About Us

STEMGrants.com was founded by Paul Secor and Mary Baker who are both Certified Grant Writers and who specialize in STEM Education projects.  Since 2009, they have teamed up to win more than $6.8 million in grant funding for their clients.

"We read a tremendous amount of data each week to keep up on the latest opportunities for our clients, as well as trends in STEM funding.  One day, in 2010. after reading through hundreds and hundreds of printed pages, I was tossing them into a recycling bin.  I commented to Mary how I had just learned all of this new information, but it was going unused and thrown away," Paul recalls.    It was at that moment that STEMgrants.com was born.  Paul and Mary decided to organize the information, put all of it on the internet, and make it free to the public.  They subsidized the expense and their time by offering paid webinars to those that wanted to learn more about locating grant opportunities and how to best craft winning proposals.  Today, they are developing paid online courses so that people can access the same content at their convenience.


"Our clients are mainly universities and large non-profit organizations who are capable of winning large grants, and can consequently invest in outside grant writing experts to help them pursue specific opportunities.  We realized that there are a lot of smaller organizations that also want to pursue grants.  Unfortunately, they usually cannot afford to hire a grant writer, but they also don't really know how to get started on their own.  This is why we are building really affordable online STEM grant classes.  It's to help these folks," states Mary.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION WE GET (click to open)

1Do you or others write grants on commission, or payment upon winning?
No we do not. It is against the rules set forth by the American Grant Writer's Association which we are certified by. In addition, it is actually illegal if you are applying for state and federal grants and intend to use funds from the award to pay for grant writing services that were used to secure the award. Even if it is not a state or federal grant, most grant writers will not accept such an arrangement because it is not viable business model. A "good" award ratio for most grants would be 1 award for every 10 proposals submitted. If a grant writer was paid for only "winners" then on average he/she would need to write 9 grants for free and charge the winner 10X the actual amount of time they spent.
2How does it work when hiring a Grant Writer?
When we take on a client, the client often has a specific grant they want us to pursue. We then work out a Scope of Work and a cost to complete the work based on the number of hours required. Typically, the organizations we work for are universities and large non-profits that are pursuing grants in excess of $100,000. The opportunity to secure this level of funding makes it financially viable for the organization to pay an outside grant writer. Sometimes organizations want us to review opportunities for them. If it is a single grant opportunity and the client is interested in possibly hiring us to write the grant proposal, we will review the opportunity for free and offer our assessment on if we believe the organization will be competitive for the opportunity. Other times an organization wants us to search for new opportunities or "see what is out there" that fits their program. This usually requires several hours of work including performing numerous searches, reading through solicitations, analyzing past awards made by the grantor, etc. So, we charge a small fee for such research services. Our grant research packages start at $500.
3Will you search, review, and locate grant opportunities for my organization?
Sometimes organizations want us to review opportunities for them. If it is a single grant opportunity and the client is interested in possibly hiring us to write the grant proposal, we will review the opportunity for free and offer our assessment on if we believe the organization will be competitive for the opportunity. Other times an organization wants us to search for new opportunities or "see what is out there" that fits their program. This usually requires several hours of work including performing numerous searches, reading through solicitations, analyzing past awards made by the grantor, etc. So, we charge a small fee for such research services. Our grant research packages start at $500.
4Do you write grants to help people start businesses or got to college?
No. We specialize in working with universities and non-profit organizations. We do sometimes help established businesses pursue research grants, but these are highly technical and in response to a specific innovation identified and sought by a federal agency.
5I'm an individual, or retired engineer, former teacher, or entrepreneur, etc. and I want to get grant funding for a STEM Education Program I am creating. Can you help me get grant funding?
First, thank you for wanting to make a difference. If we are going to engage kids in STEM, we need as many motivated people as possible to help. Unfortunately, we are not able to help such people because there are very few if any such grant opportunities available to them. We recommend that you either (a) establish a non-profit organization to pursue grants, or (b) act as a sub-contractor to a non-profit organization and win a grant together. If you establish a non-profit you will still likely need to partner with another non-profit to bolster your proposal since your organization will not have a performance track record, multiple paid full-time staff people, or an operating budget that speaks to your credibility. In short, there is much wok to do before you are probably ready/competitive to pursue grants. While we do not offer services to help such individuals, we are developing an online course to help better guide such people.
Paul Secor
Paul Secor founded his company in February 2009. The company provides services to large non-profits, universities, governmental entities, and small businesses in the areas of program management, virtual events, grant writing, event coordination, and video production. Paul is a Certified Grant Writer and has served as the lead writer on grant proposals which have won clients more than $6.8 million since the company’s inception. He has also helped to plan and execute major programs including the NASA Swarmathon which currently serves 30+ universities and 400 students, the NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute, the Florida Tech UTeach Program, and several other initiatives. Under his leadership, providing Program Management services for clients has become the cornerstone of the company..


