Grant Management

I began managing grants 10 years ago with the Norman Arts Council. Part of the duties of my position was to oversee the grants process for the more than 30 organizations to which we would grant funds. From beginning to end, everything had to be incredibly organized for the grants committee, panel and organizations to successfully complete their work.

At that time, I also reviewed grants for the Oklahoma Arts Council and Mid-America Arts Alliance.

When I became the Community Arts Director at the Oklahoma Arts Council, I was charged with reviewing and overseeing around 350 grants per year. These grants required hours of work to ensure they were complete and within the guidelines of the state agency. During this time, I continued to review grants for the Mid-America Arts Alliance, as well as the Arkansas Arts Council, Texas Commission on the Arts, Kentucky Arts Council and others.

I consider myself to be hyper-organized and a thorough researcher. I love reading and reviewing grant applications in order to help build the organization. I have never been shy in giving critique, but always with the belief that we all must properly evaluate our programs and the language we use to describe those programs.

While working at the Oklahoma Arts Council, I developed the Cultural District Initiative, a grants program for the communities of Oklahoma to help develop and foster growth in arts and cultural districts around the state.

At the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits, I have taught Grant Writing 101, 201 and the Summit courses to give a better understanding to nonprofit grant writers on how to craft a successful grant application.