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 $200 million in grant funding. How could leveraging my expertise advance your mission and free up your time?

🚀 From AI to After-School: Carinci Consulting’s 2025 in Review 

As we close out January and step more boldly into a brand-new year, we’d love to hit pause and celebrate what we accomplished together in 2025. Watching this community take brave steps—launch new programs, expand access, invest in long-term strategy, and secure game-changing grants—has honestly left us in awe. None of these wins happen in a vacuum; they happen because of leaders like you doing the hard, hopeful work day after day. 🏅 10 Carinci Consulting Highlights from 2025 that we’re...

5 months ago • 3 min read

📚 Our summer reading list (and why it matters for your funding strategy)

Warm greetings, mission-driven leaders: If you’re anything like me, June is a great month for a little “read + recalibrate” before fall deadlines start crowding the calendar. Below is a short roundup of what I’ve been reading lately—each with a quick takeaway you can actually use in your grant strategy. 1) The donor base is shrinking—even when headline giving looks “fine” This SSIR piece highlights a major trend: total giving can look healthy while the number of giving households declines,...

11 days ago • 1 min read

🔭 Mid-Year Strategy Reset + What to Prioritize Now for Fall Funding Success

June 2026 ☀️ Mid-Year Check-In (No Panic Required) Let’s be honest, nonprofit teams are juggling a lot—program delivery, staffing, events, board needs, and about 47 other priorities. June is that month where the year quietly clears its throat and says, “Hey…how’s that plan going?” 😅 If this question has you sweating like undecided seniors being asked for college or career plans, the good news is you don’t need a total overhaul—you usually just need a quick reset and a clearer game plan for...

25 days ago • 5 min read

🔍 Depth Over Hype: What Funders Really Want Now

May 2026 Fund What Works: The May Grants Mindset Shift 🌱May has a way of making everything feel like it should be growing—plants, plans, programs…proposal pressure included. But in grantland, “bigger” isn’t always better. In fact, one of the most strategic moves a nonprofit can make is resisting the urge to chase growth for growth’s sake. This month, we’re leaning into a more fundable (and sustainable) idea: depth over hype. The organizations that win consistently aren’t always the ones doing...

about 2 months ago • 5 min read

📌 The Grant Strategy Toolkit Everyone Asked For

April 2026 🌱 From One Workshop to What’s Next April often feels like a reset—the moment when ideas that have been sitting quietly start to take shape. Recently, I had the opportunity to lead a grant strategy workshop at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and I’m still thinking about the conversations that came out of it. Thank you to AACTE for the invitation—and to everyone who showed up ready to think differently about funding. One thing that stood out: the...

3 months ago • 6 min read

🥊 March Matchups: Are You Picking the Right Grants to Pursue?

March 2026 🥊March Matchups — Make Your Grants Portfolio Work Harder March is where the year gets real. Q1 momentum is building, deadlines are starting to stack, and the question becomes: Are you choosing the right opportunities—or just the next ones? This month’s theme is March Matchups—because grant success isn’t only about writing well. It’s about picking battles you can actually win and punching above your weight. When your proposals go to funders that truly match your mission, capacity,...

4 months ago • 5 min read

💘 Grant Strategy Matchmaker: Find Your Perfect Funder Fit

February 2026 🧡 Welcome to New (and Returning!) Grant Gurus and Novices If you’re new here—welcome! 🎉 This newsletter is written by me, Jennifer Carinci, Ed.D., PMP, Founder & Principal Consultant at Carinci Consulting and produced with help from my team. (Special shout out to Sam!) We partner with nonprofits, school districts, and higher education institutions to design smart grant strategies, write competitive proposals, and build sustainable funding pipelines. We’ve had a record number of...

5 months ago • 7 min read

Street sign saying thriving, growing, winning

🧠 Smarter, Not Busier: Your 2026 Grants Reset

January 2026 Smarter, Not Busier: Your 2026 Grants Reset January always comes with the temptation to “do more”—more proposals, more deadlines, more hustle. But if 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: Working harder isn’t the same as winning more. This year, what if your guiding question wasn’t “How much can we squeeze in?” but “What will actually move the needle?” A smarter grants year is built on reflection: Which proposals in 2025 delivered the biggest impact for the effort? Where did we...

6 months ago • 6 min read

⏰ Attention Nonprofits and Higher Ed Research Offices!

⏳ The countdown is on… Are you ready to jumpstart your 2026 funding strategy? If getting organized for grant season has been sitting on your to-do list, now is the moment to move. Every year, organizations miss out on hundreds of thousands—and sometimes millions—in potential funding simply because they don’t have the time or expertise to navigate the ever-changing grant landscape. To set you up for success, we’re opening a limited number of discounted Strategy Client spots* for organizations...

6 months ago • 1 min read

Carinci Consulting Turns 3 — And We’re Just Getting Started ⭐

December 2025 🌟 Carinci Consulting Turns 3! 🎉 Three Years of Strategy. Three Years of Impact. Three Years of Turning Vision Into Reality. This month, Carinci Consulting celebrates three years in business — and we couldn’t be more honored or grateful. What started as a leap of faith has grown into a mission-driven consultancy that has, in partnerships, helped nonprofits and higher education institutions secure nearly $200 million in competitive grants, launch transformative programs, expand...

7 months ago • 10 min read