Join the FREE, LIVE Training, "How to Make $10K/Months Writing Grants from Home in 2026 (No degree, No Experience, No 40-Hour Work Weeks)" on Wednesday, Jan. 21st from 4:30 pm - 6 pm EST. Register here: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/academy-webinar
Let’s be real. Being a
nonprofit executive director isn’t always a walk in the park. There are definitely challenges that one faces with wearing the following hats:
- Leader and visionary
- Fundraiser
- Being the face of the organization
- Marketer
- Manager
- …and so much more.
Dolph goes in deep, starting off the discussion with sharing his experience being completely burned out as nonprofit executive director. At the time, he resigned and took a year off as a sabbatical to reflect.
This led to his current position as a nonprofit consultant.
The lessons he has learned along the way include:
- Taking time to recognize red flags of old habits
- Negotiating with funding sources
- Writing grants for enough money instead of settling
- Being values-based
- And so much more
What We Discuss:
- Grant Reviewer Course
- Overcoming Burnout
- How to Know if a Job isn’t a Good Fit
- Looking Inward into Nonprofit Pain Points
- How to Look for Signs of Nonprofit Burnout
- How Being Values-Based Helps to Attract the Right People
- Why Paying Your Nonprofit Staff a Living Wage is Vital to Nonprofit Health
- Why Nonprofit Attrition Rates Can Be the Funder’s Fault
- Why You Need to Not Underbid on a Grant Application
- How to Renegotiate with a Funding Source
- Why Talking to Funders is so Important
About Dolph Goldenburg
Dolph is recognized as a leader within the nonprofit sector who has a track record of guiding organizations through leadership transitions, strategic planning and board development.
He started Successful Nonprofits in 2014 to provide consulting, podcasting and publishing services that strengthen the nonprofit sector. Goldenburg’s consulting focuses on strategic planning, executive transitions, board development and coaching. His clients have included large nonprofits like Sheltering Arms and HOPE Atlanta and also small but mighty nonprofits like the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and Zebra Coalition.
Prior to starting his consulting practice, Goldenburg was a successful nonprofit CEO for about a dozen years with a demonstrated history of leading organizations to financial stability and growth. As a CEO, Goldenburg helped organizations transform deficits into healthy surpluses, increase fund balances, dramatically expand services, and increase revenue. In addition to extensive CEO experience, Goldenburg also has more than a decade of fundraising experience, which includes soliciting six -figure gifts and writing millions of dollars in funded grant proposals.
Goldenburg holds a masters degree in public administration from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelors degree in social work from Georgia State University.
Dolph lives in Lawrenceville, GA with his husband, has traveled to five of the seven continents, and is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Connect with Dolph:
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Thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
What is Grant Writing & Funding?
Quit your toxic nonprofit job and replace your full-time income while writing grants part-time, from home! Join our students in the Freelance Grant Writer Academy to create Financial Stability and Flexibility through writing grants for causes you are passionate about: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-grant-writer-academy
World-renowned grant writing expert and Amazon bestselling author Holly Rustick provides coaching that helps new and experienced grant writers replace their full-time income while writing grants part-time from home (or anywhere they want to live or travel in the world).
She coaches changemakers to master grant writing and start to grow 6-figure+ grant writing businesses on part-time hours via her signature group program, “Freelance Grant Writer Academy."
As an unapologetic feminist, Holly’s work in coaching female grant writers to master grant writing, find their cause-area niche, and navigate value-based pricing and nonprofit sales is breaking glass ceilings for women all over the world.
Every week, she coaches thousands of people through the top-ranking podcast, Grant Writing & Funding, books on grant writing, and inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy.
Holly has 20 years of experience in grant writing, and began her freelance grant writing journey back in 2005. While teaching in Kuwait and Indonesia, and then earning a Master’s Degree in International Political Economy in Belgium, Holly saw the light of setting up a virtual-based business in grant writing back in the mid-2000s. Having secured more than $45 million of dollars for nonprofit organizations, and then setting up a multi 6-figure freelance business, Holly has a mission to help female grant writers break out of toxic nonprofit J-O-B-S and create high-level income while freelance grant writing.
Inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy, students have secured more than $225+ million in grant funding and $4+ million in revenue in their grant writing businesses within two years.
To amplify this work, she is past-president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce and was appointed to the Guam Business Advisory Task Force as an advisor to the first female governor of Guam. Holly lives on the island of Guam with her beautiful daughter, Isabella.
If you are interested in replacing your full-time income while writing grants part-time from home (or from anywhere in the world!) join the Freelance Grant Writer Academy!
www.grantwritingandfunding.com.