Marianne Jordan serves as Senior Managing Director of Grants, Foundation Relations Practice Leader in the Higher Education Practice at McAllister & Quinn. In this role, she helps clients develop a comprehensive strategy for grant-seeking and faculty development. She assists her clients to identify suitable federal and foundation grant opportunities that match their institutional and faculty strengths and needs. She works hand in hand with clients in the creative development of the grant opportunities and provides strategic advice on all aspects of the external funding process.
Before joining McAllister & Quinn, Marianne served as Director of Corporate & Foundation Relations at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine (1997-2012). Prior to Bowdoin, she held comparable positions at Allegheny College (1989-1997) and Gallaudet University (1985-1989). Marianne has acknowledged expertise in working with faculty and college administrators to elicit great ideas and to convert those ideas into successful grant proposals. At all three institutions, Marianne improved the overall productivity of the grants office, greatly increasing the number of proposals submitted and funded by private foundations and federal agencies. She has raised millions of dollars through grant-seeking for institutional priorities and faculty scholarship. Her expertise includes a deep understanding of the goals of private and government funding sources and the ability to match institutional strengths with funding priorities. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her master’s degree in English language & literature from the University of Michigan. She has been an active volunteer and leader in her professional associations, the Council for the Support and Advancement of Education (CASE) and SCAFRO (Some Corporate and Foundation Relations Officers) and has published articles on grant-seeking and foundation funding trends.
Affiliations and Awards
- Council for the Support and Advancement of Education (CASE)
- Some Corporate and Foundation Relations Officers (SCAFRO)
Publications and Events
- Panelist, “Building Bridges,” How Foundations and Institutions of Higher Education Find Common Ground. Pre-Meeting Symposium: Integrating the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities: Global Challenges and the Intentional Curriculum. Annual Meeting of the Association of American Colleges and Universities/American Conference of Academic Deans, 2011.
- Author, “Funding Undergraduate Science Facilities: Telling a Powerful Story,” Volume IV: What Works, What Matters, What Lasts. Project Kaleidoscope.
- Author, “New Patterns of Foundation Support,” (Chapter) New Strategies for Educational Fund Raising. American Council on Education.
- Co-Author, “Effective Assessment and Institutional Change,” Building Robust Learning Environments in Undergraduate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. New Directions for Higher Education. Number 119, Fall 2002.
- Workshop Presenter, “Planning from the Administrative/Fundraising Point of View,” Planning Facilities for Undergraduate Science & Mathematics Workshop, Meredith College.
- Panelist, “’The Butterfly Effect’ in the Work of Institutional Transformation,” PKAL National Colloquium.
- Panelist, “Getting the Vision Right: What Works: Planning for the Long Term, Given the Institutional Mission, Identity and Context,” Project Kaleidoscope. Fall Facilities Workshop, 2007.