Entrepreneur Mike DuBose offers free books on finding and writing successful grants

Citing a desire to help others in need, the founder of two grant-related businesses is now providing free online access to two of his books dealing with finding and applying for government, foundation, and corporate grants and scholarships.

“There are roughly 100,000 foundations and corporations (for example, Home Depot) in the U.S. that give away grants and college scholarships, plus hundreds of government grant programs—but many individuals don’t know how to find these grants or scholarships and successfully apply for them,” said Mike DuBose, an author, grant professional, and entrepreneur based in Columbia, SC. “My companies’ purpose is ‘Creating Opportunities to Improve Lives,’ and this is a driving force for me and my family, as well. We want to share what we have learned to assist others in securing grant funding that can be used to help the less fortunate.”

DuBose founded Research Associates, a grant development company, and The Evaluation Group, an independent grant evaluation firm, in 1986. He noted, “Over the last 35 years, Research Associates has developed over 285 grants for school districts, universities, and nonprofits totaling over $650 million in grant funding, with a nearly 80% success rate. We also trained 25,000 individuals nationwide on grant writing and evaluation processes.”

DuBose, a member of the University of South Carolina’s graduate school teaching staff, recently retired, turning his attention to researching and writing a wide variety of personal, travel, and business columns, in addition to health articles developed with Surb Guram, MD. He sold his grant businesses to trusted longtime employee Stephanie Wentzell Marshall, who, with the help of a passionate team of grant and evaluation professionals, has continued his legacy of helping others through the companies’ work.

During his time as owner of Research Associates, DuBose and his staff wrote two books based on the experience and knowledge they gained over decades in finding and writing grants. Developing Successful Grants provides a comprehensive overview of the grant process and is particularly helpful to those seeking federal or state government grants. The book takes readers through an easy-to-understand, 13-step grants development process designed to help agencies form and train their own grant teams. It advises them on how to identify grant opportunities appropriate to their mission, services, capabilities, and needs; then, it explains how to write grant proposals and budgets which will catch funders’ attention and win grant awards. The second book, Guide for Soliciting Funds from Foundations and Corporate-Giving Programs, features 100 information-packed pages specifically targeted toward finding and writing privately funded grants, which typically have different (and often, easier) requirements than government grants.

Free copies of the books may be downloaded from DuBose’s nonprofit website (also featuring free access to many of his published columns and blogs) at www.mikedubose.com/resources/grant-books, or by visiting www.mikedubose.com and selecting “Resources.”