“What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” - Jane Goodall
April Christiansen (she/her), Founder
April Christiansen is a professional grant writer with more than a decade of experience, who is committed to finding and securing funding for her nonprofit clients. She’s written successful grants both independently and on collaborative teams, raising more than $32 million in grant funding since 2012. Of that more than $10 million has been raised since launching her grant consulting business in 2021. April has successfully written strategic funding requests to small family foundations; large private foundations; corporate foundations; and local, state and federal government agencies. She’s worked equally well with small organizations with mostly volunteer staff and an annual budget of under $150k and organizations with hundreds of staff and annual budgets in the tens of millions.
April holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Oregon State University and is completing her Grant Professional Certification Credential with the Grant Professionals Certification Institute. She earned a BA in English from the University of Washington where she fell in love with the Pacific Northwest and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. At UA April taught composition, literature, and creative writing classes for four years and worked as a writing tutor at the Quality Writing Center, where she worked with undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines.
In 2012, April began her fundraising career at the Walton Arts Center, an arts presenter in Northwest Arkansas that also owns and operates the Arkansas Music Pavilion, the largest outdoor music venue in the region. She worked in both foundation and corporate giving until transitioning to the Kester Group, a grant consulting firm specializing in federal grants, where among other grants, April collaborated on three federal applications, all of which were successful. April then moved to southern Oregon and worked as a grant writer and manager at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for six years.
April has been independently grant consulting since 2021 and loves the opportunity to work with a variety of nonprofits, schools, and community organizations across sectors to raise funds to support their important work. Her specialties are the arts, higher education, and mental and behavioral health. April values equity, diversity and inclusion and is committed to social justice. She has been grateful for opportunities to participate in training with both The People’s Institute in Portland and ArtEquity. April follows all professional standards of the Association for Fundraising Professionals and the Grant Professionals Association.
In her free time, you can find April reading, working in her garden, cooking, hiking, playing board games, camping, and traveling with family and friends.
Brett Harrington (he/him)
Brett Harrington is a skilled grant writer, who is committed to helping nonprofits secure grant funding that will ensure their continued sustainability and growth. Brett's primary specialties are in literary arts, performing arts, arts education, higher education, animal welfare, and mental and behavioral health.
Brett holds certifications in Grant Writing from Portland Community College, where he honed his skills under the instruction of Dr. Beverly A. Browning. He earned a BA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Houston and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas.
Prior to shifting to grant writing, Brett taught a wide variety of composition and literature courses for more than ten years at several institutions, including the University of Arkansas and Rogue Community College in southern Oregon. In addition to teaching in higher education, Brett also worked as an Academic Advisor, Academic Case Manager and TRiO: Educational Opportunity Center Transition Specialist at both Southern Oregon University and Rogue Community College and has significant experience working with federal grants.
Brett values equity, diversity and inclusion and is committed to all aspects of social justice. He participated in LGBTQ+ Ally training through the schools' resource centers at the University of Arkansas, Southern Oregon University, and Rogue Community College. He also served as a member of the Diversity Programming Board at Rogue Community College for four years.
In his free time, Brett enjoys reading, writing, hiking, camping and traveling.
