Webinar Description:
The interviewee is Jessica Edwards, who serves as chief development officer at NAMI (National Alliance of Mental Illness). The interviewer is a consultant who has known the interviewee as her organization has flourished. The conversation will follow Jessica’s journey from grants manager to CDO.
It’s easy to assume that Jessica’s career trajectory paralleled with that of her grant seeking because of a series of factors unique to her or to her organization. That may be true to a degree, but the patterns that formed Jessica’s journey repeat themselves regularly and are ripe for learning.
Susan Schaefer, a consultant who has closely followed NAMI’s and Jessica’s path, sees Jessica’s story as a model: A stellar grant seeker breaks new ground for their organization, and then finds longevity and success beyond grants.
Topics will touch on:
- How to become a grants champion
- How to get your organization to think bigger
- How to leverage your experience within your organization
The conversation will follow the journeys of Jessica and NAMI, while engaging attendees on the kind of leadership moves that stand to help them succeed on personal and organizational levels.
Presenters:
Jessica Edwards is Chief Development Officer at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). She moved up the development hierarchy, beginning as a manager, due to her stellar results and relationships with funders.Jessica has secured multi-million-dollar grants.from some of the most well-known foundations.
Susan Schaefer helps nonprofit leaders fund their priorities through major private grants. Her firm, Resource Partners, guides clients to secure their largest, most impactful foundation and corporate partnerships. She writes a monthly series of articles called Major Grants (majorgrants.substack.com).
Skill Level:
Mid-Career
Learning Track:
Personal Growth
Other - Career Building
GPC Competencies:
Organizational development as it pertains to grant seeking
Practices and services that raise the level of professionalism of grant developers
Originally Recorded:
December 2023
Propelling Your Career through Major Grants
Content Types: 
If you’ve ever wondered how to advance your grants work toward larger leadership positions, this session will offer an insider’s view. This interview-style webinar will reveal the story of a junior hire who elevated her nonprofit’s private grants portfolio—and her career. Her trajectory points at a virtuous cycle useful to all ambitious grant professionals.