Career Development : Calendar

Expanding freelance options: Grant writing

02/27/14     Cleveland Heights, OH

AHCJ Chapter EventJoin the Association for Health Care Journalists for the first in what is hoped to be a series of programs over the next couple of years, pinpointing new options for freelancers to use their journalistic skills to make a living.

Date: Thursday, Feb. 27

Time: 6-8 p.m. (Light meal available 6-6:30 p.m.)

Location: The Open Office
2843 Washington Blvd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

Freelancers in the Cleveland-Akron area have many opportunities to do grant writing. Locally, grant writers are in demand by health-care organizations, disease-specific organizations and health-welfare focused charities, organizations and/or groups.

Three local experts will share “been-there, done-that” insights and anecdotes about

  • what it takes to recognize your transferrable grant writing skills

  • what it takes to make the mind-shift needed to be a successful grant writer;

  • tips, tricks and strategies for successful grant writing (which is a lot more collaborative and iterative than you might think);

  • navigating the non-profit landscape; and

  • how to position and market yourself as a grant writer.

Presenters include:

Sandy Erlanger, senior development officer at University Hospitals

Topics: What she does on a daily basis as a grant writer, including working with colleagues (grant writing is often a team process), dealing with those for whom grants are being written as well as the funders to whom proposals are sent, and the iterative process that grant proposals go through.

Susan Ackerman, chair, Health Policy and Planning, Center for Community Solutions

Topics: The many health- and human welfare-focused organizations and agencies Northeast Ohio; the kinds of grants they will be seeking (based on the Center’s respected research); areas/topics of interest to grant funders — and therefore grant writers.

Kim St. John-Stevenson, Principal, InkPlusLLC and a former grant administrator at the St. Luke’s Foundation

Topics: The mechanics of grant writing (and why every grant form/format is different); the mind-shift that journalists must make to pursue freelance opportunities in grant writing; and tips and strategies for marketing yourself as a grant writer.

The panel will be followed by a Q&A period.

Please contact Eileen Beal (eojb@visn.net or 216-320-1358) to register a space (and so she and co-chapter chair, Carrie Buchanan, journalism instructor at JCU, will know how much food to order).