Hi! I’m Kaden. After five years practicing environmental and public agency litigation, I decided to turn my pen to grant writing to work toward a kinder and more interdependent world. I enrolled in a course, studied carefully, and started offering my skills to nonprofits. Now I work as a freelance grant writer, helping organizations like yours connect with funders.

A life-long learner, I was a nerdy kid who spent a lot of my free time researching and reading about the various things I found interesting (dolphins, wolves, ancient Egypt…). I cut my teeth writing analytical blog posts about my favorite TV shows, and these things turned into a B.A. in Sociology. After working in HR for a few years, I went to law school in 2018 because I wanted to better understand how the world worked.

At my San Francisco law school, my reading, writing, and research skills served me well. Being a lawyer demands strong reading comprehension, persuasive writing skills, and a sharp, analytical mind. It requires careful attention to detail, adherence to strict deadlines, and knowing how to take your clients’ needs and circumstances and frame them, accurately and persuasively, to persuade a judge to find in your client’s favor.

As a lawyer, I spent five years digging into the complex world of California water law, representing both private and public clients as they navigated their water rights in a state often suffering from drought. Working collaboratively with clients, subject-matter experts, and other lawyers, I helped these clients clarify their rights and come to agreements with their neighbors despite fraught histories. My skill at identifying key authority and coming up with creative legal arguments garnered me a reputation within my firm as a sharp and savvy researcher. And under the guidance of truly gifted mentors, I learned how to tell compelling stories that made my clients feel both seen and zealously represented.

Today I bring that same drive for excellent representation to grant writing. Writing grant applications, I get to listen closely to my clients and learn the ins and outs of different causes and issues, and frame those things in a way persuasive to funders. I see it as translation, from your language to the funders’ language, in much the same way that lawyers translate the personal to the legal and then back again. I love the process of working collaboratively with my clients to craft their organization’s story in a way that’s accurate, authentic, and accessible. And, of course, that gets grants!

I was born and raised in California, where I earned a B.A. in Sociology at UC Santa Barbara and a law degree at UC Law SF (formerly UC Hastings). I moved to Portland, Oregon in 2023 and completed the week-long Grantsmanship Training Program (from The Grantsmanship Center) in January 2025.

Click here to download my resume.

Member of the Grant Professionals Association and working in compliance with their Code of Ethics.