Grant Writer

Accidental Grant Writer Since Age 12

I’ve been a grant writer since I was 12.

I just didn’t know it had a name, a degree, or a salary.

Back then, I’d sit at the kitchen table with my Brother typewriter — yes, the loud clack-clack-ding kind — typing letters to companies and organizations asking for donations. For what? Whatever cause I’d decided was urgent that week. School trip. Church youth group. My dream of going to Copenhagen. A new Barbie, if I’m being honest.

I’d fold the paper, lick the envelope, and mail it off like I was running a foundation out of my mom’s kitchen.

“Dear Sir or Madam,” I’d write, “I am a very responsible 12-year-old and I believe in my project…”

I had no budget narrative. No logic model. No 501(c)(3). Just audacity and a typewriter ribbon.

And sometimes? It worked. A check would show up. A company would send supplies. My mom would look at me like, “Girl, who ARE you?”

I never thought I was a grant writer. I thought I was just a kid who didn’t like hearing “we can’t afford that.”

Fast forward 40 years. I go to school. I get formal training. I learn terms like “RFP,” “deliverables,” and “sustainability plan.” The professor says, “Grant writing is a specialized skill.”

And I’m sitting there thinking, Specialized? I was doing this in pigtails with White-Out on my fingers.

Turns out, I was always one. I just didn’t have the vocabulary yet. I had the vision. I had the nerve. I had the stubborn belief that if you ask clearly and you care deeply, somebody might say yes.

Now I’m 51, soon to be 52, with a Master’s in Organizational Leadership and a PhD on the way. I’m launching a nonprofit for women’s independence. And guess what I’m doing?

Sitting at a table. Writing to companies and organizations. Asking for donations.

The only difference is now I use a laptop. And I know how to spell “sustainability.”

I’m not new to this. I’m true to this.

From the kitchen table to the nonprofit world — same girl, better grammar.

I’ve always been a grant writer. School just gave me the receipts.

— Cathryn M. Harris

Ps check out Fast Cash for kids by Bonnie Drew. My story is featured. It's still a great book about me selling candy for a newsletter.