An experienced grant writer, I have developed successful proposals for projects ranging from $500 to $66,000, including collaborative research grants, educational initiatives, conference and community programming, and capacity-building projects. My work has included developing project concepts, identifying and responding to funder priorities, constructing budgets and timelines, building collaborative teams, articulating research questions and outcomes, writing proposals, and managing funded projects through completion.
Through this work, I have also developed an interest in grantwriting as a form of capacity building. Rather than viewing successful grantwriting simply as a way to fund individual projects, I am interested in how grant development can build sustainable partnerships, strengthen organizations and communities, and connect projects with broader strategic priorities. My current STRENGTHEN initiative extends this work by helping Wikimedia community members develop the knowledge and skills to identify funding opportunities, build funder relationships, develop proposals, and manage grants across the full funding lifecycle.
My grantwriting experience includes 13 grants totaling more than $179,000 in awarded funding from the Wikimedia Foundation and the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), supporting research, education, open knowledge, community engagement, and organizational capacity building.
About my grantmaking
My grantwriting experience spans nearly a decade, from small community-based grants to larger research awards and multi-year programmatic funding. I have developed, written, and managed external grant proposals supporting research, education, open knowledge, and Wikimedia community initiatives. My grantwriting experience includes both individual and collaborative proposals, ranging from small community-based Rapid Grants to larger research and general-support awards. Across these projects, I have worked on developing project concepts, articulating research questions and goals, building budgets and timelines, identifying funder priorities, developing partnerships, writing and revising proposals, and translating projects into concrete outcomes and evaluation plans.
My grantwriting has been particularly focused on connecting Wikimedia with higher education, research, writing studies, and open knowledge.
I have also developed grants supporting Wikipedia education, professional academic organizations’ engagement with Wikimedia, edit-a-thons, and research on how rhetoric and composition scholars use Wikipedia.This work has increasingly moved from securing funding for individual projects toward building sustainable funding capacity within the Wikimedia community. Through the STRENGTHEN initiative, for example, I am working with collaborators to help Wikimedia community members identify external funding opportunities, develop fundable project ideas, build partnerships, write proposals, and understand the full grant lifecycle. I see grantwriting as both a means of supporting individual projects and a way of building longer-term networks, collaborations, and institutional capacity around open knowledge. Recent projects include research on Wikimedia impact metrics and academic engagement, a large-scale study of the state of science and Wikimedia research and its funding networks, and a multi-month initiative focused on strengthening Wikimedia communities’ capacity to pursue external funding.
Relevant Grants Awarded
Wikimedia Community Fund, General Support Fund (with Brett Buttliere), Strengthening Wikimedia Communities Through Shared External Grantmaking Knowledge and Collaboration. $66,000 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2026. Grant project page
Wikimedia Research Fund (with Brett Buttliere, Lane Rasberry, Daniel Mietchen, Iolanda Pensa, and Susanna Mkrtchyan), The State of Science and Wikimedia: Who Is Doing What, and Who Is Funding It? $49,450 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2025. Grant project page
Wikimedia Research Fund (with Brett Buttliere and Sage Ross), Developing Wikimedia Impact Metrics as a Sociotechnical Solution for Encouraging Funder and Academic Engagement. $36,832.91 USD funded ($42,000 USD requested/budgeted). Wikimedia Foundation, 2024. Grant project page
Wikimedia Community Fund, Rapid Fund, Adapting Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom Teacher Training Program for the U.S. Context. $4,980 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2023. Grant project and final report
Wikimedia Community Fund, Rapid Fund (with Brett Buttliere), Examining How Professional Academic Organizations Engage with Wikimedia. $4,892 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2023. Grant project page
Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grant, Reckoning with Wikipedia. $1,633 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2022. Grant project page
Wikimedia Foundation SWAG Request (with Oksana Moroz), Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon 2020 Wikipedia Merchandise (SWAG) Request. $816 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2020.
Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grant (with Oksana Moroz), IUP Edit-a-thon 2020. $500 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2020. Grant project page
Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grant, Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) Wikipedia Initiative at Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA) and Feminisms & Rhetorics Conferences. $2,000 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2019.
Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grant, Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon. $1,946 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2018.
CCCC Research Initiative Grant (with Alexandria Lockett), How Do Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies Faculty Engage Wikipedia? A Scaled Survey of Attitudes and Uses. $8,960 USD. Conference on College Composition and Communication, 2018. CCCC Research Initiative awards
Wikimedia Foundation Rapid Grant, Art+Feminism Edit-a-thon. $1,520 USD. Wikimedia Foundation, 2017.
Work with me: Send me an email to collaborate on your grant proposal.
Grantmaking literacy in Wikimedia
STRENGTHEN is a grantmaking literacy and capacity-building project designed to help Wikimedia communities pursue funding beyond the Wikimedia Foundation. Working with Brett Buttliere, I am developing a cohort-based program that brings Wikimedia contributors together to learn how to identify funding opportunities, connect projects with funder priorities, develop partnerships, write proposals, and manage grants. The project combines a database of external funding opportunities with monthly colloquia, collaborative grant development, and peer learning. Rather than simply helping individuals write better proposals, STRENGTHEN aims to build shared knowledge and long-term capacity for external grantseeking across the Wikimedia movement.
Check out STRENGTHEN on meta.
