Beginner Grantseeking (In-Person Event)
May 8 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
2314 University Avenue West
Saint Paul, MN 55114, Suite 20
Fee: $100 for MCN members / $140 for nonmembers
Register Now!
Where does the grantseeking process start? How do you find funders interested in your organization and your programs? There are proven tactics for finding funders that are a good fit for your organization–and plentiful resources online–many of them free!
In this three-hour live in-person training, we’ll discuss the best ways to begin grantseeking (which is closer than you think!), explore four good places to start looking, work through a proven process for finding funder information, discover how to “dig deeper” into a foundation’s interests, and determine the best way for you to start capturing what you are learning about your organization and its potential funders.
This training is specifically designed to help you gain important grantseeking competencies and skills related to researching, identifying, and matching funding resources to meet specific needs. Through this training, you will:
- Know more about major trends in grant funding
- Apply methods of locating funding sources
- Explore techniques to learn about specific funders
- Determine the right method for maintaining, tracking, and updating information on potential funders
- Identify fundable programs and projects for your organization
- Locate best matches between funders and specific programs
- Interpret grant application request for proposal (RFP) guidelines and requirements to accurately assess funder intent
Workshop participants will receive a digital copy of the Handbook for Successful Grant Writing that covers topics ranging from research and planning to a glossary of commonly used terms. The Handbook is only available to participants and is not otherwise for sale.
This session focuses on the nonprofit funding landscape and the process of seeking grants. The second session in this series is Beginning Grantwriting, which centers around writing grants. There is also an Intermediate Grantwriting session that serves as a writing workshop. NEW in 2025 is State Grantwriting 101, which offers an overview of the Minnesota state grantmaking process. Visit MCN’s Event Calendar to register for one or all.
Event Details
The date and time of this in-person event is: May 8, 2025, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. Central.
Refreshments: Coffee, tea, and a light snack will be provided.
Travel: Driving directions, transit options, and parking instructions are available on MCN’s website.
Accessibility: Visit our Contact Us page for information on MCN’s office space, accessibility details, and additional features.
Doors will open 30 minutes before the event start time.
Masks will be optional at this event.
Speaker Information
Melia Smith
Director of Annual Giving, Summit Academy OIC
Melia Smith is a community-driven fundraiser, who like most people of her contemporary, fell backwards into fundraising. She has worked the spectrum of fundraising roles from data entry to leading a development department. She has broad experience in the field and her expertise lies in establishing, analyzing and overhauling fundraising operations, community-centered donor strategy development, and institutional and professional fundraising writing. Melia’s experiences in a number of diverse fundraising environments have given her holistic perspective on developing solutions to systemic challenges in fundraising spaces.
Her career has been shaped by working in challenging environments where she has been able to lean into leadership roles as a strategist and community builder, leveraging skills like project management, coaching, and conflict mediation and management to build collaborative and human-centered working environments. Melia’s fundraising praxis is rooted in justice and she excels when she gets opportunities to blend traditional and grassroots fundraising practices to advance a more equitable philanthropic community.