Hans H.

In 2023 my application for a Mississippi Delta community center made the Yass Prize semifinals, the top 1.2% of 2,700 applicants, and brought in $250,000 in STOP Award funding. For 30 years I ran the organizations that grant writers usually write for, so I know what a program officer needs to see before saying yes. I co-founded the East Harlem School at Exodus House and led its $10 million capital campaign for a building of its own. Later I ran Boys & Girls Harbor, a $14.5 million youth development organization with 350 staff, where I cleared a six-figure deficit within 18 months and secured $7 million from a property sale to rebuild reserves. I've written to funders as an executive director and read proposals from the other side of the table as a board member. What I do for clients Funder research. I read foundations' 990s to find the ones that actually fund organizations like yours, at your size and in your region. You get a short list you can act on. Letters of inquiry and full proposals. Need statement, program narrative, logic model, budget narrative, and evaluation plan, written to the funder's own criteria. Grant strategy. A 12-month submission calendar sized to your staff, so your team spends its hours on the grants you're most likely to win. Program review before you apply. I've run youth development, education, juvenile justice, community food, and small business programs. If your program design has a gap a reviewer will catch, I'll tell you and help you fix it before you submit. Appeals and donor writing. Cases for support and appeal letters. At one organization this work grew monthly donors by 120% and added $48,000 a year in recurring revenue. Background Before nonprofits I was a Manhattan prosecutor and then minority chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution. I ran the civil docket at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem before co-founding my first school. Princeton and Columbia Law. Author of three books, most recently The Antifragile Boy. Robin Hood Foundation Heroes Award honoree. How I work Fixed-price projects or hourly. Every engagement starts with a short call where I'll tell you honestly whether your organization is ready to apply, and what to fix first if it isn't. I'd rather turn down a project than charge you for a proposal that can't win. Send me your mission and your annual budget. I reply within one business day.