Carinci Consulting: Strategy, Funding, Coaching, and Evaluation Services to Advance Nonprofit Impact
As Founder and Principal Consultant of Carinci Consulting, I bring two decades of non-profit leadership launching national strategic and research initiatives, conceptualizing networked improvement communities, and forging diverse partnerships to address gaps and improve stakeholder outcomes. Since launching a grants agency in December of 2022, I have helped clients win over $30 million in grant funding and have advanced a total of over $54 million in my career. How could leveraging my expertise advance your mission and free up your time?
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🔄 Reset, Refocus, Recharge
Published 21 days ago • 5 min read
August 2025
Building Momentum, Making Space
August is often the overlooked middle child of the calendar—wedged between the buzz of back-to-school and the calm before fall’s funding flurry. But here’s a secret: August can be your nonprofit’s most strategic month. This is your moment to pause and take stock. What’s working? What’s draining your energy? Where could a little clarity or consistency create more momentum? At Carinci Consulting, we believe sustained funding success isn’t just about working harder—it’s about aligning your strategy, energy, and systems so the right grants come easier. That’s the power of momentum paired with a strategic reset. Let’s use this moment to shift from scattered to streamlined, reactive to proactive—so you can head into the fall grant season with sharper focus, renewed energy, and a plan that works.
LOI, RFP, NOFO... OMG: Decoding the Alphabet Soup of Grant Applications
"The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." — George Bernard Shaw
If you've ever opened a grant application and wondered if you accidentally stumbled into a foreign language exam, you're not alone. LOI? NOFO? CFDA? It can feel like you need a secret decoder ring just to figure out where to start.
This blog is your nonprofit-friendly guide to decoding the most common (and confusing)grant-related acronyms and terms—so you can focus less on Googling and more on funding.
✍️ Grant Writing Tips:
“The Mid-Year Grant Strategy Tune-Up”
If the start of the year was all about setting goals, August is the time to realign your grants game plan.
Here are 3 key actions you can take this month:
1. Audit Your 2025 Grants Calendar:
Review what you’ve applied to so far, what’s coming up, and what you’ve missed. Remove outdated prospects and prioritize fall deadlines.
2. Refine Your ‘Core Proposal Elements’ Library:
Refresh your boilerplate language for need statements, org background, staffing, and sustainability. This makes future applications faster and sharper.
3. Reassess Partnerships and Collaborations:
Are you pursuing grants solo that would be stronger with a partner? Reach out now to co-design fall submissions.
Deadline: August 28, 2025 – Letter of Intent, November 14, 2025 – Full Proposals (by invitation)
Description: Supports undergraduate-focused private colleges and consortia—primarily those with a liberal arts mission—to enhance student outcomes, faculty leadership, and institutional innovation. Emphasis areas include advocacy for the liberal arts, civil discourse programming, leadership development, and purpose-driven education.
Award Amount: Grants for Grades K-5: October 1, 2025; Grants for Grades 6-12 (under $5,000): September 1, 2025 and December 1, 2025; Grants for Grades 6-12 (over $5,000): November 1, 2025
Description: The Toshiba America Foundation supports high-quality STEM education in U.S. K–12 schools by funding innovative, teacher-designed projects. Teachers can apply for grants that center on project-based learning.
National Science Foundation Translation to Practice
Award Amount: $600,000-$2,000,000
Deadline: September 16, 2025
Description: To identify and support use-inspired research and translational activities enabling a continuum from foundational research to practice; to develop partnerships and collaborations between institutions of higher education and other entities (e.g., industry, state/local/national government agencies, philanthropies, open-source ecosystems, for-benefit, for-profit and non-profit organizations, international organizations, etc.); to promote and advance the education and training of students and postdoctoral researchers, encouraging the participation of all Americans in STEM including innovation and entrepreneurship; and to identify future customer needs and opportunities and bring these to the forefront in the conduct of use-inspired research and translational activities.
Award Amount: unspecified; proposals with large budgets (ca >$1M annually) will likely be subjected to either a site or reverse site visit.
Deadline: Full proposal accepted anytime
Description: Supports the implementation of, scaling of, or major improvements to research tools, products, and services that advance contemporary biology. Focuses on building capacity in research infrastructure that is broadly applicable to a wide range of researchers in three programmatic areas: Cyberinfrastructure, Biological Collections, and Biological Field Stations and Marine Laboratories.
Description: To support graduate-level research that advances science relevant to wildland fire, fuels management, and ecosystem restoration, with an emphasis on innovation and applicability to land management practices.
ROSES 2025: F.9 Citizen Science Seed Funding Program
Award Amount: Unspecified
Deadline:October 1, 2025 – Notice of Intent, November 19, 2025 – Full Application
Description: Provides seed funding for early-stage citizen science projects that support NASA's science priorities. The goal is to foster innovative partnerships and community engagement in scientific research through public participation.
Description: Supports mathematics research motivated by and contributing to the solution of problems arising in science and engineering. Successful proposals must demonstrate mathematical innovation, as well as breadth and quality of impact on applications.
🌟 Real results, real impact. Hear what our clients are saying about their experience with us!🌟
🎉 Grant Win Alert! 🎉
Purpose: Facilitate the academic achievement, retention, graduation, and successful career outcomes for low- income, first-generation, and/or students with disabilities.
Success Total: $1,361,820
Carinci Consulting Role: Writer
Lessons Learned:
“Momentum Isn’t Magic—It’s Intentional”
If there’s one thing we’ve learned at Carinci Consulting, it’s that grant success rarely comes from heroic last-minute efforts—it comes from small, consistent actions taken over time. And the nonprofits that carve out space in August to reset and realign are the ones that charge into fall stronger, sharper, and more successful.
Here are three key lessons we've seen in action:
🔁 Avoid the Fall Frenzy: Scrambling to meet October deadlines with unpolished narratives and vague budgets is a recipe for burnout—and missed opportunities. The organizations that pause now to map out their calendar and start drafting key sections are the ones who submit with confidence, not chaos.
🧹 Clarity Now, Capacity Later: Use August to clean up your internal systems—refresh your grant boilerplate language, revisit program impact data, and check in with collaborators. A little organization now frees up enormous capacity when you’re in the thick of fall grant season.
🎯 Consistency Builds Credibility: Address weaknesses (e.g., impact data gaps, Board contributions/composition, lessons learned from unsuccessful proposals or completed programs, etc.) and take the time to gather evidence of strengths and stakeholder feedback. Funders track your patterns, your commitment, capacity, and staying power. Strategic consistency builds trust, and continuous improvement advances your mission.
💡 Ready to start showing up more strategically? Write down the top three actions you can take in August to build momentum for a strong Q4.
🗣️ Call to Action
If this message hit home, you’re not alone. We’ve seen what happens when nonprofits invest in the right support at the right time—and We’ve also seen what gets lost when they wait.
Your mission deserves more than last-minute grant scrambling. Whether you’re ready to refresh your strategy, prep for a fall grant, or just want to talk through your next steps, we’re here to help.
📅 Let’s connect for a quick, no-pressure chat: Book a time here.
Carinci Consulting: Strategy, Funding, Coaching, and Evaluation Services to Advance Nonprofit Impact
Jennifer Carinci
As Founder and Principal Consultant of Carinci Consulting, I bring two decades of non-profit leadership launching national strategic and research initiatives, conceptualizing networked improvement communities, and forging diverse partnerships to address gaps and improve stakeholder outcomes. Since launching a grants agency in December of 2022, I have helped clients win over $30 million in grant funding and have advanced a total of over $54 million in my career. How could leveraging my expertise advance your mission and free up your time?
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