Quick answer
The Grant Gal is Lauren Burke, a lawyer, social impact founder and grant writer who shares grant opportunities for nonprofits, artists and small businesses. Since August 2025 she has posted new grants every week on her Substack, The Grant Gal, and on TikTok, where her most-watched video has been viewed more than 340,000 times. Before that, she co-founded Atlas: DIY, a Brooklyn nonprofit for immigrant youth, won an Echoing Green Global Fellowship and was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in law and policy. She also offers grant help directly, including a live grant writing class.
Lauren Burke has started so many organizations that she has a word for it. “I’ve started a bajillion social impact orgs,” she wrote in her very first post as The Grant Gal, listing Camp Equity, Notehouse, The Possible LAB, Immigration Nation and Atlas: DIY. “And you know what they all needed? Funding.”
Finding that funding, she found, was “a pain.” So in August 2025 she started doing the searching for everyone else. Every week, Burke shares grant opportunities on The Grant Gal on Substack and on @thegrantgal on TikTok, where she has more than 25,000 followers. Her short, upbeat explainers, which almost always start with “Hi, I’m the Grant Gal,” have become one of the more useful corners of nonprofit social media. Her most-watched video has more than 340,000 views.
Key takeaways
- The Grant Gal is Lauren Burke, who shares new grant opportunities for nonprofits, artists and small businesses every week on Substack and TikTok.
- In her first year, she posted more than 90 grant opportunities and built a directory of every foundation she researched.
- Before The Grant Gal, she co-founded Atlas: DIY, a Brooklyn nonprofit that gave immigrant youth free legal services, language classes and college prep.
- She holds a law degree from NYU, received Skadden and Echoing Green fellowships, and was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in law and policy.
- Her core advice: just because you are eligible for a grant does not mean you should apply. Pick funders that fit, and tailor every application.
Who is The Grant Gal?
The Grant Gal is the online name of Lauren Burke, a lawyer and longtime social entrepreneur. She launched her Substack in August 2025 with a simple premise, summed up in the title of her first post: “Grants. Links. Done.” Each week she researches open grant opportunities and explains who they are for, how much they give and how to apply.
The Substack describes itself as having “thousands of subscribers.” The first grant she shares each week is free to everyone, and the second is for paid subscribers. On TikTok, she turns the same research into 60-second videos aimed at nonprofits, small businesses and artists. She has said she juggles several jobs: in a recent post she was writing from New York City, where she was serving as an auctioneer at a fundraiser for Heartbeat Opera.
What is Lauren Burke’s background?
Burke’s path into grants runs through law and social justice. According to School Year Abroad, which gave her its inaugural Emerging Leader Award in 2024, she was volunteering as a translator at an elementary school when the school ended its bilingual education program, and she went to law school to advocate for children’s rights. She became a law professor at 27.
She graduated from NYU School of Law in 2009 and received a Skadden Fellowship, one of the best-known public interest law fellowships. In 2012, she co-founded Atlas: DIY (Developing Immigrant Youth) in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a cooperative center that gave immigrant youth free legal services, language classes and college preparation. That work earned her a 2014 Echoing Green Global Fellowship and a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in law and policy.
She went on to co-found Immigration Nation and Camp Equity, served as an entrepreneur in residence at Smith College, co-wrote the children’s book My Social Justice Dictionary: 150+ Words for Young Changemakers, and has been building Notehouse, a case management platform for “human helpers.” SYA notes that her organizations have created dozens of jobs and raised millions of dollars, and that her work has been featured in The New York Times and on NPR’s All Things Considered.
What kinds of grants does The Grant Gal share?
Her feed covers a wide range of funders, from big corporate foundations to tiny community grants. Her most-watched video, with more than 340,000 views, explains a rolling grant from the TJX Foundation (the foundation behind TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods) for nonprofits near its stores. Other popular posts cover family foundations that fund smaller nonprofits, youth sports, autism support, theater, food access, women’s health and grants for individual artists and writers.
Today’s grant is from the TJX Foundation
Her videos follow a reliable pattern: who the grant is for, what it funds, how much it gives, when it is due, and where to read more. Deadlines move quickly, so treat any specific opportunity in an older video as an example and check the funder’s website for current dates.
