Our Team
Our Trainers
Johna Rodgers
Johna Rodgers, GPC works with organizations of all types and sizes for 25+ years. A specialist in federal grants, she has secured more than $200 million for schools, educational groups, and nonprofits. Johna is a nationally-recognized trainer and joined GWUSA in 2013.
She works ceaselessly to improve grants and the grants profession for employees, consultants and the public. She is a member of the GPA Board of Directors, currently serving as President.
She is also an original Grant Professional Certified (GPC, 2008) and former Board Member of the Grant Professionals Certification Institute, which provides the nation’s only nationally certified credential in grants.
Ericka Harney
Dr. Ericka Harney, CFRE, GPC, CAE, CVA has over 20 years of experience in fundraising, grant development, training, strategic planning, and nonprofit management. She is a Grant Professional Certified and responsible for successful fundraising and grant awards of over $38 million.
At Harney & Associates, Dr. Harney serves a variety of clients around the country, including nonprofits, governments, and universities. She provides grant research, writing, and reviews, coaching, evaluation, and board training. In addition to her work for Grant Writing USA, she is an Assistant Professor at Future Generations University.
Ericka is the former Executive Director at Accounting & Financial Women’s Alliance and its Foundation. She has served as a federal peer reviewer for the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Her Ph.D. is in Organizational Leadership, with a concentration in Nonprofit, from Eastern University.
Becky Crump
Becky has worked with hundreds of grant applications, including state, federal, foundation, and corporate, for nonprofit, postsecondary, and K12 institutions. She teaches grant writing and management courses for the University of Louisville Executive Education Program, leads groups in strategic planning and is a presenter at national conferences.
She has served on over 20 federal, state, and local grant review panels. Grant Professional Certified since 2010, She is a GPA Approved Trainer and a Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation board member.
Sudie Barrineau
An accidental grant writer, Sudie Barrineau was hooked since her first award letter. It was then she discovered the power of grants that enable people to do good work.
Her first grant award from a local foundation ignited a spark that has led to the pursuit of polishing her grant skills through mentorships, extensive research, and real life experiences.
She has since secured millions of dollars in competitive grant awards from a variety of sources to include federal, state, and local governments, as well as private foundations such as the MacArthur Foundation.
Cecilia Peredo
Cecilia Peredo has been a grant professional supporting the missions of national organizations, universities, local governments, and nonprofits for over 20 years. She has been awarded federal grants while working at the University of Louisville in addition to national, local, and community foundation grants while working at national, regional, and local non-profits.
She has been awarded multiple Community Development Block Grants helping cities, towns, and counties to secure funds for infrastructure projects such as sewer, storm water, fire stations/trucks, community centers, and water towers.
Timothy J. "TJ" Hansell
TJ is a seasoned grant professional with extensive experience that enables him to bring real world experiences into the conversation. These experiences were gained over his professional career that has spanned more than 15 years at various Federal, Tribal, State, Local, non-profit, and for-profit organizations.
Not only has he worked at every level within the grant sector, his roles have been exhaustive and include: CEO of 501(c)(3), board member for multiple foundations and nonprofits that include several with endowments, auditor, grant writing, manager, administration, grant maker, grant reviewer, and more.
Jennie Miller
Jennie has been working in the nonprofit sector for 25 years. Her company, JAM Nonprofit Consulting LLC, supports organizations in the arts, health care, education, human services, and youth development, primarily in grant writing. She sits on the national board of the GPA and has been Grant Professional Certified (GPC) since 2012.
In addition, Jennie teaches grant writing in Arizona State University’s graduate Nonprofit Leadership and Management program. She has a BA in Communication from UC San Diego, and a MA in Performing Arts Administration from New York University.
Dana Patterson
Dana (she/her) works with nonprofits at all stages (from $100K – $100+ million operating budgets). She is a Director of Development at Kidango and started grants consulting in 2017. Dana firmly believes each award she’s helped secure, ranging from $500 – $20,000,000+ is significant to each organization.
Dana serves as a board member for the Grant Professionals Foundation and the treasurer for the Grant Professional Association (GPA) Greater Bay Area Chapter.
