"When I stepped into a fellowship position in a public school district, I had no experience in writing grant proposals. Fortunately, I attended one of Katherine’s grant workshops, where I picked up the nuts and bolts of the trade. She gave me coaching feedback as I crafted a plan and resources for the school district, and then assisted our efforts by presenting an in-service for the teaching staff. Many teachers and non-grant writers can be intimidated by grants. Katherine breaks down the steps of proposal writing in a clear and understandable way. Participating in grant training helped lower the barrier for the district to apply for grants. In a few months of working with teachers on their grant requests, we raised over $50,000! Katherine served as a mentor and proposal coach for my work with a larger project to install a new synthetic turf field at Sto-Rox Jr./Sr. High School, which has received a $250,000 grant from the Pittsburgh Steelers through the National Football League Foundation Grassroots Program." - Brian Rhindress, Former Site Director, Sto-Rox School District & Communities in Schools of Pittsburgh-Allegheny County
“Katherine provided a train-the-trainer session via Skype and materials that prepared me to teach Basic Grant Proposal Writing Workshops. It has been a wonderful experience and a fantastic gift to nonprofits in this corner of Alaska, where in-person professional grant training can be hard to come by. A total of 32 participants attended at two sites of the University of Alaska, including 5 people who drove in from the next town 85 miles away! The most appreciated aspect was the pre-proposal worksheet for program support, as well as having your sample short proposal to review as we walked through the components of a grant proposal. Those documents were invaluable in helping participants fully grasp the material. I loved how we ended the workshop on a positive note with tips for proposal writing success. I think your curriculum is fantastic, and I am so grateful you allowed me to share it with the nonprofit professionals in my community!” - Heather O’Connor, CFRE, Executive Director, Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic, Homer, Alaska
"Thank you for serving as the instructor of our GPC Virtual Study Group. I thoroughly enjoyed our weekly video meetings where grant professionals from across the country shared responses to your scenarios. Each grant competency was explored in great detail, with much discussion of the 'gray areas' that are frequently encountered in our profession. As a grant writer with 18 years of experience, I was skeptical regarding how much I would learn from these sessions. I am delighted (and humbled) to share that the sessions helped me identify competencies in need of strengthening. Your comments on the final assignment - the dreaded writing prompt - were especially instructive.” - Mary Hubl, GPC, Senior Grant Writer & Development Consultant, Vic Gutman & Associates, Omaha, Nebraska
“Thank you for speaking with VisonServe Alliance attendees who are CEOs, Executive Directors and Program Directors at organizations that provide services to people with vision loss. There were many “seasoned” leaders in the room who have sat through presentations about grant writing and funding options without learning anything new. Many attendees told me how pleased they were by your talk on Agency Preparation and Positioning for Federal Grants as they gained new insight and tools to implement going forward. One CEO told me that he emailed his staff while you were speaking as they were in the midst of writing a grant and he wanted to make sure to include your suggestions. I think the most valuable take-away for me was that we could accomplish more together than as organizations scattered around the country! We truly appreciated learning from you.” - Roxann Mayros, CEO, VisionServe Alliance, Saint Louis, Missouri
“Thank you for sharing the worksheets and templates that will be helpful in writing proposals. I’m so glad to have attended Proposal Writing for Operating Support at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh-Nonprofit Resource Center and hope I am fortunate to participate in your future seminars.” - Mike Kelly, Anchor Program, Wheeling, West Virginia
“Over a 10-year period Katherine assisted me to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars in foundation and government grants for three nonprofit organizations. Her attention to detail and ability to quickly grasp program issues is quite remarkable. Katherine is reliable and always submits on time. Her intelligence, coupled with professionalism and pleasant demeanor helps to relieve the stress of grant writing. Her consulting style thrives in challenging situations. It’s remarkable that we have secured 100% of the grants in which we collaborated.” - Jan Glick, CEO (Retired), Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh
"Katherine was an invaluable resource aiding me in a successful launch as a freelance consultant for small nonprofits. As a fairly seasoned fundraiser, yet new to the consulting arena, I had very specific questions in launching my business. She offered advice on areas I had not even considered and gave me tangible step-by-step homework to get started. Since then, my career and business has taken me to my dream job. Katherine has a wealth of information for those new and seasoned in this field. I highly recommend her as a grant career and business coach.” - Jeanette Lahm, Executive Director at Laurelville, a Retreat Center in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania
“Katherine’s Grant Writing as a Career workshop was extremely informative and useful. As a Director of Development working over thirty years for various agencies, Katherine’s seminar presented a new option for a second career. Even as a seasoned fundraiser, I learned many useful facts and gained insight into the grant world. Katherine’s teaching abilities shine as a presenter. She is clear and concise, easy to understand. She gives wonderful examples of everything necessary to know to embark on a grant career. I highly recommend Katherine’s offerings.” - Connie Schwartz-Bedo, CFRE
“I have been pleased to employ Heart Resources, LLC as a grant contractor. Katherine is an outstanding grant writer, researcher, and teacher. Our work was on behalf of a Federally-Qualified Health Care Center. We talked with decision-makers at foundations, developed grant proposals, conducted evaluations of funded programs, and wrote reports to communicate grant outcomes. I was very pleased with her work and hope to engage services again.” - Nancy Lee Cochran, President, Cochran and Associates
“Katherine Heart’s writing takes its strength from her insistence on getting down to the details. Her technical skills, combined with her passion for excellence, resulted in some of the highest quality federal grant applications our agency produced.” - David R. Brewton, Former Associate Executive Director, East Liberty Family Health Care Center
“Katherine was great to work with. Her attention to detail and knowledge of grant writing made the process easy. The letters of inquiry and grant proposal that she developed for us were extremely well-written and we have had success securing funds through her efforts.” - Erika Arbogast, President, Blind and Vision Rehabilitation Services of Pittsburgh
“At Let Our Voices Be Heard, a grassroots advocacy group for all persons who have disabilities, Katherine assisted with program planning and developed proposals for us. Her excellent organizational skills helped to focus our efforts and identify clearer outcomes. She has a great deal of knowledge about the funding community and its nuances, and is a real resource.” - Rachel Freund, Former Program Director, Mental Health America-Allegheny County
“I feel so fortunate to have met Katherine at a meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Her consultation was invaluable in helping me to craft the grants section of my first development plan. I appreciated the support I received which helped me to grow professionally and aided our organization in our goal of providing much-needed services for disabled children in the community.” - Anonymous Development Director