In an effort to serve the ever growing needs of clients who need to reach audiences remotely and deliver content online, Paul developed a 600 square foot virtual production studio complete with multiple cameras, microphones, a video switcher and green screen. In 2014, he further expanded these capabilities by hiring a team of developers to create his company’s own proprietary Virtual Expo Software called New Expos. New Expos is capable of delivering online presentations, as well as connecting exhibitors and attendees via one-on-one webcam to webcam conversations. Recently, he has also assisted clients with video production needs including shooting and producing promotional videos for NASA projects, non-profit organizations, and special events.


Prior to starting his own company, Paul served as the Director of Technology Transfer for the State of Florida’s Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA). During his eight years at the TRDA, Paul oversaw and managed the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP), a NASA funded initiative that solved more than 2,500 technical challenges for small businesses across the US; The Department of Defense Commercialization Assistance Program, which provided business development assistance to DoD SBIR Phase II companies; the NASA Alliance for Small Business Opportunities (NASBO), which provided grants to assist NASA SBIR companies in commercializing their technologies; and the Florida Disabled Veteran Business Initiative, which worked to register and connect disabled veteran businesses with state procurement opportunities. In addition to these activities, Paul was also responsible for identifying and pursuing new local, state, and federal funding opportunities for TRDA programs.


Prior to joining TRDA, Paul was employed as the President of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce. Paul holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh. He has completed specialized courses at Georgetown University including Congressional Operations and Advanced Appropriations. He is a graduate of the US Chamber’s Institute for Organizational Management.



Mary Baker, Programs Manager
Mary Baker joined the company in March 2009 as the Programs Manager. She is a Certified Grant Writer and has helped to write proposals which have helped clients win more than $6.8 million in funding. In these proposals she specifically led the efforts on research, budget development, graphics creation, proofing, compliance/eligibility verification, and final submission. In addition to grant writing, Mary has also served as the Program Manager for different client projects that have spanned multiple years and have contained multi-million dollar budgets. She supports such projects in the areas of logistics, outreach efforts, communications, data management, reporting, and more.

She also has been successful in coordinating major events including the 2012 rollover of Space Shuttle Atlantis from the NASA Vehicle Assembly building. This national event at Kennedy Space Center was attended by more than 5,000 people and required coordination of stages, sound, tents, vendor exhibits, and educational activities.

Prior to joining the company, Ms. Baker served for over 11 years as a Program Manager for the State of Florida’s Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA). While at TRDA, she managed the Minority Owned Business/Women Owned Business program, which introduced such businesses to procurement, technology transfer and commercialization opportunities at NASA-KSC and other federal agencies. Ms. Baker also oversaw the Florida Minority Institution Entrepreneurial Partnership. This $1.8 million initiative created a partnership between NASA-KSC, TRDA and six of Florida’s minority colleges and universities. The program exposed students and faculty to real-world jobs and experiences with high-tech small businesses, introduced minority owned businesses to technology transfer and commercialization opportunities, and provided technical business assistance. .

Additional programs which Ms. Baker served as a Program Coordinator for include: the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP), the NASA Alliance for Small Business Opportunity (NASBO), The Defense Technology Showcase Initiative, the Florida Disabled Veteran Business Initiative, and Composites Training Workshops in partnership with Brevard Community College and Florida State University. .

Ms. Baker holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Florida State University. .

CONTACT US

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