Created by Tom Sourlis, Herb Grulke and Mike Jones, GRANTS Inc, now operating as the South Shore GRANTS Center was set up as a Grant Research and Nonprofit Training Services to provide grant writing and training services to the nonprofit community.  Working with the Lake Area United Way and in partnership with the Indiana University Center for Urban and Regional Excellence, the Nonprofit Institute was formed to provide educational services to the nonprofit community.

Utilizing the resources at the IUN Library, GRANTS Inc, now the South Shore GRANTS Center, provides access to major grant search engines for any nonprofit at no charge. We subscribe to The Foundation Center, GrantStation, and Grants.gov. We can assist nonprofits in searching for grants. We now have a grant researcher on board (a Calumet College Intern) that for a nominal fee, can research grants weekly or biweekly depending on the needs of the nonprofit, for profit, or local government.

In 2004, the Lake Area United Way "State of Giving Report" [pointed out that the regions nonprofits were not successfully leveraging local funds and attracting a fair portion of the federal grants available. The South Shore GRANTS Center is endeavoring to change that outcome. With 22 grant writers, independent contractors, we serve as an honest broker hub to disseminate grant writing opportunities to the grant writers in the region. 

The first Executive Director for GRANTS Inc. was Sue Eleuterio from 2004 - 2006. The second was Sandra A.M. Bowie from 2006-2009. Jim McShane is the third Executive Director. Under the direction of the Board of Directors, GRANTS Inc changed its operating name in 2010 to the South Shore GRANTS Center. This was in recognition of the broadening out of our services to the community.

In September of 2010, GRANTS Inc. moved its headquarters to Calumet College of St. Joseph in Whiting, Indiana. This move will allow an expansion of the program, hiring of full time grant writers, and setting up ongoing training classes with certifications for nonprofits. We are currently looking into national certification programs.

 

The South Shore GRANTS Center has business relationships with many grant writers in the area and is acting as a hub to ensure that grant opportunities that are uncovered and sent to local nonprofits can be written and applied for to support the work of the area nonprofits, school corporations and local governments.