Solving Your Grant Writing Needs
Mission Statement: The mission of Leighty & Associates is to contribute to the development of healthy, vibrant communities by helping high-quality organizations succeed in achieving their visions through sustainable grant-writing services.
Matt Leighty, Founder and President of Leighty & Associates, began as a freelance grant writer in 2013 after four years of writing proposals at Pepperdine University and the University of California, Los Angeles. As he worked with various non-profits over the years, he began to notice a consistent story: They would hire a young grant writer, spend up to two years training them to work independently, and then the (now) experienced grant writer would leave for a higher paying position, leaving the non-profit to start the process over again. Those non-profits who couldn’t afford a full-time grant writer were always on the lookout for good freelancers, but these were hard to find, and often harder to keep. There had to be a better, and more efficient way!
Leighty & Associates was created to provide stable, consistent support to non-profits. We work together as a team to provide efficient, organized, and successful grant writing and major gifts development. We handle all aspects of your grant portfolio (including reporting!) and provide concise, measurable results in a format that our clients’ boards love! Every aspect of our decision-making is designed to promote consistency, stability, and trust—both between us and our clients, but also our clients and their funders. No more missed deadlines or last-minute rushes to get a proposal out the door.
Leighty & Associates has a specialty in developing robust corporation and foundation portfolios, and we've increased recurring grant revenue for our clients up to 300% in three years by focusing on the development of long-lasting and sustainable relationships. We’ve raised millions to support capital projects as well. And we're also prepared to tackle challenging government grants, with successful proposals to a variety of federal, state, and county agencies.
Our team wants you to do what you do best—making our community a better place. We’ll do what we do best, which is providing the support services to make that happen.
Matt@LeightyAssociates.com
Matt Leighty, Founder and President
Matt Leighty is the Founder and President of Leighty & Associates. At ease with both large federal applications and corporate and foundation funding sources, he has raised more than $20 million for his clients since launching Leighty & Associates in 2014. But more than dollars, this translates to hundreds of homeless individuals seeing a doctor to have their basic healthcare needs met, additional academic resources for thousands of students, mentoring opportunities for thousands of at-risk youth, hundreds of veterans served, dozens of scholarships, and three new buildings.
Matt works with clients to identify programs and stories for funding, new opportunities to tell those stories, and works to build up a high-quality, reliable portfolio for his clients. With a particular expertise in large, technical writing projects and complex budgets, clients have benefited from years of writing and project management experience. He was the project director on a multi-state research study of the probation system in the United States, and he used to be a lobbyist for the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.
He is a graduate of the University of Virginia (B.A. English) and Pepperdine University (Master of Public Policy). After ten years in Los Angeles and Long Beach, he returned to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia in 2017. Matt and his wife, Shannon, have two children, Xander and June.
Emily@Leightyassociates.com
Emily Cruz, Production Manager
Emily Cruz is the Production Manager for Leighty & Associates. She makes sure the trains runs on time, and that we never miss a deadline. Emily has worked in Development for Richmond-area nonprofit organizations for nine years and has done it all; from capital campaigns to event planning and sponsorship. She holds a Bachelor of Science in History from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Her husband’s name is Tom Cruz, but he was Tom Cruz before Tom Cruise was Tom Cruise. They live in Varina.
Amy Bradshaw, Grant Manager
Amy Bradshaw is a grantwriter and grants manager. She has worked as a research associate, evaluation coordinator, fund seeker and funder, both in the government and non-profit sector. Through this experience, she has developed a unique perspective on the grant development process. She is especially interested in working with non-profits to develop their evaluation capacity and effectively communicate the impact of their work to funders.
She received her Master's degree in Social Work with a concentration in policy and planning, and a post-baccalaureate certificate in Nonprofit Management from Virginia Commonwealth University. She lives in Richmond with her husband Will and daughter Ruth.
Mike Zetlan, Grant Associate
Michael Zetlan is an experienced Program Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the Nonprofit Organization Management industry. With experience at some of Richmond’s best arts organization, and exceptional organizational and management experience, Mike not only knows grants, but the difficulty of executing on them. He received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused in Fine/Studio Arts, General from Georgetown University and lives in Richmond with his wife Laura Grace and his son, Sol.
Merenda Cecelia, Administration
Merenda (AKA The Ceramic Hammer) is an artist and teacher working in Richmond, VA. While ceramics and teaching (including teaching ceramics) are her first love, she also enjoys working with the Leighty & Associates team to make sure the non-profits we support are flush with grant money. Merenda is the one who keeps the rest of us working on schedule.