Would you like to raise more money for your Lutheran school? Interested in applying for grant funding for an amazing project idea but not sure where to start?  In this workshop, we’ll explore the basics of grant-seeking for your school – including how grant cycles work, how to find good prospects and determine your chances, the importance of relationship cultivation, and how to write a winning proposal. We’ll cover some paid grant-seeking tools as well as many options for those with no fundraising budget at all. The workshop will provide you with practical tools, links to helpful articles and resources, a list of potential funders, and answers to your most pressing grant-seeking questions – but most importantly, the confidence and motivation to get started!

Our presenter will be Jessica Nipp Hacker, an ELCA deacon and Certified Fund Raising Executive, serves as Senior Director of Institutional Giving for the ELCA. Jessica grew up in Minnesota and studied theology and bible at Wartburg College, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and the University of Munich.  Before she came to the ELCA churchwide organization, she served as managing director of the ELCA Wittenberg Center in Germany, and as a director for advancement at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. In her previous roles at churchwide, she coordinated the ELCA Malaria Campaign; built a comprehensive donor stewardship program; worked with the executive on special projects; and led teams that raised money for missionary sponsorship, managed operations for the Fund for Leaders scholarship program, and planned and executed donor events. In her current role, she oversees the ELCA churchwide organization’s efforts to secure grant funding from foundations and corporations. Jessica lives outside of Chicago with her husband Scott, nine-year-old son Simon, and two magnificent mutts.