Most foundations won't fund you. I find the dozen that might.

I help land trusts, watershed groups, and habitat and green-space organizations with budgets of $250,000 to $5 million find the right funders, plan a year of deadlines, and apply well. Flat fees. No percentage of your grant, ever.

Ask for a 20-minute call

You can start with a $400 readiness audit or a $1,200 funding roadmap, before committing to any proposal.

From my own read of IRS filings, September 2026

In Ohio, 63% of private foundations with $1 million or more in assets tick a box on their tax return saying they don't accept unsolicited requests.

That was 921 of the 1,468 Ohio foundations I scanned. Applying to them wastes weeks. A short list starts by crossing them off, then checks who funded organizations like yours, how much, and when they next take applications.

Services

Four fixed-price steps. Take one or all.

Readiness Audit

A 35-point review of how a careful funder would see you today: legal standing, finances, board, programs and outcomes, grant history, and capacity. You get a clear verdict, your five biggest gaps with a fix for each, and a 30-minute call.

10 business days after I receive your documents. If the honest answer is "fix these first", that is what the report says.

$400

Funding Roadmap

Ten to fifteen vetted funders that fit your mission, place and size, each with the grants it paid to groups like yours, its typical award, how to apply, and its next deadline. Plus a 12-month calendar your staff or board can work from.

About 3 weeks after a 45-minute intake call. Every deadline is labeled verified, expected, rolling, or from the tax filing only. If fewer than ten funders pass my checks, I tell you, widen the search where that makes sense, and deliver every funder that passes.

$1,200

Foundation Proposal

One complete application to one foundation, written from an interview with your team: requirements checklist, narrative, budget narrative, and attachments list. Two rounds of revisions. You review, approve and submit it under your own name.

I need at least three weeks before the funder's deadline.

$2,000

Grants Desk

Steady monthly help once you have a roadmap: one proposal or two letters of inquiry each month, your grant calendar kept current, drafts of up to two funder reports due that month, and a 30-minute check-in.

Three-month minimum, then month to month.

$1,500 / mo

How I work

Plain terms, written down before we start.

Flat fees only. I never take a percentage of an award or work on commission. The Grant Professionals Association's code of ethics rules it out.
No guarantees. Funders decide, and nobody honest can promise a grant. What I can promise is the right funders and an accurate, well-made application.
Half up front, half on delivery. Retainers are billed monthly in advance.
Evidence, not topic tags. Funder research comes from the IRS filings that list every grant a foundation paid, checked against the funder's own website.

I use AI, and I say so. It helps me search filings, pull requirements out of guidelines, and check drafts for gaps. I write your narrative myself from an interview with your team, and I check every fact, figure and deadline against its source before you see it.
Your data stays yours. Model training is switched off on the tools I use. Donor names, personal data and passwords never go into them. You can opt out of AI on narrative text.
Who I work with. Secular US 501(c)(3) environmental and conservation organizations. I don't take federal applications yet.

About

A new practice, and honest about it.

I'm Austin. I'm a US citizen living in Valencia, Spain, and I work with US organizations remotely. My hours overlap the US morning and early afternoon, and the writing itself happens while you sleep.

Short List Grants is new. I have no list of grant wins to show you, and I won't pretend otherwise. That is why the first two services are small and fixed-price: you can judge the work for yourself before spending more.

What I bring is method. I built my own system for reading foundation tax filings at scale, so a roadmap rests on what funders actually did with their money, not on what a database tagged them as liking.

I follow the Grant Professionals Association's code of ethics. Every engagement has a short written agreement covering scope, fees, timelines, confidentiality and how AI is used.

Contact

Start with a 20-minute conversation.

Tell me your organization's name, rough budget, and what you'd like funded. I'll mostly ask questions. If something I do fits, I'll say so at the end.

[email protected]