19th at 2pm PT.

This series is brought to you by the Greater Northwest Area of the United Methodist Church in partnership with Parish Resource Center. Sessions will be led by Susannah Conner, the Program Development Lead at Parish Resource Center and a grant writer based in Pocatello, Idaho. Other presenters include the members of the GNW Area Grants Work Group representing all regions of the conference.

About the Instructor:

Susannah Conner has been an independent contractor specializing in fundraising for nonprofit, cooperative, and faith-based organizations for over ten years. She is the Program Development Lead for Parish Resource Center, tasked with shaping new projects and pursuing grants, both within the organization and by teaching classes for churches and small organizations through PRC’s community education program. Susannah received her B.A. in English Literature from UNC, Chapel Hill and her Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School. She is based in Pocatello, Idaho and engages in grassroots funding opportunities in partnership with First UMC, Pocatello, and local immigration groups.

About the GNW Grants Team:

Rev. Emily Carroll is a lifelong Alaskan currently serving alongside the beautiful people of First United Methodist Church of Anchorage. She graduated from Candler School of Theology in 2018 and was ordained as an Elder in the PNW Conference in 2021. Emily has a deep passion for discipleship and justice work and daily leans into God’s promise of redemption in her work as pastor and community organizer. Emily has led the development of the Citywide Childcare Cooperative at First UMC over the last three years, a $3.1 million project that is almost entirely grant funded. When she is not at the church you can probably find her outside enjoying God’s creation with her husband and two boys.

Megan Kilpatrick MSN, RN has been a Registered Nurse for 20 years and currently works in nursing professional development and education. She came to the UMC in her 20s and has served at the local church and conference level in a variety of lay ministries. She currently resides in Tacoma with her family and enjoys cooking, crafting, and the outdoors.

Corinne McVee has been working in the field of competitive grants for 20 years. She has successfully developed proposals for faith-based, preK-12 and higher education, fine arts, cultural, sciences, and other sectors. Corinne often sits on the “other side of the table” as a peer reviewer, reading and scoring federal grant applications. She recently helped her local church secure over $2.5 million in government and private grants to support the launch of a new onsite childcare center.

Rev. Tim Overton-Harris born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and the United Methodist Church. He served local ministries in rural, urban, and suburban settings of all varied sizes and staffing models for 35 years. He was a member of the Greater Northwest Cabinet for eight years as a District Superintendent in two Districts and a Special Assistant to the Bishop for a year. Though never directly involved in grant writing, he has served on the staff and boards of many organizations that relied on grants as part of their funding model. In his many years of ministry, he has come to see the importance of ministry settings diversifying their funding and how grants can be an integral part in funding ministry.

Cesie Delve Scheuermann serves as the Stewardship Consultant to the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference, and she is also a Senior Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship. Cesie cut her teeth in the development world by writing grants for numerous non-profit organizations – two that had budgets of more than $1 million. She had a success rate of 70-80% for all the grants she wrote. Cesie also writes the weekly blog, “Inspiring Generosity.”