PENELOPE WELZ

Penelope Welz takes the many thoughts and feelings of volunteers and staff and creatively molds them into persuasive prose enabling nonprofits to present their cases for support in the most positive and compelling light. Her ability to present complex issues in a simple, straightforward and, often, emotional manner is the result of 34 years of writing and editing, first for corporate advertisers and, for the past 23 years, for charitable organizations.

During her early career, Penelope was a key staff member for a Cincinnati-based advertising firm serving regional clients. In this role, she was frequently involved in shaping persuasive presentations to prospective clients and developing creative concepts for advertising campaigns and sales promotions. Later, as creative director for an audio/visual production firm serving major corporations nationwide, she proved her versatility by scripting audio/visual programs, speeches for corporate executives, and live stage performances for celebrity hosts of sales meetings and conventions. Penelope has written for ceo’s and top executives of, to name only a few, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, American Standard, Stone Container Corporation, Batesville Casket Company, Kraft Foods and The Trane Company.

In 1984, Penelope established an independent writing service and soon discovered the need for her skills in the nonprofit sector. Since then, she has written case statements, video scripts, speeches, direct mail letters, web copy, brochures, and newsletters for a wide variety of charitable organizations of all sizes throughout the United States.

Her expertise in grantsmanship has resulted in a number of exemplary grant awards by some of the nation’s most prestigious charitable foundations including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as numerous other government and private funders. Penelope is a featured grant writer in Winning Grant Proposals, a publication of the Fund Raising Institute.