– A Message From The Practice –
As we start 2024, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients for the work they do every day to strengthen their communities through behavioral and public health services, arts and culture, addressing climate change, and increasing access to education so that all have an equal opportunity to live, learn, and thrive.
We are proud to support them in this mission and to share some of the highlights of 2023.
We’re Growing! Meet Our New Team Members:
Rebecca Dedert (Becca)
Valerie Secker
Rebecca Dedert is a Senior Research Analyst for the Nonprofit Practice, where she works with directors and managing directors to identify grant opportunities that align with clients’ needs.
She also assists in researching, developing, planning, and executing grant seeking strategies for clients. Before joining McAllister & Quinn, Dedert worked as a policy analyst in the Research to Action Lab of the Urban Institute.
Valerie serves as a Director of Grants and Federal Affairs in the non-profit practice. Working closely with her clients, she connects them with federal funding opportunities that match their organizational goals.
Valerie has 30 years of program and project management experience. The first 15 years of her career were dedicated to federal service, working for the U.S. Congress and the National Institutes of Health.
New Clients Spotlight
We were thrilled to start working with the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in 2023.
Incorporated in 1985 and located in the historic Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, JANM’s mission is to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience, as well as speaking out when diversity, individual dignity, and social justice are undermined.
McAllister & Quinn is helping JANM through expanding federal grant funding for its programs and supporting legislation and policy to advance its important mission.
This summer, the Nonprofit Practice announced an exciting new partnership with The Greenlights Grant Initiative (GGI), a campaign launched by Camila and Matthew McConaughey’s just keep livin Foundation (JKL). A first-of-its-kind program, GGI is focused on helping school districts apply for and receive federal school safety grants funded through the historic Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), passed in 2021.
BSCA grants provide funding for critically needed mental health services, violence prevention initiatives, school security systems, and other common-sense measures to ensure that schools are safe, and our children can learn in peace. Recognizing that applying for government grants is complex, intimidating, and often expensive, the Greenlights Grant Initiative is utilizing McAllister & Quinn’s grants expertise to help school districts navigate and demystify the grants process.
McAllister & Quinn is providing school districts across the nation with information, training, and skills to understand these grants and to develop compelling grant applications. We will also provide free grant writing assistance from our network of more than 275 grants consultants for the most high-needs school districts.
Under this initiative, all grant resources are provided to school districts for free. Click Here to see a message from Matthew McConaughey and learn more about this exciting initiative.
Financial Planning Association (FPA) Fly In
In June of 2023, McAllister & Quinn’s Nonprofit Practice planned and executed our first association fly-in for the Financial Planning Association (FPA).
"We were very pleased with our experience working with the McAllister & Quinn team for our 2023 FPA Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. Angie and Claire made the planning process smooth and uncomplicated, and their strategic advice about which offices and committees to meet with helped us maximize our time on The Hill. We look forward to working with them again on future events."
- Patrick Mahoney, FPA CEO and Board Secretary
Forty-one FPA members from around the country attended 34 meetings on Capitol Hill to discuss issues important to Financial Planners, while the FPA Board Executive Committee met with agency officials and congressional committee staff. McAllister & Quinn staff guided groups of FPA members around Capitol Hill and facilitated their meetings with Members of Congress and their staff.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Comes to Washington, DC
Monterey Bay Aquarium Founder and Executive Director Julie Packard, Director of Ocean Policy Eleanor Humphries, and other Aquarium team members came to DC in December.
With the help of McAllister & Quinn, the Aquarium team held a series of high-level meetings with Congress and the Administration to discuss critical ocean policy issues including, combatting plastic pollution, sustainable seafood, and the importance of increasing funding to recover endangered species, specifically the Southern Sea otter, a keystone species in California which the Aquarium has led the recovery effort for more than 30 years.
Highlights of the DC trip included meeting with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams, Senator Alex Padilla (CA), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), and the office of California Democratic Delegation Chair, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren.
In addition, Julie Packard was also honored for her pioneering work in ocean conservation at the National Portrait Gallery’s “Forces of Nature, the Future of Environmentalism” event with other ground-breaking women environmentalists including Delores Huerta and Dr. Dorceta Taylor of Yale.
Highlights of Grant Successes
Vista Del Mar: ($4,032,419):
Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services was awarded $4,032,419 from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to provide the first year of home studies and post-release services to unaccompanied children who have been placed with a sponsor after being released from ORR care.
Coalition for Green Capital: ($50,000,000):
The Coalition for Green Capital as part of the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative and other regional nonprofit will design competitive application and submission processes, award environmental justice subgrants, implement a tracking and reporting system, provide resources and support to communities in collaboration with EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights.
Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara County: ($1,000,000):
Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara was awarded a Department of Justice (DOJ) Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing (STOP) School Violence Grant for $1,000,000 to continue collaborating with Guadalupe Union School District on their Breaking the Cycle of Violence project.
McAllister & Quinn has partnered with Community of Hope since 2022 to provide financial support and volunteers.
Community of Hope is a Washington, DC nonprofit that works to improve community health and end family homelessness in the city. In 2023, McAllister & Quinn staff raised over $10,000, packed backpacks, renewed a facility for new clients and staffed a family violence prevention family festival and sponsored the “Night of Hope” fundraiser.
The NP practice has also provided pro bono grants support, contributing to a $2 million award from the Health Resources and Services Administration.
In 2023, the NP practice will be launching a new “Nonprofit Boot Camp” which will provide a series of trainings for nonprofits to build their capacity for federal grants.
Training topics will include:
- Getting Ready for Grants
- Grants 101
- How to Develop a Budget
- Working with Logic Models
This service model will also provide resources to help nonprofits develop policies and procedures in preparation for managing a federal grant.
To Learn More, Email: eriddleberger@jm-aq.com