Beyond the Report: Creating a Relationship-Driven Grant Culture

What if your next grant win started with a rejection? What if your funder stewardship plan looked more like a major gift strategy than a checklist of deliverables? And what if the key to sustainable grant success wasn’t just in your proposal writing—but in your organization’s internal culture?

In this engaging and honest session, a Director of Advancement and a Grants Manager will share how they’ve worked together to build a grant program that does more than apply and report. You'll hear real stories of wins, rejections, and those confusing “not now” emails—and how they've learned to debrief internally, respond with grace, and turn feedback into future opportunities.

You’ll also learn how they’ve embedded grant-readiness into their organizational culture—from aligning program design and storytelling to prepping finance and leadership for the long game. And most importantly, how they’ve moved foundation stewardship from transactional to transformational—building trust, relationships, and long-term funding partnerships.

Attendees will walk away with:

• Practical steps for building a culture of grant readiness across departments

• Templates and talking points for debriefing wins and losses with leadership

• Ideas for proactive, relationship-driven foundation stewardship

• Real-life examples (and lessons learned) from grant wins, fails, and everything in between