Melissa Gilstrap

Background

About Melissa Gilstrap

No, I'm not a priest, but I do specialize in conversion. During my time as a teacher of the greener variety, I already knew that the majority of the English, journalism, and other communications-related majors would be funneled into the classes taught by the more experienced PhD students and Associate Professors. Those remaining were the STEM majors who often felt the same fear and hesitancy for English that I would've walking into an advanced calculus class. Luckily most of my students approached the class neutrally-willing to respect the process but not too excited about it either. Instead of resenting this fact, I actually grew to love working with students who didn't have the same warm feelings toward my favorite subject. During their time with me, I showed them that their interests could be easily incorporated, surprised them with non-traditional takes on an old subject, and encouraged them to surprise me using their own cultivated skills. During his last project, where he used lego structures to help an unfamiliar audience understand tough concepts during an engineering consultation, one of my students said,"I'm really glad I took this class." It's hard to beat that kind of win as a teacher. Those same skills I gained "converting" students to become English lovers (or at least English tolerators) proved extremely applicable to my transition to grant development. Unlike a long-term donor, who might be very familiar with your mission, a first-time grantor may not even know your organization existed before you submitted a proposal. A good grant writer also has to be a good evangelist for their organization. Without being able to give the foundation staff a tour, you have to paint a picture of your organization's facilities; without meeting any of your clients or community members, you have to communicate the appreciation and passion they feel for your organization; and without having worked with you, they have to believe your organization will be a good steward of their resources and solve the problems it says it will. My goal is to continue as an "evangelist" for non-profits meaningful to me, as a major gift, planned, direct mail, and special event fundraiser as well as a savvy grant writer. When not ruminating over how best to conquer the hurdles my non-profit faces, you can find me lap swimming, reading the latest non-fiction release, and getting into way too intense discussions over television shows. Skills: Adobe Creative Suite, Video Production, Magazine Design, will receive Grant Professional Certification by the end of the year.