Karen Stimpson
Grants Counsel
Portland, ME | Connect
Karen brings to grant writing 27 years as a professional writer and Executive Director of three non-profits. She has written over 700 grant proposals which have yielded millions of dollars. She has enjoyed an 87% award success rate, which she attributes to her careful grant research, pithy writing style, and relationship building with grantors.
When she began her non-profit career as Executive Director of the Maine Island Trail Association (MITA), Karen had already amassed a considerable portfolio of both creative and marketing writing, covering the gamut from articles and short stories, to annual fund letters, case statements, and annual reports. At MITA she became a prolific proposal writer, raising significant funding from foundations, large grant making non-profits, government agencies, corporations, and charitable trusts. Following 17 years at MITA, Karen ran the Coastal Humane Society in Brunswick (now called “Midcoast Humane”), where creating proposals for homeless, sick, abandoned, and abused animals taught her the power of story-telling: at Coastal nearly all of her proposals won awards.
Karen places a particular emphasis on getting to know the entities to which she prepares grant requests. “I consider relationship building with grantors as important as it is with major donors. After thoroughly researching a grantor’s priorities, values, and mission, I like to meet with them and invite them to get involved with the organization I am representing. At MITA I often coaxed our funding partners to climb aboard a MITA boat and visit islands with me, or better yet – volunteer at an island clean-up. At Coastal Humane I frequently gave our foundation supporters shelter tours and made sure to put a puppy or kitten in their arms!”
A full-time grant researcher/writer now, Karen works with Brandt Associates serving a wide variety of clients representing conservation, responsible recreation, Native American culture, historical preservation, social services, and wildlife rehabilitation. Somehow Karen still finds time to work on her collection of short stories about life at sea level - she has lived on her 100-year-old wooden Express Commuter in Portland Harbor for nearly four decades.
Karen earned her BA in Graphic and Communication Arts from Simmons College and the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts in Boston; she also holds a 3rd Mate’s USCG All Oceans, All Tonnage License in the American Merchant Marine.