My mother once told me, "Claudia, when you start something, you stick to it."  She was right!

 

When I started a nonprofit over 17 years ago, I had no formal nonprofit education or experience. But that did not stop me; I kept at it until the nonprofit had a seven-figure budget, five locations (three shelters), and two drop-in centers for victims of domestic violence.   Most people don't know that I had no grant funds for the first six years of the organization. I used my own money (boot-strapped) and got support from family and friends. Even though I had twenty years of experience working for several major corporations, nothing could prepare me for the rigor of running a nonprofit organization. 

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In those formative six years, I learned grant writing, fund development, grant research, preparing an organization to receive grant funds, building collaborations, and galvanizing a community around a cause.

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I've taken what I learned over thirteen years of building a nonprofit from the ground up and combined it with years of formal and informal education and training. In addition, I have invested thousands of dollars in personal development and coaching. I have used my experience, education, training, and coaching to develop products and services to help others.