Grants are NOT Free Money … You Must Put in the Work!

Grants are often the first go-to in a nonprofit’s arsenal of fundraising tools when in reality they should be the “cherries on top” in any annual development plan. Why, you may ask, when so many nonprofit leaders consider grants “free and easy” money?  In this session, Roxane plans to describe the role grants should play in an overall fundraising scenario using the 3 R’s of Research, Relationships and wRiting.

This presentation is not intended to be a Grants 101 cram session, but rather an innovative perspective on how nonprofit leaders should view and use grants in their overall fundraising strategies.

Roxane Johnson, GPC, Senior Grant Writer for Operation Breakthrough, is a 30-year veteran in the grants profession, initially writing grants while working under other job titles. She served on the board of the Heart of America Chapter of the Grant Professionals Association for four years, the last three as its president. She also served two years on the board of the Kansas City Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFPKC). In June 2020, she became a charter

member of the Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC), a national organization based in New York. She also is a charter member of the local African-American women’s giving circle, called Sisters’ Circle of GKC.

Since 2018, she’s raised millions in grant funding for Operation Breakthrough, including its STEM-related initiatives for preschoolers to high school teens, among other areas for children and their families. Roxane has worked as a grant writer and fundraiser for DeLaSalle Education Center, a Kanas City charter high school. She also served as Fund Development Director for the Niles Home for Children and oversaw the agency’s 125th anniversary celebration events.