Stop Chasing Grants and Start Winning Them with Alanna Taylor
Mick Unplugged
Realm
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 April 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alanna Taylor is a visionary leader and strategic architect who has spent three decades transforming bold ideas into fundable realities. With a staggering 60% plus grant win rate and over a million dollars raised annually for her clients, she is a nationally respected expert in program design, funding, and sustainable growth for mission-driven organizations. As the founder of Granted Success, Inc., Alanna specializes in grant writing, fractional executive director services, and her signature Grant-Ready Elevation Audit—a powerful diagnostic tool that evaluates a nonprofit’s win-ability across internal operations, messaging, digital footprint, and fundraising strategy. Her work is deeply rooted in empowering Black women executive directors and the Black-centered nonprofit organizations they lead.
Takeaways:
- Founders, Stop Making Yourself the Executive Director: Alanna reveals a critical pattern in the nonprofit space—Black women founders who position themselves as the executive director are inadvertently creating their own boss through the board. Her advice: position yourself as the board chair, build a strong and diverse board, and consider launching a consulting business alongside your mission. If you can create a nonprofit, you can create a business.
- Win Rate Is About Discipline, Not Just Writing: A 60% plus win rate does not come from fancy proposals—it comes from the discipline to say no. Alanna carefully evaluates every RFP, reviews the terms and conditions at the end that most people skip, and declines clients whose programs do not align with a funder’s priority areas. Funders now want quantitative outcomes, not wordy narratives, and Alanna delivers exactly that.
- Sustainability Means Multiple Revenue Streams: Grants alone will not sustain a nonprofit. Alanna pushes her clients to create fee-for-service offerings, technical assistance programs, merchandise, published books, and private donor bases. Unlike restricted grant funding, these revenue streams give organizations the unrestricted capital they need to truly grow and thrive on their own terms.
Sound Bytes:
“My because is really meeting the needs of Black women who are in the nonprofit space.”
“You’re allowed to make money as a nonprofit. You are allowed to generate revenue. You are allowed to create a service and charge for it.”
“Look, I’m a great writer, but I am not Jesus. I cannot make this work.”
Connect & Discover Alanna:
LinkedIn: @alannataylor
Website: grantedsuccess.org
Website: grantreadynow.com
Email: ataylor@grantedsuccess.org
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. |
| 0:05.9 | This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. |
| 0:10.2 | Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning, helping you discover your |
| 0:14.3 | because and becoming unstoppable. |
| 0:17.1 | I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. |
| 0:20.7 | Let's get unplugplugged. |
| 0:24.1 | Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged, |
| 0:27.6 | and today we are joined by a visionary leader and a strategic architect |
| 0:31.9 | who has spent three decades transforming bold ideas into fundable realities. |
| 0:38.3 | With the staggering 60% plus grant win rate and over a million dollars raised annually |
| 0:45.7 | for her clients, she is a nationally respected expert in program design, funding, and |
| 0:51.5 | sustainable growth for mission-driven organizations. |
| 0:55.9 | It is my distinct honor and pleasure to welcome the transformative, the strategic, the unparalleled. Ms. Salana Taylor. Ms. Taylor, |
| 1:01.9 | how are you doing today, dear? I'm doing great. How are you? I am doing amazing now that I am here |
| 1:06.4 | with you. You know, we met like a year ago, right, with Dr. Danielle, amazing leader herself, |
| 1:14.8 | puts on amazing events for a lot of people. And you and I, like, instantly connected, right? |
| 1:19.8 | Like, we were talking about, you know, our backgrounds and talking about life in general and our |
| 1:25.9 | faith that kind of brought us together. So I'm honored |
| 1:28.5 | that we can sit here and have a few moments together. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. |
| 1:32.9 | Absolutely. So, you know, I ask all my guests this question about your because, that thing that's |
| 1:40.2 | deeper than your why, like your true mission and all the things that you're doing with granted success, I'd ask you today, what's your because? Why do you keep doing what you do? |
| 1:49.6 | I believe in the missions of the organizations I work with. Just about all of them are black-centered, |
... |
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