Waddy Thompson

WaddyThompson successfully raised funds for 35 years for a variety of New York City arts organizations, ranging from small grassroots groups to the Whitney Museum of American Art and Second Stage Theater. He has taught grant writing for New York University's Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and has run grant writing workshops for a wide variety of organizations. He was educated at the Eastman School of Music and Florida State University, earning a doctorate in music composition from the latter.

Like most people, he came to fundraising by accident, writing grants to support performances of his compositions, but soon discovered fundraising was a rewarding career in itself. His approach to fundraising and grants is covered in the new Wise Guide to Winning Grants (2017), the successor volume to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Grant Writing. See more at www.grantadviser.com.