Here’s to 10 years

My fundraising consultancy, Green Avenue, is celebrating 10 years next month. I’ve obviously known this moment was coming, yet I still practically pick my jaw up off the floor in amazement from time to time.

I used to call myself The Reluctant Grant Consultant. I loved working on grant research and proposals in my “comfort zone” at the City of Noblesville and later, Hamilton County. I’ve also performed grant work for other nonprofits since my first son was born over 25 years ago.

When my Hamilton County position stubbornly stayed part-time vs. full-time, I began to realize consulting on the side for someone else wasn’t going to cut it anymore. Despite my fears, I knew it was time to start my own business.

Grants Avenue became official with the State of Indiana on July 18, 2016. I came up with the name to go with the tagline, “Your Road to Grant Success.” At the time, I had one client, a nonprofit near central Indiana who filled me with promises of growth.

Those promises were so enticing; I left my Hamilton County position in May of 2017 to be a full-time consultant. For a while, I loved working for this organization and immersing myself in all things STEM and space related.

However, by the spring of 2018, they stopped paying me – not for one month, but two. I quickly realized they couldn’t keep their promises. I finally had to leave them, feeling terrified. I learned a hard lesson to never put my eggs in one basket.

Thanks to the Grant Professionals Association and other connections, I soon gained other clients. I was finally a full-time consultant, happily working for a variety of nonprofits. By the summer of 2019, I regularly had to turn down potential clients.

I began to wonder if I should hire subcontractors. I resisted this idea just as much as I had resisted starting my own company. I once said I never wanted to supervise people. As I’ve written before, I’ve learned to “never say never.”

I gave one of my friends who wanted to learn about my profession a “Grants 101” training and brought on another grant professional. We had our first meeting/orientation in the fall of 2019. Grants Avenue now had a team.

By 2020, we were off and running. Despite the world falling apart due to COVID-19, our business thrived. I began to work with a good friend of mine who was also a grant professional, Anne. She subcontracted with me and I was impressed with her capabilities.

A thought kept nagging me. What if I made Anne a partner in my business? This was another “never.” I had a partnership years ago for a home daycare and it ended badly. But something made me keep moving forward. By January of 2022, Anne became my partner. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. We work incredibly well together – in fact, we think we share the same brain – and she’s helped our company grow and improve.

By the summer of 2022, we had a total of six team members, and we expanded beyond fundraising. To reflect this, we needed to change our name. I offered a contest with a $100 prize to a team member who came up with the best new one. Green Avenue was the winner, so it is our current d.b.a.

We kept steadily growing our client base and services. We survived taking a client to small claims court for non-payment (two years of frustration, but we eventually won!). Green Avenue also survived some untrustworthy clients that we had to bid farewell to. These experiences helped us refine our policies and procedures and work smarter.

Through these bumps, we kept learning. Green Avenue worked in 2024 to create our values. In the summer of 2025, we brought on another partner, Leigh. She is well-known in the central Indiana fundraising community. She works full-time for a community foundation and helps us on the side. We also received our Women-Owned Business Certification through the State of Indiana, which was a harder process than any grant application I’ve ever experienced.

As we celebrate 10 years in 2026, with seven team members, I can’t help but shake my head in amazement. I’m thrilled at how far we’ve come, and I hope with all my heart that our next 10 years will be even better than the first.

Amy Shankland is an empty-nester, writer, and fundraising professional living in Noblesville with her husband John and two dogs. You can reach her via email at amys@greenavenue.info.