She is a co-author of the 2021 peer-reviewed Journal of the GPA article, “Ethical Grant Language from a Historical Perspective” exploring how language surrounding American philanthropy from the 1700’s to today can harm or support communities. In 2022, Dana was honored as one of five Outstanding Young Professionals by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Mara Gerst
Mara Gerst, CFRE, GPC, ACNP, has been involved with the nonprofit sector as a grant and fundraising professional, adjunct professor, and volunteer for more than 25 years. Her professional experience includes grant writing, fundraising, grants assessments, sponsorships and recognition, donor stewardship, and budget development.
Since 2010, she has helped raise more than $65 million in grant funding from federal, foundation, and corporate sources. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive, Grant Professional Certified, a Lifecycle Capacity Consultant, and an Advanced Certified Nonprofit Professional and the founder of Gerst Grants & Nonprofit Consulting.
Dana Schuler Drummond
Dana Schuler Drummond, MA, CFRE, GPC is owner of Sharpshooter Communications, LLC, a freelance public relations and grant-seeking firm. She was the first person in Oklahoma to earn dual certification as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and a Grant Professional Certified (GPC).
With more than 30 years’ experience in the nonprofit world, Dana uses her experience
to help clients secure more than $10 million in grants annually – from small requests for
special projects to major multi-year federal proposals. She loves helping clients with
strategic planning, communications, and fundraising research. Dana also serves as an
adjunct professor at Oklahoma State University, teaching classes on nonprofit management and fundraising.
George Nunes
During his 30-year non-profit career George has been a grant writer, grant maker, and grant recipient. His broad-based grant experience includes having been a grant seeker, editor, reviewer, and educator. He has instructed state, foundation, and federal grant writing courses at Arizona State University’s Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation.
George is a member of Grant Professionals Association, a Lifecycle Capacity Consultant, and a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy. He draws on his other fundraising experience as a major gifts officer, development director, general manager, and managing director, not to mention having run a for-profit family business.
Grant proposals written or edited by George have been awarded six- and seven-figure grants from private and public funders, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. George is passionate about writing grant proposals because it allows him to generate “the greatest good for the greatest possible number.”
Meredith Burke Hammons
Meredith Burke Hammons, Ph.D., GPC, has over 15 years of experience in grant development, instruction, and research. She is Grant Professional Certified and responsible for successful grant awards of over $17 million. Dr. Hammons works with a variety of clients around the country providing grant research, writing, training, and grant readiness services. She has taught at the high school, college, and graduate levels, provided staff training to nonprofits and libraries, led library workshops for students and the general public, and presented at local, regional, and national conferences. Dr. Hammons holds a Ph.D. in Religion from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois.
Executive & Marketing Team
Becky Helm | CEO
Becky Helm, MAEd, is Founder, Owner and CEO of Grant Writing USA and Grant Management USA. Started in 1997, Becky’s background in Education (Teacher), Training (Corporate and Nonprofit) , Program Development and Nonprofit Program Management (Child Abuse Prevention, At Risk Youth) led to her passion for bringing grant training workshops to agencies across the country to teach them how to successfully fund their needs, and realize their visions to improve their communities.
Becky credits her amazing team for making Grant Writing USA a continued success over 25 years.
Tammy Pitts
Tammy Pitts has been with Grant Writing USA since 2007. Tammy’s background is in human resources and accounting for Lake Meade Hospital and Southwest Gas. Tammy has worked her way up through Grant Writing USA learning all aspects of the company from data entry, research, administrative assistant, marketing assistant to Marketing Coordinator.
Tammy markets and manages workshops across the country working with hosts, customers, and community partners. Tammy has worked with new marketing staff to train them and continues to grow in the company. Grant Writing USA is grateful to have Tammy as a valuable part of the team.
Kate Helm
Kate Helm is the Director of Special Projects for Grant Writing USA. Kate is starting with Grant Writing USA in 2024. As the Director of Special Projects, Kate will be handling conferences, specialized hosting opportunities, zoom marketing, and a variety of growth development opportunities.
She has a Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration. Kate was born and raised in Las Vegas, but has lived in California for the last 11 years where she graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. For the past four years, Kate has been in management in the Hospitality industry. Grant Writing USA is excited to welcome Kate aboard and is looking forward to the creativity and talents she brings to the company.