Before You Inquire.

A grant consultant helps a nonprofit find, pursue, and win the funding that sustains its work. In my practice, that is broader than writing. It begins with research; mapping the funders whose priorities genuinely match your mission, rather than chasing every open opportunity. It moves through strategy; building a multi year funding plan aligned to your organizational goals, not just the next deadline. Then comes the writing itself, the budgets, the logic models, the submission. And it continues past the award, through reporting, compliance, and the cultivation that turns a single grant into a lasting funder relationship. The proposal is the deliverable. The strategy around it is the actual work.

It is me. Kristy Randolph is a private practice, not a firm.  I take on a small number of clients at a time, and every engagement is handled personally; no junior writers, no subcontractors, no offshore editing. This is a structural choice, not a stage of growth.  A larger operation would mean less rigor per client, which is not the practice I am interested in running.

Small to midsize nonprofits, typically with annual budgets between $125K and $5M, concentrated in education and youth development, social services and family support, and the arts.  I do my strongest work with women led organizations and nonprofits led by founders of color, whose missions are too often underestimated by traditional funders.  I work selectively in fields I know. When a prospective client's sector sits outside my areas of focus, I decline the engagement and often recommend a colleague whose expertise is better matched.

No.  My practice is exclusive to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations and a small number of fiscally sponsored nonprofit initiatives.

Foundation, corporate, and government; the full range. On the private side, that means family and community foundations, corporate giving programs, and the letters of inquiry and full proposals each requires. On the government side, it means federal, state, and local grants, including agencies such as the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and the Department of Labor, along with California state agencies and municipal funding streams. Government grants demand a level of procedural fluency most private sector writers never develop, and they are often where a nonprofit funds an entire program for several years at once. I handle the full engagement in either case, from registration and narrative through budget forms and submission in the correct portal.

Every engagement begins with a thirty minute discovery call.  There is no fee and no pitch.  The call is a mutual conversation to assess fit; yours, and mine. If it is a fit, I follow up within 48 hours with a scoped proposal.  If it is not, I will tell you directly, and I will often recommend a colleague whose practice is better suited to your work.

Client discretion is a standard I hold with funders, with peers, and with every engagement I accept.  Public naming exposes my clients to scrutiny from their other funders, their competitors, and the broader nonprofit sector without their control.  Many of the nonprofits I work with have told me my discretion is among the reasons they chose me. References are available upon request to qualified prospective clients.

Engagements vary by scope, but the shape is consistent. The first two weeks are intake; I read everything, map your funder landscape, review your existing materials, and align with you on priorities.  Only after intake is complete do I begin drafting.  For a single proposal, the work runs four to eight weeks depending on complexity.  For retainer engagements, the work is continuous and structured around a grants calendar we build together at the start.  For capacity building advisory, engagements typically run six to twelve months.