Can individuals get grants, or only nonprofits?
Most of the grants Burke covers are for registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits or fiscally sponsored projects, but not all of them. She regularly highlights funding open to individuals, especially artists and writers, and she points out when an opportunity is unusual in that way.
One favorite is the Awesome Foundation, whose local chapters give $1,000 grants for creative and community ideas. “You don’t even have to be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit or fiscally sponsored or incorporated business,” she says. “You, your beautiful self, can apply all on your own.” She has also covered a foundation that funds both autistic individuals and organizations that serve them, which she calls “very rare.”
A $1,000 grant for your weird, wonderful idea
What is her best grant writing advice?
Burke’s teaching is built around a few practical ideas, which she covers in her live class, Grant Writing for Normal People:
- Not every grant is worth your time. “Just because you’re eligible for a grant doesn’t mean you should apply,” she writes. Start by finding opportunities that genuinely fit your work.
- Tell a clear story. Explain what you do and why it matters, in plain language.
- Show your impact. Help funders see the difference your work makes.
- Tailor every application. Write for the specific funder you are approaching, rather than sending the same proposal to everyone.
- Use AI carefully. AI can help, she says, but it “can also produce some truly terrible grant applications.”
She also explains the mechanics that trip up first-time applicants, such as what a letter of inquiry (LOI) is: a short first submission, after which the funder invites the strongest applicants to send a full proposal.
Funding for nonprofits under $1 million in revenue
How can you work with The Grant Gal?
Burke offers several ways to get help, listed on her Work With Me page:
- The Substack. Two grant opportunities a week, one free and one for paid subscribers.
- The Grant Gal Foundation List. Launched on the Substack’s first anniversary, it is a living directory of every foundation she has researched, with each foundation’s website and stated mission, available for a one-time $25 payment.
- Live classes. Her 90-minute online class, Grant Writing for Normal People, runs on November 6, 2026, costs $50 and includes a recording and her slides.
- One-on-one support. She works directly with organizations on finding grants, writing applications and deciding which ones are worth pursuing.
Why does The Grant Gal matter for nonprofits?
Small nonprofits rarely have a full-time development team, and grant research is one of the first things to fall off a busy executive director’s list. What makes Burke’s work stand out is that it comes from someone who has been on the other side: she has founded organizations, raised money for them and mentored other founders. Her posts read like advice from a friend who happens to know where the money is.
Grants for autistic individuals and organizations
Booked Impact has been profiling founders who share what they know in public, including Shruti Merchant and Nina Liu. Burke brings that same generosity to the nonprofit world, one grant at a time.
Frequently asked questions
Who is The Grant Gal?
The Grant Gal is Lauren Burke, a lawyer and social impact founder who shares grant opportunities for nonprofits, artists and small businesses each week on Substack and TikTok.
Where can I find The Grant Gal’s grant list?
She publishes grants at justgrants.substack.com, where the first grant each week is free. She also sells the Grant Gal Foundation List, a directory of foundations she has researched, for a one-time $25 payment.
What organizations has Lauren Burke founded?
She co-founded Atlas: DIY, a Brooklyn nonprofit for immigrant youth, as well as Immigration Nation and Camp Equity, and she has been building Notehouse, a case management platform.
Was Lauren Burke on Forbes 30 Under 30?
Yes. Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 list in law and policy, around the time she was running Atlas: DIY.
Can individuals apply for the grants The Grant Gal shares?
Some of them. Most grants she covers are for nonprofits or fiscally sponsored projects, but she regularly shares grants open to individuals, such as artists, writers and community organizers.
Does The Grant Gal teach grant writing?
Yes. She teaches a live online class called Grant Writing for Normal People and offers one-on-one support for organizations.
Follow The Grant Gal
Get new grant opportunities every week from Lauren Burke on The Grant Gal on Substack and @thegrantgal on TikTok.
This profile is based on Lauren Burke’s public TikTok videos and Substack posts, along with published sources including NYU School of Law, School Year Abroad and Forbes. Booked Impact did not interview her, and she did not review this article before publication.
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