Conference | San Diego, March 4-5 | 2025
Federal Grants Management
Get ready for the Federal Grants Management Conference in San Diego, CA. March 4-5. During our extended half-day opening session, you will learn about the OMB’s updated Uniform Grants Guidance as well as recent legal and administrative developments. Additional sessions will explore procurement under the revised Uniform Guidance and the OMB’s changes to the Single Audit process. However, the annual update is not limited to the revised Uniform Guidance. You will also get answers to frequent fiscal management questions and learn about important trends in grants management, including the rise of Artificial Intelligence, prevention of professional burnout, and promotion of effective workplace communication. This once-a-year training conference will offer attendees two full days of informative and insightful grants management lessons for 2025.
Stephanie Sample will present “Grants Engine Check: Avoiding Burnout while Managing High Volume Grants,” a dynamic workshop designed for grant writers and managers. This interactive session will start with a comprehensive evaluation to help identify signs of burnout. Participants will then explore effective strategies to delegate tasks and streamline processes, ensuring more efficient grant management. Additionally, we’ll delve into negotiation techniques to advocate for additional team members or software tools that support workflow optimization. Reference material will come from Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector.
The workshop will be delivered in an inclusive, participant-focused manner, featuring group activities and brainstorming sessions to encourage collaboration and shared learning. By the end of this session, you will be equipped with practical tools and strategies to manage your grants more effectively while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Don’t miss this opportunity to enhance your skills and safeguard your well-being in a high-pressure environment.
Peer to Peer
Every person counts. Collectively, we can have a greater impact than any one individual.
Services Detailed
Fundraising for the Future
Philanthropic Advising
If you are a grant making body of any kind: family foundation, community foundation, corporate giving entity, or a nonprofit that handles pass through granting, we support the refinement of your process. We offer services for grant readiness evaluation to funders who wish to screen nonprofit grantee candidates for organizational health.
Grant Writing and Grant Management
We handle your grants from start to finish with grant prospecting, proposal development, high level submission strategy, and coaching to strengthen relationships with funders. Our team will support you in managing all grant deadlines without unnecessary stress.
Fundraising
We offer fundraising systems analysis and a plan to maximize results, major donor and foundation prospect research binders, end of year appeals and newsletter writing, and major donor solicitation programs.
Social Enterprise Revenue Streams
Are you looking to diversify your revenue stream? Would you like to increase organizational sustainability by creating recurring, predictable revenue streams for general operating? We will help you identify and monetize your organizational assets; build a social enterprise business plan; and find inspiration and insight into potential revenue streams
Our team.
Stephanie Sample
Founder, CEO
Stephanie joined her first board of directors at the age of 21 and was assigned to the fundraising committee. Prior to founding Sample Consulting Studio in 2016, she taught internationally and nationally for 6 years, completed her graduate degree at UNM and served as a fundraiser for health and human services, environmental advocacy, arts & culture non-profits. She draws on traditional best practices, innovative perspectives and creative energy to personalize fundraising and development services at Sample Consulting Studio. She enjoys training nation wide on topics from fiscal sustainability to organizational culture at Social Enterprise Ventures and GrantStation.
Helen Robertson
Senior Grant Writer and Researcher
Helen Robertson has over ten years experience with a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. Helen has worked for education, environmental, legal, and policy advocacy organizations in research, administrative, program and project management, events management, and grants management capacities. With eight years of experience researching, writing, and evaluating grants, Helen brings a holistic perspective to her work helping organizations develop, fund, and exceed their goals.
Brenda Ostrom
Grant Writer/Project Manager, Ostrom Solutions
Ms. Ostrom received a master’s degree in aeronautical technology and a bachelor of science degree in geography from Arizona State University. Ms. Ostrom has fundraised over $13M through grant writing over the last decade. Her specialties include: systematic analysis & decision facilitation, environmental assessment, sustainability, project phasing & implementation strategies, performance metrics & evaluation, stakeholder outreach & engagement, partnership development, integrating local landscape & community considerations. She is a lifelong learner who enjoys adaptive collaboration and implementing solutions.
Kristen Sikora
Grant Writer and Researcher
Kristen Sikora has over 20 years of experience in education as a teacher, school administrator, and grant manager. She is a lifelong learner who brings her passion for equity and social justice to her work as a writer and researcher. Kristen lives in upstate New York and enjoys traveling and spending time with her family.
