Classes & Events
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Affordable Housing and Homelessness Table Talk
Join us for a follow-up OneTable QC Table Talk as we bring the entire Quad Cities into one room to focus on real solutions to affordable housing and homelessness.
GPA Webinar: Effectively Navigating and Leading Organizational Change in a Time of Chaos
GPA Webinar: Effectively Navigating and Leading Organizational Change in a Time of Chaos
Credit Hours = 1 Hour
Skill Level = Mid- to Advanced-Career Level
Grant professionals constantly face change, whether from evolving funding priorities, leadership shifts in their organization or among funders, fluctuating community needs, or new programs. This year we have seen change on an unprecedented scale that requires organizations to adapt or die. This session equips you to effectively navigate and lead change within your organization – regardless of where you sit in the hierarchy – and shows you how to find and effectively use your voice.
Often, we think of navigating change as the job of “the boss” or the person in a position of authority. While they can play an important and key role in organizational change, anyone in the organization can effectively initiate and manage the change process. In fact, the most effective changes – and alerts to the need for change – often come from front line staff, those people more deeply engaged in the day-to-day grind of the organization. As grant professionals, you spent your days interacting with funders, program staff, and the broader community. As such, you often sit at the intersection of the external and internal environments and have a broader organizational and community view than most. This means that often you can see the need for change faster than others in the organization might. How can you alert others in the organization to that need and effectively encourage and initiate action?
Attendees will examine organizational readiness for change by looking at mission alignment, fostering transparent communication, and engaging staff and other stakeholders. By analyzing adaptive and technical leadership, you will learn to mobilize your teams, colleagues, and superiors for sustainable progress instead of seeking quick fixes.
The session will emphasize communication strategies, engagement of your networks, and continuous learning as the key components for lasting success. You will leave ready to create a concrete action plan that empowers you to take proactive steps to identify the need for and lead change in your organization.
Learning Objectives
Attendees will recognize and assess organizational readiness for change by evaluating mission alignment, communication channels, and stakeholder engagement.
Attendees will differentiate between adaptive and technical problems so they can apply the right approach to mobilize teams and guide sustainable progress.
Attendees will develop communication and engagement strategies that empower people at all levels to identify, advocate for, and implement change.
Attendees will learn the basics to create a personalized action plan to proactively lead change within their organization, regardless of their formal authority or position.
GPCI Competencies:
2: Organizational development as it pertains to grant seeking
3: Strategies for effective program and project design
8: Practices and services that raise the level of professionalism of grant professionals
CFRE Knowledge Domains:
Leadership and Management
Relationship Building
Presenter: Linda Wastyn
Disclaimer
The user acknowledges that the workshops, handouts, and related course materials contained therein are intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered to be legal advice or a substitute for legal or clinical consultation. These presentations address issues that are multi-faceted, and the user should not assume that the courses discuss every law, regulation, or ethical code that may be relevant to the subject matter. Legal and ethical standards are subject to change, and it is always prudent to check to see whether a particular law, regulation, or ethical standard may have changed.
Reminder: As an attendee, we require you to abide by the GPA Code of Ethics and our Event Code of Conduct. If you have any issues with either of these, please contact us at staff@grantprofessionals.org or 913-788-3000 to address the concerns.
Diversifying Your Funding: Retaining Donors Through Stewardship
Retaining Donors Through Stewardship
Diversifying Your Funding: Preparing for a Successful 2027
Preparing for a Successful 2027
Diversifying Your Funding: Supercharge Your Mail Campaign
Supercharge Your Mail Campaign
Writing Powerful Needs Statements that Persuade Funders to Make the Grant
Writing Powerful Needs Statements that Persuade Funders to Make the Grant
Available via Webinar from Grant Professionals Association
$125 Member / $175 Non-Member
Every successful grant proposal begins with a powerful “why.” Typically called the needs statement, this incredibly important section of your application convinces funders that a problem exists and demands attention, providing the lens through which reviewers interpret the rest of your proposal. Yet most needs statements fall flat, failing to adequately convince the funder to act.
During this interactive session, Dr. Linda Wastyn draws on nearly four decades of experience as a grant professional, consultant, and educator to guide participants through the art and science of writing persuasive needs statements. She demonstrates how to transform routine descriptions into compelling arguments that connect data, logic, and emotion. Participants explore how claims, evidence, and storytelling intertwine to create a clear and convincing case for funding.
Through practical examples, attendees examine how to frame the problem from the funder’s perspective, use credible data to support every assertion, and weave narrative elements that humanize statistics. The session encourages writers to move beyond dry facts and into storytelling that reveals the lived experience of the people affected by the issue. Dr. Wastyn models how vivid language, emotional engagement, and logical progression combine to inspire funders to act. The conversation explores common writing errors, logical fallacies, and rhetorical missteps that often weaken your credibility.
By the session’s end, attendees understand how to focus their needs statements on the change they seek rather than the activities they perform. They leave with a practical framework for crafting narratives that speak directly to funders’ priorities, highlight the human impact behind the data, and build a compelling case for investment.
Learning Objectives:
Attendees will learn to craft persuasive needs statements that balance data and storytelling
Attendees will understand how and why to link evidence to claims through clear reasoning
Attendees will develop strategies to engage funders emotionally and intellectually while maintaining professional credibility.
