ABOUT

Jen Fenwick brings 23 years of nonprofit experience to your organization after working in fundraising, educational programming, administration, operations, and social science research. She has worked at organizations such as California Science Center, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and New York Hall of Science. She served as the Director of Institutional Giving for the public radio producer and science education nonprofit Science Friday from 2012-2022. Jen is based in New York City.

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FIELD EXPERTISE

Fenwick Nonprofit Strategies works at the intersection of science and society, specializing in grants fundraising for science communication, informal science learning, STEM education, public media, and journalism. In addition, we provide interim development and executive leadership services focusing on building funder, staff, and community trust and improving organizational infrastructure for fundraising readiness. We offer a free consultation to any nonprofit organization, regardless of their mission.

SERVICES

• Funder cultivation and communications
• Prospect research
• Grant writing and proposal preparation
• Multi-organization grant application submissions management
• Interim development director, grants director, and other executive leadership transitions
• Staff and Board coaching, training, and workshops

Development Planning
• Assess your organization’s business model
• Find new development opportunities
• Structure your development department’s budget, staffing, hiring, and long-term strategy

Proposal Project Management
• Lead onerous grant application processes from start to finish
• Manage all aspects of proposal submission including narratives, budgets, supplementary documents, and online submissions
• Achieve buy-in from project partners
• Liaise with project partners to ensure project is completed by the deadline

Grants Readiness Assessment
• Determine the probability of successfully winning a specific grant
• Estimate the staff and consultant resources needed to complete the proposal
• Determine resources needed for post-award grants management
Conduct a risk/benefit analysis for a successful proposal

Prospect Research
• Grants prospect research
• Assessment and ranking of organizational priority alignment
• Recommendations for connecting with the grantmaking organization’s team
• Major gifts prospect research

Development Infrastructure
• Create processes and policies for your development department
• Identify donor and grants management and communications tools that are right for your organization
• Ensure organizational documents are up-to-date and accessible
• Set up a grants management system
• Conduct risk assessment

Board Development
• Initiate a Board development committee
• Lead informational presentations and trainings at Board meetings
• Workshop with Board to identify connections

Staff Training
• Train junior staff members on grants and fundraising practices
• Lead informational presentations and trainings at staff meetings
• Provide on-the-spot guidance and advice

Grant Writing
• Write letters of intent, proposal narratives, and concept papers
• Edit proposals and make recommendations for improving the narrative
• Determine objectives, activities, deliverables, and evaluation plans
• Align project narrative to the project budget and write budget narratives
• Develop logic models

Post-Award Process Planning
• Communicate award information to staff and Board
• Identify on-staff project manager and team and assess job description changes
• Set expectations for project roles and responsibilities
• Recruit and hire necessary staff to complete the project successfully
• Set up project check-ins
• Align grant budget with chart of accounts

Grant Reporting
• Work with program staff to submit high quality report narratives
• Work with finance staff on expense reports
• Find creative ways to communicate project impact

Interim Services
• Fill the role of development director, grants director, or grants staff services
• Provide interim executive director services with a focus on retaining funder trust and investment
• Fill gaps for executive and staff roles when on parental leave or when position is temporarily vacant

Funder Communications
• Craft outreach emails and phone scripts
• Develop ongoing communication for cultivation and stewardship
• Draft talking points for funder calls
• Design creative recognition strategies
• Create face-to-face touchpoint plans for events