About Our Leadership

Julie Paynotta is a Virginia native, born in Roanoke and educated at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Spending time on her great Aunt and Uncle’s farm in Craig County was a favorite pastime of childhood, with many hours spent trying to befriend wild Appaloosas and watching her aunt prepare food from what they grew and raised on site.

Summers spent walking dirt roads, swimming, fishing in SW Virginia creeks and rivers, and hiking in the Blue Ridge were foundational experiences that led to earning a degree in Environmental Science (UVA, 1988). Julie is a published author in environmental science research, working on atmospheric transport of pollutants and precipitation chemistry.

Fast-forward to today. Julie seeks grants for nonprofit organizations through her consulting practice, Piñon Grant Solutions, as they pursue their missions for social impact. She has completed graduate coursework toward the Master of Public Administration with a nonprofit focus at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs College of Public Service. In 2017, she earned a Grant Writing, Management, and Program Evaluation Certificate from the program. 

Outside of her professional life, Julie finds joy in life's simple pleasures. Julie lives in Monument, Colorado, with her husband and two cats, quickly losing teenagers to adulthood. She enjoys live music, hiking the Rockies, pickleball, and spending time on dirt roads.

Holly Loff launched her business, Sage Grant Writing & Consulting, in 2022 after over two decades of working in the nonprofit sector (most recently as the executive director of Eagle River Watershed Council). Holly earned her Bachelor of Science in resource conservation from the University of Montana, complemented by a professional grant writing certificate from the Grant Institute, a nonprofit management certificate from Duke University, and a Nonprofit Executive Leadership Program certificate from the El Pomar Foundation. She is also a graduate of the prestigious Colorado Water Leaders program. Holly works primarily within the environmental sector, namely with water quality/quantity and watershed/river health organizations and agencies, but she enjoys working with a diverse client base from other focus areas as well. Holly spends her time hiking, trail running, skiing, cycling, paddleboarding, and reading when she isn't working. She lives in Eagle County, Colorado, with her husband and two teenage kids.

Morgan Carpenter (she/her) is a nonprofit consultant, grant professional, and founder of Carpenter Nonprofit Consulting. She is also a Grant Professionals Association-Approved Trainer and the author of Prepare for Impact: Everything You Need to Know to Win Grants and Supercharge Your Nonprofit. Morgan works with human services nonprofits to improve grant readiness, strengthen programs, clarify strategy, and create tools and resources that support sustainable funding and community impact. Her strategic approach is rooted in her experience with proposal writing, grants management, ethical storytelling, and nonprofit best practices, enabling her to help organizations connect their programs, outcomes, and funding strategies in clear, compelling, and practical ways. She holds the Grant Professional Certified (GPC) credential, a nationally recognized mark of excellence and ethical practice in the field, and is a frequent presenter at national and regional industry conferences, where she equips nonprofit leaders with insights and tools to pursue funding with confidence.

Morgan serves on the board of the Grant Professionals Association’s Colorado Chapter, where she furthers her commitment to the nonprofit sector as the Marketing Committee Chair. Previously, she served as president of the Junior League of Fort Collins and vice president of the Zeta Tau Alpha Fort Collins Alumnae Chapter. She was named one of BizWest’s Northern Colorado 40 Under Forty young professionals and was also recognized by the Junior League with the Elena Lawrence Inspiration Award for her work to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. When she’s not working with social impact organizations to make the world a better place, Morgan enjoys gardening, reading, and eating very, very spicy food. Learn more and get in touch at www.carpenternonprofitconsulting.com.

Liz Henry began her professional career as a classroom teacher before transitioning to a small but national nonprofit, where she served in many roles, including development. She later moved to Puerto Rico for a year, where she gained her first experience managing a federal grant as the director of a local farmers market. Upon returning to Denver, she began consulting with nonprofits, with a focus that quickly shifted to grants consulting—something she likes to think of as grants coaching. Since 2014, she has been building her business in this space and has developed long-term relationships with many of her clients. Liz works with clients of all sizes and in various locations, mostly in Colorado. Her portfolio includes one of the largest national nonprofit healthcare systems and a hyperlocal neighborhood food assistance organization. She offers sliding scale rates to small organizations founded and led by people of color and is developing a series of no-cost webinars as an introduction to grants during this difficult time in the nonprofit world. Making grants accessible to all organizations, even those that can’t afford to hire consultants or in-house grant positions, is deeply important to her.

Molly McElroy has almost twenty years of grant experience at the local, state, and federal levels. After receiving her Master of Arts in Public Administration, she worked for a local Colorado government, where for sixteen years she developed and managed affordable housing and community development programs. She was responsible for the day-to-day administration of local, state, and federal grant programs; assisted with writing grant applications for ongoing and specialized programs; ensured compliance with funding requirements; and worked with grantees applying for local funding. Her time in local government was valuable in learning to communicate an organization's goals and to demonstrate organizational capacity to achieve grant outcomes. After working for a local law firm and obtaining a certificate in copyediting, she moved to nonprofit healthcare and into a position that allows her to focus on grant writing. She has been a grants officer with UCHealth since the fall of 2024 and assists in writing grants for nursing professional development and research. The most interesting aspect of this job is the range of projects that she works with, including a project to understand how nurses can best be supported in their jobs and a project to implement a new method to calm agitated patients with dementia. She values collaborating on project development and bringing together a grant proposal that reflects the dedication of healthcare professionals and the possibilities of research to improve the care of patients.