About Us
The Grantwell was founded in 2007 and has worked with over 400 different nonprofit groups in the United States and around the world.
Christina Ryder
Christina is the CEO of The Grantwell and is a former social worker, a current sociologist, and expert in federal and foundation funding requests, program development, and social science evaluation research. She graduated from Vanguard University of Southern California with a degree in Sociology and then from the University of California, Irvine with a Masters in Social Science with a concentration in demography and social analysis and course focus on social inequality. Throughout her professional career she has participated in various federal grant evaluations including program evaluations on behalf of the USDA, SAMHSA, HHS, and the DOJ. As a Certified Sociology Practitioner (CSP) and federally recognized statistician, she has also participated in, or authored, over 40 various social science research studies endeavors, journal articles, and community based reports.
She is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and has been featured in various publications for her grant and research efforts, and is a regular guest lecturer on grant writing. She is the author of two books: “Grant Writing 101: Your Essential Guide to Nonprofit Grant Acquisition” published in 2014 and “The Basics of Sociology: Developing and Applying the Sociological Imagination” published in 2017.
In addition to her role at the Grantwell, she is an Instructor of Sociology, former interim Director of the Center for Community Engagement, former Assistant Director of the Center for Social Science and Public Policy Research, and current GO LEAD Coordinator at Missouri State University. She is a member of, and held various leadership roles in, numerous international, national, and local professional organizations and committees that address poverty, public health, human rights, and violence and abuse.
In addition to grant writing and funds development, Christina strives to increase cross sector alignment and communication, and uses community-based collective impact models to address complex social problems and to encourage creative solutions for long term, sustainable change.
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