Access to this course also available with a subscription to GrantStation's Online Learning Academy.
Many nonprofits struggle to secure meaningful support from local businesses. While companies are eager to invest in their communities, generic appeals and transactional requests often fall flat. To build lasting partnerships, nonprofits must understand corporate giving trends, structure their approach, and craft personalized strategies that resonate with business goals.
The Business of Giving: Tapping Corporate Hearts and Wallets is a step-by-step course that guides you through the process of cultivating authentic, mutually beneficial corporate partnerships. Through four focused modules, you’ll learn how to align your mission with business priorities, identify the right prospects, and turn conversations into lasting investments.
Course Outline
- Unit 1: Finding and Harnessing Corporate Giving Trends
Learn how to track mega, macro, and micro trends in corporate philanthropy, and discover how businesses align giving with their strategic goals. Use this insight to position your nonprofit as a timely and relevant partner. - Unit 2: Structuring Your Corporate Fundraising Approach
Build a solid foundation with policies, procedures, and ethical standards that ensure consistency and professionalism. Establish a Corporate Solicitation Program (CSP) that is strategic, scalable, and sustainable - Unit 3: Identifying Ideal Donors
Move beyond one-size-fits-all appeals by learning how to research, profile, and prioritize businesses. Develop a research framework and tier system that ensures your asks align with company values and deliver mutual benefit. - Unit 4: Converting Prospects into Investment
Master the art of making the ask. Craft compelling proposals, develop recognition packages that resonate with business motivations, and formalize partnerships through Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) that lead to long-term support
Details
This is a 4-unit written course. By the end you will have a clear, step-by-step roadmap for building and sustaining corporate partnerships that go far beyond one-time donations. It includes ready-to-use templates, real-world examples, and practical tools designed to help you immediately apply what you’ve learned.
Alice Ruhnke
Alice Ruhnke is the President of GrantStation. Having raised over $45 million from federal, state, and private grantmakers, she knows what it takes to get funded. As a former nonprofit program coordinator and director, and Founder of The Grant Advantage, Alice has a deep understanding of the challenges that nonprofits face. Over the last 20 years she's worked in the trenches with hundreds of nonprofit organizations to improve their capacity to raise funds. Alice is an author and educator with a passion to share her expertise. Her insightful trainings on grant proposal writing and development, community change models, service projects, and measuring outcomes have helped over 4,000 individuals positively impact their communities. Alice earned the Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential in 2025, a distinguished certification that recognizes expertise in grantsmanship through a rigorous, experience-based examination.
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
DIVERSE GRANT OPPORTUNITIES
Find the right grants faster, no matter your mission
- Access 150,000+ funding profiles, 15,000+ curated grants across sectors, regions, and grant types tailored to your mission.
- Discover funders that align with your goals using filtering tools that simplify your search and save valuable time.
- Find funders faster—describe your work or drop in your website, and our AI will generate the best search terms for you.
- Stay current with newly posted grants and evolving funder priorities to uncover the best funding opportunities.
DETAILED FUNDER & GRANT PROFILES
Make informed decisions with in-depth funder insights
- Explore grantmaker profiles with funding priorities, eligibility criteria, and deadlines to make informed decisions.
- Save time by quickly assessing funders that align with your mission, so you can focus on writing strong proposals.
- Understand funders’ giving history and priorities to strengthen your proposals and improve funding success.
RELIABLE & UP-TO-DATE DATA
Trust verified funding data, updated weekly
- Ensure accuracy with a rigorously maintained database of active grants, updated daily for the latest opportunities.
- Get real-time updates on funder priorities, deadlines, and eligibility changes so you never miss a funding opportunity.
- Plan with confidence using up-to-date grant data that reflects funder priorities, eligibility, and deadlines.
PROFESSIONAL-GRADE TOOLS AT AFFORDABLE PRICES
Access expert grantseeking tools for less than 41 cents a day
- Gain access to advanced search, planning, and strategy tools designed for nonprofits of all sizes and experience levels.
- Streamline your funding process with time-saving resources and expert guidance built for maximum efficiency.
- Simplify your grant-seeking process with a membership that offers everything you need at one affordable price.
Mindy Muller, Community Development Professionals
Valerie Leonard, Nonprofit Utopia
Dianne Emminger, Guardian Angels Medical Service Dogs, Inc.
Frequently asked questions
A GrantStation membership gives you full access to our powerful grant-seeking platform, including 150,000+ funding profiles, 15,000+ curated grants, and advanced search tools that help you find funding that aligns with your mission. You’ll also gain access to strategic planning resources, grant calendar tools, proposal development guidance, and member-exclusive funding updates—all designed to simplify your search and improve your success rate.
Records are updated systematically on a daily basis. When possible, we coordinate our updates with a grantmaker's annual funding guidelines release schedule. We also update records when we receive notices from grantmakers during the year. Many grantmakers listed in our database contact us directly when they have revised information to share. In addition, we monitor numerous online and print philanthropic publications, which allows us to add recently released information to our funder records. Records that have been updated have a date stamp at the bottom of the funder profile.
Are you a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, educational institution, regional government, religious organization, tribal council, or an individual artist? Is your budget $10,000 or more? Do you have a track record of fundraising? Then you are ready for grantseeking, and GrantStation can be your resource. Learn more.
We don't provide free trials, but we provide ways for you to evaluate if membership is right for you. You can try out the search filters to see the number of grantmakers associated with the search terms without being logged in. You can also sign up for one of our free monthly webinar guides, or watch the most recent one on demand to learn more. You can always contact us with any questions that you have.
We’re here to help! Reach out to us with any questions that you have, or explore our full FAQ for more answers.