Speaker Profile

Mara Gerst, CFRE, GPC, is passionate about nonprofits, and has been involved with the nonprofit sector as a grant professional, fundraising professional, adjunct professor, and volunteer for more than 25 years. Mara is available to speak about grant readiness, grant writing, fundraising, peer review, grants assessments, sponsorships and recognition, corporate partnership development, donor stewardship, board philanthropy, and budget development.

In the last ten years, Mara has helped raise more than $22 million in grant funding, including federal awards from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. National foundation awards have included the Ford Foundation, The Walton Family Foundation, The Hearst Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Henry Luce Foundation, American Express Foundation, The Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, among others.  

Mara is a Certified Fund Raising Executive, Grant Professional Certified (GPC), a Lifecycle Capacity Consultant (LCC) and a 2020 candidate for the CNP (Certified Nonprofit Professional). Currently, she serves as a board member for the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI) and as a co-facilitator for the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, Cave Creek Neighborhood.  She has been a peer reviewer for the JM Kaplan Fund, the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts.