Groundwork
For funding partners
Help community work build staying power.
Groundwork is a pilot from New Ground Web helping small, under-resourced community organizations access professional websites, digital support, grant writing, and fundraising expertise.
We’re building a cohort around needs organizations identify themselves, and working with funding partners to make those projects possible.
$50,000–$100,000 pilot goal. Several partners, building together.
What could your support fund?
- New websites and website redesigns
- Digital strategy, marketing, and social media
- Copywriting, messaging, storytelling, and SEO
- Online fundraising and campaign infrastructure
- Forms, resource directories, integrations, and digital tools
- Grant writing and proposal development
- Fundraising strategy, campaign planning, and campaign support
Grant writing and fundraising work have separately agreed scopes and fees. They are not included in website prices or the program page’s capacity illustrations.
More capacity.
On their terms.
A clear website helps people find services and understand an organization’s work. Grant writing and fundraising support help groups make their case for the resources to keep going.
Groundwork is for small nonprofits, fiscally sponsored projects, grassroots organizations, mutual aid groups, and other community-rooted initiatives. This focused support can complement unrestricted funding for their wider work.
Meet the needs Groundwork is built forShared commitments.
Group-led projects.
Partners align commitments around a cohort of projects. Each organization defines its own priorities.
Start a funding conversation- Scope the need. New Ground Web works with each prospective organization on a practical project and transparent budget.
- Arrange funding directly. If resources and project fit align, funding goes to the participating organization or an appropriate fiscal sponsor, depending on its structure and the funding partner’s requirements.
- Let the organization lead. The organization or appropriate legal entity independently hires New Ground Web at published rates, with grant writing and fundraising work scoped and priced separately. It retains control of its mission, messaging, decisions, content, and digital properties.
New Ground Web is a for-profit creative studio, not a charity, grantmaker, or philanthropic intermediary. We do not accept tax-deductible donations or receive or distribute partner funding. An inquiry does not guarantee a funded project or commit you to a contribution.
Grant writing.
Fundraising.
Experience that counts.
Founder Ethan Hawes brings nearly two decades of nonprofit and community-based communications, fundraising, advocacy, and organizing to this work.
Ethan has secured nearly $700,000 in grant awards, including a $650,000 SOR II grant and $25,000 in PNC Foundation awards for Recovery Café Lexington.
Individually and with teams, Ethan has supported $500,000+ in other fundraising projects: $35,000 for Voices of Hope’s 2019 Giving Tuesday campaign, with the remainder in crowdfunding for Black Lives Matter Louisville and Reparations Roundtable from 2019–2021. That crowdfunding redistributed cash aid directly to impacted Black women and marginalized genders.
These are past projects, not funds raised for Groundwork. Past results do not guarantee future grant awards, fundraising totals, or other outcomes. Ongoing website care is also separately priced.
Help make the pilot possible.
Individuals, donor networks, giving circles, donor-advised-fund holders and advisers, foundations, and institutions are welcome. Commitments around $25,000 or more are especially useful; there is no minimum.