Upcoming Events

Learn more about our upcoming workshops, webinars, and training sessions designed to help grant professionals grow their skills and impact.

Grant Management Throughout the Grant Seeking Cycle

1 hoursOn Demand
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
Grant management isn't just a post award task. Good grant management protocols and procedures can lead to improved efficiency and increased grant revenues. In this session, participants will learn grant management best practices for each phase of the grant seeking life cycle from funder research through post award management, reporting and grant close-out.

Program Narratives - Writing Smarter not Harder

5 hoursJul 21, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
This session teaches the art of crafting grant narratives that are strategic, engaging, and efficient. Participants will learn how to break down funder questions, use storytelling powerfully, align responses with funder priorities, and write compelling narratives that maximize existing materials—making every grant application smarter, faster, and more fundable.

How to Cut Characters without Cutting Content

3 hoursJul 24, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
This session equips participants with hands-on strategies to cut character counts without cutting essential content. Through real-world examples and rewriting exercises, participants learn how to craft tighter, more powerful narratives that meet funder limits without sacrificing impact.

Keep Calm & Proof It Again, and Again, and Again, and Again, and Again!

3 hoursJul 28, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Deja Hasness, Client & Funder Relations Manager, Global Development Solutions
In this session, participants learn a professional six-step proofing process to ensure grant documents are accurate, consistent, and funder-ready. Working in pairs, they will proof and provide feedback on each other's writing, gaining real-world practice in catching errors and strengthening final submissions.

Getting Stellar Support Letters

3 hoursAug 4, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Deja Hasness, Client & Funder Relations Manager, GDS Grants
In this session, participants learn how to secure and craft powerful support letters that boost grant proposals. You'll discover how to approach supporters, capture their authentic voice, and manage the process efficiently. By the end, you'll know how to create letters that are heartfelt, strategic, and funder-focused—turning a small detail into a big asset for your applications.

Creating Impactful Supplemental Materials

3 hoursAug 7, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Heather Daly, Content Manager, GDS Grants
In this session, participants learn how to build a powerful toolkit of supplemental materials that enhance grant applications. From flowcharts and impact reports to partnership letters and media packets, discover how strategic, visually clear materials can tell your story better—and help you stand out to funders.

Show me the Money: Budgeting for Grant Writers

4 hoursAug 11, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
This session equips grant writers with the essential skills to build strategic, funder-ready budgets that strengthen grant proposals. Participants learn how to create, scale, and narrate budgets that demonstrate need, sustainability, and impact for securing funding.

Understanding Fiscal Documents for Grant Writers

3 hoursAug 14, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
This session helps grant writers understand and navigate key nonprofit financial documents like cash flow statements, profit and loss reports, audits, 990s, and comparative budgets. Participants will learn how to interpret these documents and use financial insights to strengthen grant proposals and demonstrate organizational capacity.

Communicating Impact with Data

3 hoursAug 18, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Heather Daly, Content Manager, GDS Grants
In this session, participants learn how to collect, manage, and communicate data to strengthen their grant proposals. Discover how to turn program statistics into compelling stories, create practical data systems, and build impact narratives that funders trust and value.

Understanding the Logic of Logic Models

3 hoursAug 28, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
This session teaches participants how to build powerful logic models that map a program's pathway from resources to impact. Participants will learn to define success, measure outcomes, and connect program activities to meaningful results. Through real-world examples and a hands-on exercise creating a full logic model for a program of their choice, participants will strengthen both their grant proposals and program design strategies.

Contract Considerations

1.5 hoursOn Demand
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Deja Hasness, Client & Funder Relations Manager, Global Development Solutions
This session empowers emerging and mid-level grant professionals to build strong, ethical contracts that protect their work and lay the foundation for sustainable consulting practices. Participants will learn how to define scopes of work, set payment terms, manage client responsibilities, and plan for "what if" scenarios—gaining the tools needed to grow confident, successful grant writing careers.

Why You Should Never Work for Free

1.5 hoursOn Demand
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
Looking at income and pricing data reveals many grant consultants work for free unintentionally. This session will help grant consultants recognize their value, learn pricing models and how to properly track their time to ensure they are being paid for all hours worked… unless they are working pro bono by choice.

How to Screen Potential Clients

1 hourOn Demand
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Deja Hasness, Client & Funder Relations Manager, Global Development Solutions
Appropriately screening potential clients is the first step in a positive consulting relationship. Participants will learn how to identify good clients and determine which clients match their grant services, as well as recognizing red flags and issues that may create challenges when working with grant seeking clients.

How to Track Client Data & Program Outcomes and Create Impactful Impact Reports

3 hoursAug 25, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Heather Daly, Content Manager, GDS Grants
In this session, participants learn how to track client data and program outcomes strategically and sustainably. Discover how to build simple, effective systems that strengthen grant proposals, empower program staff, demonstrate impact, and drive continuous program improvement.

Building Strong Relationships with Funders through Communications

3 hoursSep 1, 2025
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
  • Deja Hasness, Client & Funder Relations Manager, Global Development Solutions
In this session, we explore how to build meaningful and lasting relationships with funders beyond the grant application. From writing compelling reports to navigating site visits and crafting powerful thank-you and denial letters, you'll learn how every touchpoint is a chance to deepen trust and increase future funding. Discover how to communicate both wins and challenges with confidence and turn funders into long-term champions for your cause.

Why You Should Love Writing Grant Reports

1.5 hoursOn Demand
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
In this session, participants discover how grant reports can become powerful relationship-building tools. Learn how to craft reports that not only meet funder requirements but deepen trust, highlight impact, and position your organization for repeat and increased funding.

Firing Problem Clients

3 hoursOn Demand
  • Rachel Waterman, Founder & CEO, Global Development Solutions
Participants will learn about resources to support them when making the difficult decision of firing a client. Participants will learn to identify the 12 types of clients that make grant writing burdensome and should be considered for firing.