The seven-week Advanced Grant Development: Federal Proposals Certificate is designed to provide the participant with the resources, expert-guided practice, and mentoring to be able to write a competitive federal grant proposal. In addition to working in small groups with an experienced grant writer, participants will also have the added bonus of receiving a personalized proposal review by the knowledge specialist prior to submission for a federal grant, as well as packaging a professional grant submission, grants management, and grants.gov.

Participants enrolling in this certificate must have advanced writing skills and previous experience in writing both state and foundation grant proposals. The following counts as acceptable experience: taking a previous college-level course or professional development course focusing on writing state and foundation grant proposals; having prior experience with a nonprofit organization writing grant proposals for state and foundation grants is also acceptable.  This is a fast-paced and intensive course.

Participants must begin the class with a pre-identified organization for which they will be writing a proposal. This can be a nonprofit for which they work or a community need for which you want to write a proposal. To be successful in the course, it is essential to be able to:

• Retrieve detailed information from that nonprofit, such as the nonprofit’s mission, programming, budget or 990 forms.
• Have personal knowledge from a previous volunteer or employment situation with a nonprofit or from online research to generate a budget based on the needs of the nonprofit, the project or the community.
• Have proficient language and writing skills.

The following two textbooks are required for this certificate program:

• Smith, Nancy Burke & Works, E. Gabriel (2012). The Complete Book of Grant Writing: Learn To Write Grants Like A Professional. Sourcebooks, Inc. Naperville, IL. ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-67291
• Kester, Cheryl L., Cassidy, Karen L. (2015). In The Trenches: Writing To Win Federal Grants. Charity Channel Press. Nashville, TN. Printed book: ISBN: 978-1-938077-61-6

This course will consist of article reading, discussion questions, authentic assessments, and self-tests to enhance learning and build upon prior knowledge.

NMI courses are taught using the Canvas learning management system and include a variety of multimedia tools and resources. To ensure you can successfully access the multimedia tools in your courses, we recommend you use a standard PC or Mac desktop or laptop. Mobile devices are not recommended. Courses are best accessed using a high-speed Internet connection and a modern web browser such as Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Chrome or Safari.

Early Bird special: $1,199 (ends two weeks before course start date, retail $1,325).