I started Written for You in 2008, after writing in the private and public sectors for nearly 10 years. When my daughter was born, I knew that I wanted a more active role in her childhood and freelance work worked best for me to accomplish that goal. Since that time, both my business and my family has grown, and has provided the most ideal balance for me personally to assist non-profits and be actively involved in my children’s day-to-day lives.

As I work with clients, I consider myself an extension of their development staff – working alongside them to help them achieve their funding goals. It is imperative for staff to work together for the better good of an agency, myself included. Each organization is different, and no two approaches have been identical in our pursuit of funding. Honestly, that is what sets me apart from other agencies. I am not a grant mill, or a large corporate grant production company. I provide a small team approach, customizing each client’s funding development plan based on their agency’s personal programmatic needs and growth. No two are alike, so no two funding plans should be alike either.

Many of my first clients are still with me today and I have loved growing personally as a writer while watching their programs and revenues grow through successful grant applications. I have helped agencies with budgets as small as $100,000 and as large as $18 million, and all sizes in between! In addition, awarded grants have ranged from $1,500 to $3.2 million for clients helping each agency grow and expand, or preserve programming.

Being a freelance writer, I have the privilege of being selective with my clients, and I don’t typically work with 2 clients who serve the same population. That is a very different approach in the grant writing industry; however, my personal conviction is that when I take on a client, I believe that they are the best in their service area. I simply cannot write from a passionate position for 2 competing agencies. As a result, I have a breadth of experience in a variety of different services within the non-profit sector. I have worked with arts organizations, human services, education, housing, autism, refugee, international services, and more.

As for the technical details: I have over 17 years of experience in writing and editing for the private, public and non-profit sectors. I have a degree in Communications from California State University Fullerton. I have personally owned and operated Written for You since 2008, providing freelance consulting services to non-profit agencies.

Thank you for visiting my site and getting to know more about me, and Written for You. You can contact me with any questions, comments or to see whether I would be a good fit for your agency.

-Melissa Diels