Grant Funding Strategy
I believe that faith communities today have a unique opportunity to mend our fractured society — and that the right funding can realize that possibility. I bring strategic insight into how funders think, what language resonates with their initiatives, and how to build a case that is theologically resonant and compelling to reviewers.
DISCOVERY: I begin by understanding your organization’s mission, vision, and values — what you uniquely offer, what impact you’re seeking, and how your proposed project advances both.
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT: I work with you to position your project in relationship to the funder’s initiative, shaping a narrative that aligns your organizational identity with the funder’s aims. This means knowing not just what they fund, but why — and framing your work in language that speaks to their larger vision.
PROPOSAL DEVELOPMENT: From letter of interest through full narrative, I develop the documents that make your case. I structure activities, outcomes, and budget together as a coherent whole, ensuring alignment across all materials.
GRANT ADMINISTRATION COACHING: Whether I worked with you on your proposal or you’re bringing me in mid-grant, I can serve as a strategic thought partner for budgeting and reporting, program development, team structure, and navigating the challenges of managing multiple grants.
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Organizational Health & Culture
Culture is the invisible force that determines whether your organization thrives or stalls. Most mission-driven organizations have articulated their values — fewer have built the systems that make those values real in daily work. I help bridge that gap.
Starting with honest inquiry — where do your stated values and your lived organizational experience diverge? — we build the structures that close it. My work is customized to your situation, and may include elements of:
- Developing interview frameworks that evaluate candidates for cultural and missional fit in addition to credentials
- Codifying organizational culture into living documents: values statements, behavioral expectations, and shared language to give your culture traction
- Creating professional development plans that connect individual growth to organizational identity
- Designing team development plans that embed cultural values into how people actually work together
- Building assessment tools that help leaders track cultural health over time and course-correct before drift becomes damage
This work is grounded in my New York University doctoral research, in which I developed a process for creating customized organizational values assessment tools — the same rigorous, context-specific process I bring to every engagement.
Leadership & Team Development
The first groups you were a part of formed how you feel and behave in group settingss, so we dig into your childhood story to understand how early interactions formed your assumptions about groups and your role in them. We then generate, practice, and build trust with new options. My method is built on ideas from:
- Patrick Lencioni’s model of engaging conflict for accountability and successful results.
- Wilfred Bion’s frameworks on group dynamics and group dynamics and basic assumptions
- Jack Gibbs’ multi-tiered model of building trust in teams and organizations
- In vein of Margaret Wheatley, integrating quantum and spiritual aspects into work together
- Collaboration
- Research from the field of cross-team collaboration and organizational values.
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Speaking & Facilitation
I am available for speaking engagements ranging from a short sermon to a multi-day event. My experience includes webinars, podcasts, courses, workshops, preaching in churches from a variety of denominations, presentations in academic settings, panel discussions, and keynotes. Sample topics include:
- Teams as the work of leadership
- Suffering, grief, and transitions
- Belonging
- Leadership crucibles and redemptive narratives
- Resilience and post traumatic growth
- Integrating spirituality and psychology in leadership
- The intersection of spirituality and modern cultural narratives
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