Finding and Winning Small Grants: Resource Development for Grassroots Programs
A Peer-Led Approach to Funding Real Community Work
Give peer-led programs without a development team a clear, step-by-step way to find, win, and manage the small grants that fund real community work.
This complete, facilitator-ready training kit gives peer-led organizations without a dedicated development team a clear, step-by-step process for finding, applying for, and managing small grants that fund real community work. It treats grant writing as a learnable skill rather than a mystery reserved for people with advanced degrees, and it is honest about the paperwork and follow-through required after the money arrives. Built on established funder guidance and nonprofit capacity-building research, and written in plain, warm language for adult learners, including peer specialists, grassroots organizers, and people in recovery or returning from incarceration who are now running or supporting programs.
- Who it is for
- Peer specialists, grassroots organizers, program coordinators, executive directors of small community organizations, and people in recovery or returning from incarceration who are now running or supporting programs
- Group size
- 8 to 30 participants, breakout groups of 4 to 6
Under $25,000
the award range this kit is built around, where community foundations, local government set-asides, and small family foundations fund grassroots work without a full development team
Source: Candid funder research and community foundation guidance
3 stages
find the right-size opportunity, write an honest narrative, then manage reporting and compliance after the award, taught as one continuous process rather than three separate skills
Source: PAVE GrantCraft facilitator curriculum
Post-award
a full segment on what happens after the check clears, including spending tracking, report writing against promised goals, and the Uniform Guidance basics that keep the next grant open to you
Source: 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Guidance, National Council of Nonprofits
What's in the kit
Every PAVE Pathways kit ships with the same ten components.
- 1.Training Blueprint and 2-Hour Flow Outline
- 2.10-Question Pre-Knowledge Survey
- 3.28-Slide Core Presentation Deck
- 4.Slide-by-Slide Presenter Notes with full scripts, metaphors, and analogies
- 5.Participant Notes Version (3 slides per page with lined note space, PDF)
- 6.Two Participant Handouts: the Your First Small Grant worksheet and a Before You Hit Submit checklist
- 7.Group Breakout Session Kit (45 minutes, with group agreements, discussion prompts, and scribe and reporter templates)
- 8.10-Question Post-Knowledge Survey
- 9.Companion eBook (50 pages)
- 10.Optional Premium Prezi Storyboard, 28 frames (+20 percent)
Preview the materials
Five pieces of the kit to explore: the deck, presenter notes, handouts, the breakout kit, and the companion eBook. Open any one and page through real, watermarked samples.
Open preview, no signup required. Saving and printing are disabled to protect the material.
Open preview, no signup required. Saving, printing, and downloading are disabled to protect the material.
Frequently asked questions
Licensing options
Standard License
$397
Single-organization internal use. Delivered ready to facilitate.
Custom-Fit
$697
Your agency's name on the cover, your state's resources in the script, and a short call with our team before we build it, so the training already sounds like your community instead of being adapted after the fact.
White-Label / Agency License
$1,495
Full redistribution rights across every site in your network, source files your team can keep customizing, and a live orientation session so your trainers launch with confidence instead of a PDF and a login.
Because these are downloadable digital toolkits, all sales are final once a file is delivered. If a refund is approved by our team for an exceptional circumstance, a 25 percent processing fee applies to cover the cost of deactivating the license. Full terms are in our End-User License Agreement.