GWC Provides “Grant Writing 101” Workshop, July 29, 2025
GWC’s Grants Review & Awards Committee hosted their annual Grant Writing 101 workshop on Tuesday, July 29. The workshop was offered at no charge to representatives from local nonprofit staff and volunteers. This year, twelve participants represented nine nonprofits. West Side Baptist Church generously provided a comfortable meeting space for a fourth year.
Mary Woodiwiss, Treasurer of GWC’s Advisory Board and member of the Grants Review & Awards Committee, extended a welcome on behalf of GWC and invited introductions by all participants. The Rev. Kyle Richter, Senior Pastor of West Side Baptist Church, also warmly greeted all attendees and expressed appreciation for their efforts to serve our community.
Jan Puzar, Peggy Dewane-Pope, Kathy Emily, Debbie Coesens, and Donna Foster led workshop sessions designed to strengthen participants’ abilities to write an effective grant proposal, determine outcome measures for assessment of a program or project, and provide appropriate budget details to a prospective funder. These included activities with discussion among participants. Each session leader is a GWC Member who has professional experience in grant writing, assessment, education, program direction, and/or management.
Margaret Conrad provided coffee and bagels, and Bettie Rose Horne contributed brownies to enjoy while settling in and during break times.
The workshop concluded with a Funders Forum comprised of representatives from local granting organizations. Funders Forum presenters were: Chandler Skelly, Self Regional Healthcare Foundation; Donna Lollis, United Way of the Lakelands; Melissa Hayden, Self Family Foundation; and Mary Woodiwiss, Greenwood County Community Foundation and Greenwood Women Care. Each spoke about their organization’s funding priorities and granting process. Time for questions and answers allowed for each forum member to respond to workshop participants’ questions.
This training provided attendees with fundamentals for submitting grant requests to GWC or other local or external funders. GWC’s Grants Review & Awards Committee members are pleased to offer Grant Writing 101 in support of our local nonprofits as they continue their missions to serve our community.
