Marci Steel Whittaker is the principal writer and researcher at GrantMasters.  She is noted for excellence in developing and presenting grant proposals to support nonprofit organizations and innovative technologies.  She has written or been a content advisor for a wide variety of proposals including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program (ATP), and numerous private foundation grants.  She has also been a highly successful publishing manager of both trade and association publications, including the development of several new publications. 

Marci's experience base includes non-profit organizations, new technology developers, business incubators, process industries, technical associations, commercial publishers, and government agencies.  Her key knowledge areas encompass grant and proposal writing, donor letters, grant opportunity research, editorial consulting, business-to-business marketing, publishing, corporate communications, and public policy research.

She has served as a public affairs officer of a Fortune 500 company and as an instructor at Penn State University’s School of Communications.  Additionally, she has marketed and managed national seminars, and developed and managed exhibits at national and international conventions.

She holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern Maine’s Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service, a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising from Penn State University, and has completed graduate work in the MBA program at the University of Texas/Austin.

Marci is a member of the American Association of Grant Professionals and the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits.  She also serves on the board of Fearrington Cares, an independent living support organization for seniors, volunteers at a food pantry and a hurricane damage relief organization.