About the studio · Madison, WI
We started Ellsworth Grantworks because good programs keep losing to bad paperwork.
Strong missions get passed over every cycle — not for lack of merit, but for a narrative that wandered or a budget that bounced at compliance. We're a small, owner-led shop built to fix that, one submission package at a time.
Where this started
A decade of watching the wrong proposals win
Dana Ellsworth spent years inside nonprofits and a university research office, close enough to the funding pipeline to see the same thing happen over and over: a program officer who clearly cared, a mission that mattered, and a proposal that lost points it never should have.
Not because the work wasn't strong — because the deadline arrived before the narrative was finished, the budget didn't quite match the story, or no one had time to read the application against the funder's own scoring sheet.
Ellsworth Grantworks is the answer to that. A small bench of writers, researchers and budget people who treat your submission like the reviewer will — line by line, against the criteria — and hand it back clean, compliant and on time. We don't take a percentage of your award and we don't pad hours. We price the whole package and own it to send.
Who's in your corner
A small bench that reads your funder before you write a word
Dana Ellsworth
Spends the first hour on your theory of change, not the template. Pulls the through-line a reviewer is scoring for, then writes to it.
Marcus Vale
Tracks Grants.gov, agency forecasts and foundation cycles so you chase the awards you can actually win — not the long shots.
Priya Anand
Builds line-item and multi-year budgets, indirect cost rates, and justifications that survive a program officer's review.
Joel Reyes
Reads every page against the funder's exact criteria and page limits — so nothing gets cut at the screening desk.
What we hold to
Four habits we won't bend on
Honesty about the odds
If an opportunity is a poor fit or a long shot for your budget, we say so before you spend a dollar. Telling you to skip one is part of the job.
Write to the rubric
Reviewers score against criteria, not vibes. We map the scoring sheet, then put your strongest evidence exactly where the points live.
The budget tells the same story
A narrative and a budget that disagree get flagged. We build them together so line items, justifications and indirect rates back the program word for word.
Early, not at 11:59pm
Portal outages and last-minute attachments sink real applications. We aim to have files submission-ready with days to spare, not minutes.
In their words
The week before a deadline shouldn't feel like a sprint alone
They took a tangle of program notes and turned it into a clean federal narrative. We submitted two days early — first time that's ever happened.
Renee · nonprofit directorThe budget justification alone was worth it. Our program officer had zero follow-up questions, which never used to be the case.
Tomás · research leadDirect, fast, and honest about which opportunities to skip. I trust them to tell me when an application isn't worth our time.
Ang · foundation grants managerBefore you reach out
The questions teams ask us first
Do you take a cut of the grant if we win? +
No. Contingency fees on grant awards are discouraged by most federal funders and we don't work that way. You pay a flat price for the submission package, billed by invoice — the same whether the award lands or not.
Are you in Florida or Wisconsin? +
Our studio is based in Madison, WI, and our office address for mail and invoicing is 612 10th Ave SE, Ruskin, FL 33570. We work with nonprofits and research teams nationwide — most of the work happens over calls, shared docs and a tight review loop.
How early do you need to start before a deadline? +
Final drafts typically take about 14 days from kickoff, so two to three weeks of runway is comfortable for a foundation proposal. Federal and multi-year applications need more. If a deadline is tight, call us — we'll tell you honestly whether we can do it justice.
What do you need from us to begin? +
The opportunity or RFP, your program details, and access to whoever knows the numbers. We handle the research, narrative, budget and compliance checklist; you stay focused on the work and approve the drafts.
Can you just review a draft we've already written? +
Yes. Plenty of teams bring us a draft for a rubric-based review and a budget sanity-check rather than a full rewrite. Tell us where you are and we'll scope it to fit.
Your idea already deserves the funding. What it needs is a proposal that proves it — researched, written, and budgeted with the same rigor a reviewer brings to reading it.
— Ellsworth Grantworks, Madison · est. by hand, one submission at a time
Let's get the next one funded
Have a deadline circled? Let's talk before it gets close.
Pick up the phone or send a few lines about your project. We'll tell you honestly whether we can help and what your package would cost.
Call us
(813) 260‑7676- Mon–Fri9am – 6pm
- Saturday10am – 4pm
- SundayClosed
612 10th Ave SE, Ruskin, FL 33570
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