Russell Family Foundation, Jane's Fund
Bright Star President Renee
Bourque helped the Jane's Fund program managers to design a new community
and economic development project in Lakewood, Washington. The location has a
high immigrant population who live at the lowest end of the poverty index.
Renee's work with Jane's Fund resulted in 3 years of funding ($824,749) from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with an option for further continued
funding. The process evaluation plan that Renee designed was so innovative
and easy to understand that the Gates Foundation has begun to use it with
other grantees. As a result of the success, program managers referred
leaders at One Nation for Renee to help them with two national scale-up
projects.
Russell Family Foundation:
www.trff.org
One Nation:
www.onenationfoundation.com
Young Associates
Assisted this firm to set
priorities, make decisions, craft a strategic plan, and improve their
communications practices.
Whidbey Commons
Lead a strategic planning
experience and follow up meetings to help board members come to consensus
and make dramatic changes to their staffing and program plan.
Washington Association of Cities
Created a grant resources
gateway tailored to small city economic development.
The University of Idaho
Researched hot grant leads
for funding sources and then created a customized webinar to take
participants through a tour of the leads. A strategy was explained for each
lead.
The University of Idaho
Created a customized
advanced grant writing intensive. Bright Star research and identified one
hot grant lead per attendee to use as a proposal target in the workshop.
Post workshop coaching is offered to support attendees well after the
workshop.
Dawson Place Child Advocacy Center
Researched grants for
capital, operating, and program needs and then created a multi-partner plan
for pursuing funding based on who the best partner is for each funder.
Audited program budgets and grant contracts to advise them of how to
maximized and leverage their funds to the utmost.
Human Rights Education Institute
Researched grants and
created a multi-year workplan for pursuing and managing grants.
Washington State 211
Researched and wrote
proposals resulting in $450,000 of grant and contract awards.
Framing Our Community
Bright Star is working
with Framing Our Community to develop integrated programs to transform a
regional economy previously extraction-based economy into a
restoration-based economy that improves forest and watershed conditions,
creates well paying green collar jobs, wild fire suppression and increased
educational opportunities. Bright Star is also linking home based crafters
with national e-commerce markets to create local jobs with minimal
infrastructure.
www.framingourcommunity.org.
North Idaho College Work Force Training Center: Lean Process Training
Convened leaders in
business, school district, organizations and college deans from health care,
banking and manufacturing to develop a model for providing course work and
work-based learning in applied lean principles.
http://www.nic.edu/websites/index.asp?dpt=65
Regional Workforce Planning Project
Participant in the
planning committee for the 5 northern counties of Idaho to prepare a
comprehensive strategic plan that delivers a vision of the area's
economic future and a blueprint for how to achieve that vision.
The Panhandle Region was awarded a $250,000 Regional
Innovation Grant (RIG) that will be administered by the Idaho Department
of Labor. The purpose of this planning grant is to bring into alignment
economic and workforce development, education, business, community
leaders and resources to meet the challenges of a changing regional
economy and the known dislocation events occurring within the area's
economy based on the forest products industries.
University of Idaho, Horizons Program for rural development
Conducted a 3 day
customized grant writing training for beginners. Seventy-five percent of
attendees received funding from grants that they developed in the
workshop.
http://extension.ag.uidaho.edu/horizons/
University of Idaho, Horizons Program for Rural Economic Development
Researched government and private funding sources and strategies for 12
North and Central Idaho communities to fund projects that they had
identified through their community assessments.
Coeur d'Alene Tribe Education Department outside Federal Grant
Evaluator
Evaluation Services for
Federal Grant Native American Career and Technical Education Program (NACTEP).
Muslim Housing Services
(refugee homeless housing and social services): Wrote and won grants from
the Gates Foundation ($275,000 for 15 years of funding), City of Seattle
($500,000 for 10 years of funding) and State of Washington (a building worth
$800,000) for capitol, operating, and program funds with an 80% success
rate. They had no prior grant track record. Renee educated funders about
cultural and on-the-ground realities, how indigenous organizations function,
and evaluation/metrics of indigenous peoples and refugee programs so that
they could better assess my proposals resulting in large, multi-year awards.
Compassion House:
Research and networked (in lieu of grantwriting) to engage $500,000 of
in-kind construction services and materials for a capitol project. This
homeless shelter did not want the work of tracking grants, resulting in
a total in-kind approach to the project.
www.compassion-house.org.
The Center For Strengthening the Teaching
Profession: Developed a statewide education initiative that is
the basis for legislative work. The funding package was developed to
diversify the existing funding portfolio of the organization and segue
with the legislative process.
www.cstp-wa.org.
The City of Pinehurst, Idaho: Researched and developed an
economic development plan and funding strategy. Diversified the funding
portfolio to hedge against government cuts was emphasized.
Ethiopian Consulate
Advise the Ethiopian Consulate in Seattle in how to leverage
humanitarian efforts with national educational and workforce development
initiatives and international funding opportunities.
Lotus Outreach
Fund development for programs in Viet Nam, Cambodia and India.
www.lotusoutreach.org
Prosthetic Outreach Foundation
Organizational positioning, program development, consortium building,
and Fund development for programs in Sierra Leone, Viet Nam, and
Bangladesh.
www.pofsea.org
Guest Lecturer
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The University of Washington, Graduate
Business School.
Topic: Social Venture in International and
Non-Profit Development
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The Evergreen State College, Graduate
Public Administration School. Topic:
International Development Best Practices
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The University of Washington,
Non-Profit Management Certification program.
Topic: Fund Development
Conference Presentations
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State of Idaho Department of Rural
Health Annual Conference: The Secrets to
Grant Writing: How to Think like a Funder & Write like a Winner
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Idaho Non-Profit Center Annual
Conference:What Funders Want Right Now!;
Survival Strategies that Work and Surviving the Economic Down Turn
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Montana State Education Conference:
Education Funding Trends in Montana;
Where’s the Money?
-
Department of Housing and Urban
Development, National Neighborhood Networks Conference:
Beginning Grant Writing; Advanced Grant
Writing; Advanced Grants Management; Where’s the Money? (11
presentations in 5 days)
-
Northwest Harvest Annual Conference:
Advanced Grant Writing; Why my Grant
Wasn’t Funded; Introductory Grant Writing
Recent Publications
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Grant Writing for Law Enforcement,
an interactive CD-Rom for distance learning that links with
community colleges for self-paced learning
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Grants: Simple Steps to Success,
college course curriculum
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Cool Tools for Grantwriters: Fund
Development to Reach Your Financial Goals
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Grant Writing for Neighborhood Network
Centers,
Department of Housing and Urban
Development
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Renee was so much more than a grant writer. She spent time learning
the cultures of both her client organization and their prospective
funding partners. She then helped us build a strong respectful
collaboration.
Alice
Shobe, Director
Sound Families
Seattle Office of Housing |
Since 2007, Bright Star has
conducted six grant trainings for the University of
Idaho. They've worked across the state with a
variety of individuals and organizations, including
community teams, nonprofits, local governments, and
university faculty. In every case, the Bright Star
team worked hard and built capacity. People who
attend Bright Star workshops come away understanding
how to write a successful proposal and where to find
funding. This is a top notch firm with great depth.
Priscilla Salant
University of Idaho Coordinator for Outreach and
Engagement
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From a workshop attendee:
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Renée and Janet with Framing Our Community staff.
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Horizons workshop attendees forge new relationships and
write winning grant proposals. |
Horizon’s workshop attendees celebrate concluding a 3 day
grant writing intensive with completed grants ready to send.
Most were later funded by government, foundation, and
corporate grant makers. |
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