Michele Walls
Grant Writer and Researcher
Michele Walls is an accomplished nonprofit professional with two decades of successful fundraising, communications, and leadership experience with missions that include museums, performing arts organizations, and education. Her expertise spans across major/planned/annual giving, grant writing, membership, campaigns, events, Board relations, operations, and corporate and foundation relations. She has navigated the challenges of turn-around circumstances, crisis management, and leadership change.
Stephanie Sample
Founder
With over 15 years of service to the philanthropic sector, Stephanie founded FFTF in 2016 with the goal of supporting nonprofits and funders in their business growth goals. Stephanie holds a BA in French and Political Science from the University of Southern Maine, and a M.A. from the University of New Mexico in Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies. In 2020, she obtained two certificates in Futures Thinking from the Institute For The Future in Palo Alto. Ms. Sample runs the business of FFTF, conducts financial management and strategy, and trains nation wide on topics from futures thinking for nonprofits to how organizational culture impacts grant seeking. Sample’s superpower is helping nonprofits navigate growth by aligning funding, strategy, and organizational culture for scalable, sustainable impact.Sample is currently serving as the Interim Development Director for New Mexico Immigrant Law Center.
Shelly Saczynski
Prospect Researcher
After more than 20 years in corporate philanthropy, Shelly combines that experience with her love of history and genealogy to continue to support nonprofit organizations with prospect research. She is an experienced grantmaker, and served in leadership roles on many diverse nonprofit boards and committees. She is a member of the New England Development Research Association (NEDRA), the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA), and the APRA chapters of Greater New York, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas.
Amy Berg
Senior Grant Writer
Amy Christina Berg has over two decades of experience building the fundraising, organizational and communications capacity of nonprofits. Ms. Berg holds a BA in English and Psychology from the University of Maryland a MS and MPhil in Developmental Psych from George Mason University. Equally comfortable with numbers and words, Amy’s superpower is her ability to translate her clients’ missions into poignant narratives, supported by compelling data. She is thrilled to apply her fundraising expertise and deep knowledge of the nonprofit sector to the growth and sustainability of her clients. When she’s not working, you can find Amy writing and reading science fiction, cooking (and eating) something delicious, playing with technology, or watching the latest episode of something awesome.
Melissa Fox
Senior Grant Writer
With over 12 years of experience in grant writing and fundraising, Melissa Fox has helped organizations secure funding, manage budgets, and build partnerships that drive lasting impact. Ms. Fox holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of New Mexico and an M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix. She thrives on connecting meaningful projects with the resources they need to succeed, bringing a strategic yet practical approach to every proposal. Melissa’s superpower is maneuvering through intricate grant
applications, organizing meaningful programs, maintaining a data-driven culture, and encouraging equity-focused initiatives—all while promoting a
cooperative, transparent, and nurturing team atmosphere.Beyond her work, Melissa is passionate about volunteering and giving back to her community. When she’s not writing grants or brainstorming fundraising strategies, she’s likely spending time with her tiny human and three dogs, who keep life entertaining and full of adventure.
Brenda Ostrom
Chief Operating Officer
Ms. Ostrom received a master’s degree in aeronautical technology and a bachelor of science degree in geography from Arizona State University. Her diverse job experience spanning public, private, and non-profit organizations across several industries has contributed to her uniquely expansive skill set. Ms. Ostrom has fundraised over 13M through grant writing over the last decade. Representative clients include: Balanced Rock Foundation, National Parks Service, Yosemite National Park, and Mariposa County. She is a lifelong learner who enjoys adaptive collaboration and implementing solutions. Ms. Ostrom splits her time between rural Mariposa, CA outside Yosemite National Park and Phoenix, AZ. Ms. Ostrom oversees the daily operations of FFTF and ensures quality and impact for our clients.
Madi Middlebrook
Senior Grant Writer
Madi comes to Fundraising For The Future with longstanding passion for the nonprofit world, with expertise in fundraising, organizational change management, and direct client services. She enjoys partnering with nonprofits to articulate their complex work and develop compelling proposals that capture funders’ attention. Skilled at identifying the ‘why’ behind every project, Madi’s superpower is crafting proposals that make funders not just understand the need, but feel it. Madi has fundraised for a wide range of nonprofits across the country.
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