Kelly Cooper is a veteran grant strategist with decades of experience in education and agriculture, leading three distinct organizations: 2 Degree Shift (for-profit), Livable Wage Jobs (501c3), and Open Source Ag (501c3). To secure sustainable funding across all three, Kelly needed a smarter, faster approach to grant discovery and strategy — one that could keep pace with the complexity of managing multiple funding streams at once.
The Challenge
- Managing grant searches across multiple organizations required juggling numerous databases, websites, and spreadsheets simultaneously
- The traditional grant search process was consuming valuable time that could be better spent on strategy and implementation
- Staying current with rapidly shifting grant terminology and funder priorities added another layer of complexity to every application cycle
“In the world of grant getting before AI and before Euna Grants, it really was a detective hunt. I was spending countless hours searching through databases and websites, trying to piece together some sort of strategy for moving forward.” — Kelly Cooper
The Solution
After discovering Euna Grants, Kelly centralized her entire grant strategy process through the platform, making it the foundation of her operations across all three organizations.
- Streamlined search: Consolidated grant discovery into one place, eliminating the need to cross-reference multiple external databases and track opportunities in separate spreadsheets
“I love being able to see the larger awards on the same page. I don’t have to go through grants.gov over here and then another site over there. I can save everything and when I’m working on the small grants, I can keep the big ones in mind.”
- Terminology tracking: Used Euna Grants’ database to monitor evolving funder language and priorities, cross-referencing newer RFPs to ensure applications resonated with current reviewer expectations
“The terminologies change a lot, and they change in part because of national politics. I use Euna Grants to increase my peripheral vision when I’m submitting for an RFA or RFP.”
- Layered funding strategy: Identified complementary grants that could build upon each other, combining smaller and larger funding opportunities to create sustainable, multi-source program support across all three organizations
“What Euna Grants is doing now is beneficial at so many levels because it traverses different types of funders — foundations, small governments, and particularly in California, a lot of smaller state grants.”
The Results
- Secured $32 million in grant funding across 29 successful non-federal applications
- Saved 10+ hours weekly on grant research and discovery
- Successfully implemented a multi-source funding strategy across three distinct sectors — for-profit, nonprofit, and agricultural
“Euna Grants is like having a full-time person on staff. I can focus on strategy instead of spending hours on the hunt.” — Kelly Cooper
Conclusion
Kelly continues to build on her layered funding approach, using Euna Grants to strategically combine funding sources while keeping her operations efficient. Her experience reflects a broader truth about grant success: scale requires the right tools. With the right foundation in place, Kelly’s organizations are positioned to grow their impact — and her feedback continues to help shape the platform’s development to better serve grant seekers at every stage of their journey.