Grant-Writing Seminar Set in Roanoke

On May 11 more than 100 nonprofits from Charlottesville to Roanoke to Abingdon will benefit from a free grant writing seminar, presented by Rutherfoord and The Hanover Insurance Company in Roanoke.

The seminar will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at The Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development.

The event will provide the non-profits with training on how to recognize appropriate grants and introduce strategic planning tools for identifying short and long-term funding needs. The seminar is one of the largest pro-bono services to bring together nonprofits from across the region to address a common challenge.

According to Ed Winstead, vice president, account executive at Rutherfoord, the seminar is a direct response to a major need by nonprofits throughout the region. “As the economy has struggled, the means by which nonprofits have been able to serve their communities have shrunk dramatically," he says. "While these organizations recognize the critical importance of new funding sources to achieving their goals, many simply don’t know how to get started.

“This is a valuable opportunity for nonprofits to learn what types of grants are available to them, the tools that exist to help them pursue those grants, and to gain insight about creative methods to help them stand out from the crowd.”

The training will be led by New Mexico-based Resource Associates, a national leader in grant writing education. Topics include:Understanding good grants from bad grants, and knowing which grants to pursue

• Black and white vs. creative ways to determine alignment of an organization’s needs with a grant competition
• Understanding funding streams and grant types
• Reviews of federal, state, and private agencies, and sample RFP’s that align with the needs of typical non-profits

“We all benefit from the existence of nonprofits in our communities. The services they provide improve all our lives,” says Winstead. “We feel part of our responsibility at Rutherfoord is to assist these organizations as best we can, to ensure they have the knowledge and access to resources they need to continue advancing their missions.”