Cheryl Kester Bio | Go Dig Deep
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The Team

Cheryl Kester

Grant Strategist

Cheryl knows grants—strategies, funders, stakeholders, grant readiness, application dos and don’ts—her expertise covers it all. Most importantly, this professional speaker, author and grant strategist has put all that know-how to work securing more than $154 million in grants and contracts for clients over the last 20 years. For our clients, she’s a gold mine. When Cheryl takes a break, she’s on a bike in hilly country with plenty of dark chocolate on hand.

Email Cheryl

  • “Tia and her team’s biggest assets are their intimate knowledge of the grant world and their winning ability to network with funding agencies so the agencies are not only aware of, but become advocates for, the city’s needs.”

    Timothy Gross,
    P.E., Public Works Director/City Engineer
    City of Newport, OR

  • “Tia is knowledgeable and skillful and immerses herself in her work because she is passionate about making a difference and she truly believes in what she does.”

    Shelly Westbrook,
    Foundation Director,
    Spectrum Health Foundation United & Kelsey Hospitals

  • “We included Dig Deep specifically because we know how important finding funding sources will be for the city.”

    Nona Deideker,
    Sr. Project Manager/FERM Group Lead,
    HDR Engineering, Inc., Pasco Office

Dig Deep Research
1010 S. Joliet Street
Suite 207
Aurora, CO 80012
info@GoDigDeep.com
(720) 785-4155

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The Basic Plan

Want assistance digging into the world of strategic grant planning, but prefer the flexibility to explore and excavate at your own pace? Opt for our Basic Membership. A top Dig Deep strategist coaches you through a half-day, strategic planning workshop that results in a customized list of grant opportunities matched to your capital projects. Plus, our Resource Library is available to you online, 24/7.

The Enhanced Plan

Prefer to have an experienced strategist help cultivate your strategic grant plan? With the enhanced membership, you receive additional strategic planning sessions to assess how competitive your application will be and provide customized recommendations to best position your application for success.

The Premium Plan

Need to grow your efforts to the next level? The premium membership digs even deeper for your organization, creating immediate and long-term positive impact with on-site training and capacity building for your grant planning leaders.

Tia Cavender

The founder of Dig Deep™, Tia takes the lead in strategically structuring municipal projects and then matching them with capital funding sources. Known inside Dig Deep’s walls as “the master cultivator,” she is tireless both in her thoughtful structuring of each project and in searching for long-term solutions that meet the needs of everyone at the table. A national expert with more than 15 years of experience in capital grant seeking, Tia is a Certified Grants Professional (GPC) and member of the Grant Professionals Association. In addition, she holds two master’s degrees from the University of Colorado (Industrial/ Organizational Psychology and Clinical Psychology). Fueled by too much caffeine and a relentless drive, Tia is devoted to social justice, environmental sustainability, and quite a few other things that aren’t even remotely serious. She always finds time to cheer on her kids’ athletic and artistic pursuits. (She’s the loud but constructive one.)

Jen Waltz

The generator behind Dig Deep’s daily operations, Jen keeps a firm hand on the company’s proprietary data and research. With more than ten years of experience managing evaluation projects, securing research funding, and conducting usability testing protocols, Jen excels in mixed-methods analysis and evaluation. She also manages the content for Dig Deep’s online resource library and is indispensable when it comes to decoding grant-speak. Off the clock, she finds respite in Colorado’s foothills where she lives with her many, many pets. Of course, there are witty names, too. But we’ll spare you.

Rachel Hood

Rachel is one of Dig Deep’s expert surveyors, with more than 15 years of experience managing teams and building public-private partnerships. She maps out various pathways to energy and water-related funding, and is often tapped for her expertise in renewable energy, energy-water nexus and environmental education. Rachel is passionate about anything that will make the world a better place for her kids and yours. In her off hours, you can catch her on a bike, in a garden or at a party raising more money and volunteers for communities.

Kevin Eatherly

Dig Deep also counts Kevin as a master surveyor, who plots solutions in a different area. With more than 18 years of project management experience, he helps nurture collaboration between public agencies and private stakeholders to develop cost-effective solutions for water conservation, while maintaining a balance between the needs of agricultural and urban audiences. In his downtime, Kevin enjoys meditating and farming—but never at the same time.