About Lydia Howie, MS, GPC
Grant Strategist and President, Howie Grant Writing & Consulting, Inc.
Lydia Howie, MS, GPC, Founding Principal and Grant Strategist, has over 40 years of successful business experience in both the corporate sector and within the nonprofit arena, including expertise in management, marketing, and fundraising.
Ms. Howie has been providing grant writing and research prospect research services to nonprofit agencies since 1999. As Executive Director of a mid-sized nonprofit agency, Lydia acquired extensive experience in agency management, strategic planning, program development, and fundraising, including grant writing, special event planning/sponsorships, and donor relations. As a former Marketing Director of a shopping center, she worked with hundreds of nonprofits and was responsible for the center's community relations and fundraising activities, special events management, marketing, and public relations. Previously, Ms. Howie was a Marketing/Community Affairs Director at a hair and skincare company and Media/Research Director and Account Executive at New York City advertising agencies.
Her educational credentials include an M.S. in Marketing Communications from Iona College and a B.A. in Communication Arts from the College of New Rochelle. She received her Grant Professional Certification (GPC) from the Grant Professionals Certification Institute in 2008 and was the first grant writer in Westchester County, NY, to achieve the distinction.
Ms. Howie has received numerous awards and recognition, including the 2019 Pauline G. Annarino Award, the grant writing industry's highest honor for impact on the grant writing industry and profession; Presidential Award for a Desert Storm fundraiser; the Visiting Nurse Association of Hudson Valley's First Corporate Service Award; the Association of Development Officers' 2007 Peter J. Gallagher Award for Leadership & Service; Westchester County Certificate of Distinguished Service Award; and the State of New York Certificate of Recognition Award.
She has served on numerous boards of directors and community committees and is past President of the Association of Development Officers, a regional organization of fundraising professionals. She founded the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson in the fall of 2008 and served on its board for over a decade. She co-founded the Grant Professional Association - Delmarva Chapter in 2020. She has been an Adjunct Professor at Pace University and SUNY Purchase and guest lectures frequently on marketing, public relations, fundraising, and grant writing.
Lydia is a member of the Grant Professionals Association, GPA Delmarva Chapter, and Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson.
Lydia Howie Receives National Grant Writing Honor
The Grant Professionals Certification Institute (GPCI) presented Lydia S. Howie, MS, GPC, with its 2019 Pauline G. Annarino Award, the grant writing industry’s highest national honor for impact on the grant writing industry and profession. The award was presented on November 8, 2019, in Washington, DC, at the national Grant Professional Association’s annual conference, which was attended by 880 attendees.
Ms. Howie was recognized for having founded the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson and for her contributions to the grant writing industry, including guest speaking regularly on grant writing locally and nationally; authoring numerous industry articles; encouraging/supporting over 10 individuals who have become grant writers/consultants; promoting/helping three other writers obtain their Grant Profession Certification (GPC); and having fielded hundreds of calls from nonprofit agencies and grant writers seeking advice and individuals considering a grant writing career.
Through the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson (GPLH), Ms. Howie has firmly established a grant writing legacy in Westchester County, NY. GPLH has become one of the major regional nonprofit support agencies in the County, providing quarterly education, a Meet the Funders event, an internship program to “breed” grant writers, free counseling to individuals interested in becoming a grant writer and nonprofits who seek grant writing advice, job/consultant referral, speakers’ bureau, free website resources, and networking. Ms. Howie was the first in Westchester County, NY, to earn her Grant Professional Certification -- the “CPA” of the grants industry. She is one of ten in the State of Maryland and one of two in Cecil County to possess the credential.
Photo: Julie Assel, President of the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (left) presents Lydia Howie (right) with the grant writing industry award
Ms. Howie was recognized for having founded the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson and for her contributions to the grant writing industry, including guest speaking regularly on grant writing locally and nationally; authoring numerous industry articles; encouraging/supporting over 10 individuals who have become grant writers/consultants; promoting/helping three other writers obtain their Grant Profession Certification (GPC); and having fielded hundreds of calls from nonprofit agencies and grant writers seeking advice and individuals considering a grant writing career.
Through the Grant Professionals of Lower Hudson (GPLH), Ms. Howie has firmly established a grant writing legacy in Westchester County, NY. GPLH has become one of the major regional nonprofit support agencies in the County, providing quarterly education, a Meet the Funders event, an internship program to “breed” grant writers, free counseling to individuals interested in becoming a grant writer and nonprofits who seek grant writing advice, job/consultant referral, speakers’ bureau, free website resources, and networking. Ms. Howie was the first in Westchester County, NY, to earn her Grant Professional Certification -- the “CPA” of the grants industry. She is one of ten in the State of Maryland and one of two in Cecil County to possess the credential.
Photo: Julie Assel, President of the Grant Professionals Certification Institute (left) presents Lydia Howie (right) with the grant writing industry award