Grant consulting · Remote-first · Nationwide
Starling Grant Partners works alongside mission-driven organizations through the entire grant lifecycle — honest readiness assessments, data-informed research, winning proposals, and the compliance that keeps awards safe once they arrive.
The full grant lifecycle
Why Starling
Grant work is built on discipline, trust, and follow-through. So is this practice.
From readiness through post-award compliance, you work with one person who knows your organization — not a rotation of vendors handing your file back and forth.
Fee-for-service only — hourly, flat-fee, or retainer, quoted in writing before work begins. Never contingent on the award, consistent with the GPA Code of Ethics.
Data-informed prospecting using public award records and modern grant-intelligence tools, and diversification treated as a deliverable — so no single funder or policy shift can jeopardize your mission.
Services
A tiered, full-lifecycle suite. Start where you need help most — many clients begin with one project and grow into an ongoing relationship.
Assess organizational capacity, financial systems, and past performance; handle the registrations funders require; and build a 12–24 month funding calendar with deliberate diversification.
Government, foundation, and corporate opportunity research matched to your mission — using modern grant-intelligence platforms and public award data, with a clear-eyed eligibility and competitiveness read before anyone commits writing time.
Full proposal writing — needs statement, logic model, goals and objectives, evaluation plan — plus budgets and narratives aligned to funder and Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) requirements. Editing-only support available for in-house drafts.
The work that starts once the money arrives: compliance calendars, federal financial and performance reporting, subrecipient monitoring support, and audit and monitoring-visit preparation.
Build the skill in-house: grant-writing workshops, board and leadership training on the realities of grant funding, and a template library your team can reuse.
An outsourced grants director on retainer — pipeline management, multiple submissions a year, funder relationships, and reporting — for organizations not ready to hire in-house.
Founder & Principal Consultant
Grant professional · ~10 years across the full lifecycle
About the founder
Ayla's career spans in-house grants leadership at a large public school district, enterprise grants strategy at a national education company, and independent contract grant writing — across K–12 education, public safety and justice, human services, and healthcare.
She has managed annual grant budgets in the tens of millions from pre-award through closeout, and authored funded federal and state proposals, including a publicly awarded Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant.
The core capability the business depends on is already proven. What comes next is infrastructure and pipeline — not learning the craft.
That depth in education and public-safety funding points to a natural early niche, while broader work across healthcare, behavioral health, and human services supports a multi-segment approach.
Who I serve
Foundation and corporate funding served as a complement — but the core focus is state and federal grants, where compliance and competitiveness matter most.
Human services, behavioral health, arts and culture, youth development, and community development groups pursuing direct and pass-through grants.
Cities, counties, school districts, housing authorities, and special districts applying for competitive and formula funding in transportation, public safety, infrastructure, and workforce.
Companies pursuing SBIR/STTR federal research grants, state economic-development incentives, and other business-eligible programs.
Clinics, behavioral health providers, school systems, and small colleges seeking HRSA, SAMHSA, Department of Education, and state agency funding.
How it works
No mystery, no guaranteed-award promises — just an honest read on fit and a scope you can hold me to.
A free 30-minute conversation about your goals, timeline, and the funding you're eyeing.
A candid assessment of where you stand and which opportunities are worth your time.
Clear scope, fee structure, timeline, and a realistic view of your odds — in writing.
A signed engagement letter, and we get to work. Successful projects can grow into a retainer.
A partner, not a vendor
The engagement letter makes these enforceable. The working relationship is what makes them real.
Honest competitiveness reads come before any writing begins — even when that honesty costs me the project.
Every fee is quoted in writing before work starts. No hourly surprises, no scope drift, no invoice you didn't see coming.
Funders don't grant extensions, so neither do I. Submission dates are planned backward from day one, with room to breathe.
Free resource
Twenty-four questions to answer before pursuing your first — or next — federal award: registrations, financial systems, past performance, and the post-award capacity most applicants forget. No email required.
Two-page PDF · Updated for Uniform Guidance (2024)
Whether you're preparing for your first federal application or steadying a portfolio through an uncertain funding cycle, it starts with a free 30-minute conversation. No obligation, no pressure, and no contingency fees — ever.
Prefer email? ayla@starlinggrantpartners.com
Remote-first, serving clients nationwide.
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