About
The Story Behind Nonprofit GrowthGen
Our Partnership Began...
In 2017, when we collaborated to write grants together for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Hawai'i. Mary was Director of Foundation Relations and Mandy was Director of Education. Quickly, we discovered the complementary skills and values that made grant-writing together productive, effective, and fun.
Our paths into grant writing and nonprofit capacity-building have been different. Mary literally leaped into grant writing forty years ago as a young dancer looking for grants to support a fledgling company. Mandy grew into fundraising work by way of managing informal education programs for
zoos and museums around the country. Over time, we have each strengthened our nonprofit management and capacity-building skillsets with the support of some wonderful mentors along the way.
We've teamed up to help nonprofit and education staff members and organizations grow their capacity to better fulfill their goals and mission.
We began to develop our business in Fall 2020 and spent the next year planning, writing, reviewing, and refining our intensive mentoring and training program - GrantsGen. We piloted this sixteen-week program in October 2021. In April 2022, we formally launched our business and in May, we secured our first business client.
Meet the Team
Mary Ramsay, MA
Since her initial grant-writing experience in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Mary Ramsay has served as a fundraiser, grant writer, and editor in Massachusetts for the Williston Northampton School, Historic Deerfield, Smith College, and Amherst College, and as Director of Foundation Relations for Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts and Bishop Museum in Hawai‘i.
In her work, Mary centers racial equity and strives for inclusive practices in project development, strategic planning, capacity building, and mentoring the next generation of grant writers. She was trained as a mediator in the Social Justice Mediation Institute and was a student in the Social Justice Education graduate school at the University of Massachusetts. Most recently at Bishop Museum, a Native Hawaiian serving institution, Mary helped secure two consecutive $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the development of Indigenous curatorial practice and create a pipeline into the curatorial profession for Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. Over the five-year period that she has worked for Bishop Museum, Mary has helped author and submit over 175 proposals to local and national foundations and federal agencies and has had a success rate of more than 75 percent.
Mary’s consulting practice is informed by her background in the arts, humanities, and education. At this point in her career, she is passionate about mentoring, coaching, and training the next generation of nonprofit professionals, grant writers, and fundraisers. In working with clients, Mary brings her strengths as a listener, editor, strategic thinker, and reviewer and emphasizes creativity and collaboration in her approach.
Mandy Kirchgessner, EdD
Mandy Kirchgessner has twenty years of experience as an educational designer, volunteer manager, program evaluator, and advancement professional working for and with nonprofits across the country. She has worked zoos, museums, social services, and humanitarian nonprofits throughout her life. As a manager and administrator, she has also strengthened her skills across the Institutional Advancement spectrum from special events, to donor cultivation, to grant writing. With dozens of mission-aligned, revenue-generating programs under her belt, Mandy has also procured millions in dollars to support those initiatives in the past decade.
An important part of Mandy's identity beyond her passion for nonprofit work are her roles as a military spouse and mother. Frequent moves have challenged her to grow as a professional and provide her with a diverse repertoire of nonprofit roles and insights about best practices from across the globe. This journey inspired Mandy to switch gears in 2019. After yet another move, Mandy began freelancing as a grant-writer and external evaluator with zoos and museums. The timing could not have been more serendipitous as she was able to help her children through virtual schooling while working at home. During this time, she also supported nonprofit organizations with capacity-building efforts.
While business ideas marinated between Mary and Mandy for some time, in 2021, they began working more diligently to develop their first mentorship and training pilot and form Nonprofit GrowthGen, LLC. Together, they support nonprofits and education programs to help them grow. Mandy brings her program organization, fundraising creativity, process efficiency, strategic thinking, and encouraging spirit to the table while supporting clients.
As a team with complementary skills,
we are ready to work for you.
“…[A] good business needs people who come from different places, people who approach problems
in different ways, and people who view the same thing differently…[E]mbrace the differences as
the blessings they are and your business can only benefit.”
- Andrew Sadauskas
We believe that the synergy of our relationship is rooted in our complementary skill sets. Mandy’s background is in science, education, and evaluation; Mary’s is in the arts and humanities. Mandy is a bottom-up thinker and Mary is a top-down thinker. Mandy loves numbers and data. Mary loves words and ideas. When you hire Nonprofit GrowthGen, you get us both, regardless of which one of us is working directly with you. We are each other’s trusted thought partner and devil’s advocate. And we continue to have a lot of fun working together!
30
Mentored Professionals
$325,000
in Alumni-Acquired Funds
(by graduates and mentees)
22
Grants Awarded
$12.6M
in Secured Funding
since our launch
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