Grant Writing Course

Proven Strategies for Grant Success

Join Linda Wastyn and Jordan Kirkbride LIVE for this 5-part class and learn how to effectively plan, research, and write a grant application with detailed instruction and hands-on exercises that walk you through the grant review process.

Hybrid format. Join us for LIVE classes either online from your office or in-person at Wastyn & Associates in Davenport, Iowa.

Register today! Class begins Tuesday, October 27, 2026

$495

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.

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.