Racism has no place in our world, nation, communities, organizations, or our families. It negatively affects all of us. To be clear, I oppose racism. And all other types of discrimination designed to perpetuate existing power structures meant to maintain a hierarchy of privilege. This includes racism, classism, xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ageism, and other forms of repression that keep people from being and becoming all that they can be.
My membership in the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) and my Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential demands I conform to the GPA’s Code of Ethics, in that “our members treat all people with dignity and respect."
I entered the nonprofit profession because I want to make our world better for all. I stand with the GPA and its members of diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds who work tirelessly to support causes of all kinds, whether it is education, healthcare, the arts, government, or social justice.
Grant professionals are listeners, problem solvers, and communicators. It's what I do. I have worked to learn and adapt how I communicate and express the work my clients and the people they engage do every day.
Grants & More
Welcome to Grants & More!
Greetings! Thank you for visiting my web site.
My name is Ellen Gugel (pronounced "Google"). I am a grant professional with twenty years' success fundraising for nonprofits, specializing in grants. I've developed over 900 proposals and had success with 120 different funders, helping dozens of organizations win grants from private foundations, corporations, and government. They are small, emerging grassroots, large multi-million dollar agencies, and everything in between. They represent human and social services; advocacy; environmental, conservation, and animal welfare; education; and arts and culture. I'm honored to help win hundreds of grant awards and millions of dollars for my clients and employers.
Services
My services include grant writing, prospect research, program design and budgeting, direct mail appeals, fundraising planning, capital campaigns, workshops and training, proposal review, editing/proofreading, and more.
Let's shape your organization’s story so funders can't say no.
A little background
I served as Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations at Lutheran Social Services of New England (now Ascentria Care Alliance) from 2010-2014. After consulting with the agency for two years, management recognized the value of grant seeking and hired me full-time to establish a grants program for the organization. I feel honored to have worked with the best program staff I can imagine. They taught me so much. This multi-service, multi-state $60 million agency dates to 1872.
As Development Coordinator of Tower Hill Botanic Garden (2004-2007), a regional botanic garden, I grew membership and individual donations every year, doubled grant funding in two years, attracted new foundation support, and launched an institution-wide technology planning initiative. I was responsible for membership (serving 5,000 household members), annual appeals, individual giving, major donors, foundation funding, corporate and business support, capital campaigns (raised over $4 million in grants toward a $14 million campaign), special events, and planned giving.
As Executive Director of Orenda Wildlife Land Trust (1998-2003) on Cape Cod, I reinvigorated this fledgling organization dedicated to preserving habitat for wildlife. I am proud to have inspired giving more than tenfold and triple the average individual gift. I quintupled grant funding in a single year.
My nonprofit writing experience includes newsletters, direct-mail appeals, awesome acknowledgements, annual reports as well as grant proposals and reports.
I earned my Masters of Business Administration (MBA) with a Certificate in Public and Nonprofit Management (now the Social Impact MBA) from Boston University in 1997.
I am active in the Grant Professionals Association (GPA) as a member since 2009 and a member of the GPA New England Chapter since 2012. Since 2017, I have served as the GPA Region 5 Representative (New England and New York). This means I get to travel around and meet other grant professionals.
In 2010, I earned my Grant Professional Certification (GPC). "What's that?" Just how an accountant can get to be a CPA or a fundraiser can be a CFRE, it's like that.
The early years...
I thank Sister Lucetta, my eighth grade English teacher at St. Margaret Mary's School in Rochester, NY for teaching me how to write correctly and grammatically (diagramming sentences, anyone?). I credit my first career in computer science for the thinking process needed to organize a grant proposal and make it flow logically.
Ellen Gugel, GPC, MBA
Contact Grants & More for more information.