GPC Competencies:
4: Crafting, constructing, and submitting an effective grant application
9: Ability to write a convincing case for funding
Grant Professional Personas
Federal Focused Farah
Foundation Specialist Fatima
Newcomer Nia
Team of One Toni
Contributors
Linda Wastyn, Ph.D., CFRE, GPC
A frequent presenter at GPA and AFP conferences, Linda has nearly 40 years of grant writing experience in higher education and in multiple sectors as a consultant for the last 14 years. With degrees in communication and rhetoric, she has taught undergraduate communication classes and graduate classes on leadership communication and strategic communication as well as presentations on effective communication and leading change for GPA, AFP, and other organizations.
OneTable QC: Homelessness Table Talk
OneTable QC is hosting an upcoming Table Talk designed to bring nonprofits and policymakers together to discuss critical community issues through open, facilitated dialogue and shared experience.
OneTable QC: Affordable Housing Table Talk
OneTable QC is hosting an upcoming Table Talk designed to bring nonprofits and policymakers together to discuss critical community issues through open, facilitated dialogue and shared experience.
Diversifying Your Funding: Creating an Effective Plan for 2026
Finishing 2025 Strong to Prepare for 2026
OneTable QC Launch Event
Nonprofits, community leaders and QC residents are invited to join us for an informal conversation about the impact of federal budget cuts on essential services in our region. Through your stories, we will begin to find a unified voice and develop strategies to protect our families and organizations. Every seat matters, so pull up a chair!
How Much is That Prospect in Your Database? Major Gift Prospecting
How Much is That Prospect in Your Database? Major Gift Prospecting
Grant Writing Tips and Tricks to Improve Success
Grant Writing Tips and Tricks to Improve Success
Planning for Successful 2025 Fund Development
Planning for Successful 2025 Fund Development
Wine Up Wednesday: Should You Have an Annual Report?
As you think about the end of the year, should you publish an annual report or an impact report? Bring copies of what your organization publishes to share with your peers and your questions and we will workshop this important question.
Wine Up Wednesday: Peer-to-Peer Fundraising
Peer-to-peer fundraising has taken on an increasingly important role in philanthropy, especially among younger donors. We will discuss best practices and your experiences and questions with peer-to-peer fundraising to see if it fits with your organization and goals.
Wine Up Wednesday: Effective Year-End Giving
As we begin the fourth quarter, the end of the year will be here before we know it, making now the time to start thinking about and planning your year-end giving campaign. With approximately a quarter of all dollars donated in the next three months, learn how to increase the share that your organization receives.
Wine Up Wednesday: Preparing for Giving Tuesday
Love it or hate it, #GivingTuesday is just around the corner! If you want to launch a successful campaign, you need to start now. Learn some tips and tricks to maximize your impact on this increasingly important day for giving.
Wine Up Wednesday: Infusing Diversity into Your Organization
As we celebrate Black Philanthropy Month, we will discuss ways to infuse more diversity into your organization, whether as donors, board members, staff, or clients.
Wine Up Wednesday: Using AI in Development
Artificial intelligence has gotten a lot of attention lately. Will it replace your role? Can it make you more efficient and effective? Come share your experiences integrating AI into your work so we can learn this evolving field together
Wine Up Wednesday: One-Person Shops
Learn tips and share your own to recruit, retain, and engage the best board possible for your organization.
Wine Up Wednesday: Bloomerang Users Group
Learn tips and share your own to recruit, retain, and engage the best board possible for your organization.
Wine Up Wednesday: Engaging Effective Board Members
Learn tips and share your own to recruit, retain, and engage the best board possible for your organization.
Wine Up Wednesday: All About Endowments
Should you have an endowment? Learn all about endowments, who should have them and how to best raise money for your endowment.
Wine Up Wednesday: Measuring and Reporting Outcomes
Wine Up Wednesday:
Measuring and Reporting Outcomes
Funders increasingly want to see the outcomes of your work and their investment, beyond how many people you served. Come share and learn best practices in identifying, measuring, and reporting outcomes of your work.
Wednesday, February 7
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
IN-PERSON
Wastyn & Associates
4215 East 60th Street
Suite 4 (lower level)
Davenport, IA 52807
RSVP required; $10/person.
Step 2: Click here to view your cart
Wine Up Wednesday: Engaging new donors
Wine Up Wednesday:
Engaging new donors
Hopefully you will have lots of new donors coming to your organization through your year-end appeals and had lots of new donors throughout the year. How can you engage them with your organization and keep them engaged? Come share tips and tricks with your colleagues to retain more donors.
Wednesday, December 6
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
IN-PERSON
Wastyn & Associates
4215 East 60th Street
Suite 4 (lower level)
Davenport, IA 52807
RSVP required; $10/person.
Step 2: Click here to view your cart
Wine Up Wednesday: Marketing Strategies
Wine Up Wednesday:
Marketing Strategies
Successful fund development begins with people who know your organization and what you do. Whether marketing falls under your job responsibilities or not, you market your organization. Learn some tips and best practices for getting your message out in the crowded marketplace and raise more friends and funds.
Wednesday, November 8
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm
IN-PERSON
Wastyn & Associates
4215 East 60th Street
Suite 4 (lower level)
Davenport, IA 52807
RSVP required; $10/person.
Step 2: Click here to view your cart