La Quetta M. Shamblee is the CEO of The Grantbuilder LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in organizational development and grant writing, with a focus on tax-exempt nonprofits and collaborative partnerships between governments and non-government entities. She maintains a short list of nonprofit clients to ensure to stay abreast of current standards, best practices and emerging trends.

She has an extensive background in securing and managing grants and contracts with government and non-government funding sources, including foundation awards that have ranged from the low $1,000’s to a government-funded contract for more than $500 million. Her career includes the following roles:

Professional Educator

Taught finance and accounting courses for 3 years on campus at the Colangelo College of Business at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, AZ

• Taught two years in the Nonprofit Fundraising & Leadership Certificate Program for UCLA Extension, including:
• Created and taught a 5-day, 30 hour Federal Grants Management Course for management and administrative staff at the Port of Long Beach,
• Taught a 10-week “Successful Grant Writing Proposals” course at the Los Angeles campus 
• Taught computer courses in the Business Studies program at Antelope Valley College in Lancaster.
• RSP (Special Education Instructor) for 9-12 grade students at Duarte Unified School District (CA)

Author

• The Grantbuilder™: Step-by-Step Guide to Grant Writing Workbook-This book was selected by two different professors as the text for a grant writing course for graduate students at University of LaVerne from 2019 to 2023

Nonprofit and Grants Administration

• Federal grants experience includes National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), Homeland Security, Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Labor (DOL),
• State and municipal grants experience include managing a portfolio of health insurance education and outreach grant awards for Covered CA (state’s health insurance exchange); her portfolio included the largest single grant of $1.1M awarded to a consortium of California State Universities,
• Responsible for grants oversight and compliance for a variety of grassroots and multimillion dollar budget nonprofit organizations that receive funding from a combination of government, foundation and corporate sources,
• Retained by First5LA to conduct the first program audit of the agency’s largest single contract of $584 million that funded a countywide preschool program for children ages 0-5; subsequently assigned as one of two Program Officers
• HIV/AIDS Funding - Financial administrator for the second largest outpatient HIV clinic in Los Angeles County; Deputy Director for Caring for Babies With AIDS (Los Angeles, CA), Director of Programs and Services for AIDS Service Center (Pasadena, CA)

Arts & Cultural Program Development and Management

Founder of The Instrumental Women Project, a nonprofit jazz arts organization that produced the longest running regional showcase at the time (2000 – 2008) which featured an all-female line-up of master jazz instrumentalists. The inaugural performance in May 2000 at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in North Hollywood, CA was partially funded by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department; for the next 8 years she secured co-production grants from the County of Los Angeles for 8 consecutive years to present the Annual Instrumental Women Lady Jazz Concert series at the Ford Amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills; later produced a Jazz Theatre series for several years at Sierra Madre Playhouse, along with numerous performances at venues throughout Southern California.

• Produced the two-day weekend MADCatfish Blues Festival at Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia, CA in 2015,
• Long-term Volunteer Committee Member and publicist for the Cherry Blossom Festival of Southern California. This community project was produced by Wow!Event Productions for 10 years and attracted up to 60K attendees over the two-day weekend, and
• Wrote and produced “Girls Don’t Do That” an independent short film that premiered at the 23rd Annual Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles in 2015.

Grant Review Panelist

She has served on numerous grant review panels for several private foundations, as well as:

• Arizona Governor’s Office of Youth, Faith and Family Department, County of Los Angeles – Department of Health Services, Department of Mental Health, Division of HIV & STD Programs, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture and others.
• Arts & Culture funding for the California Arts Council (3 years), City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Pasadena Arts & Cultural Affairs Division, Los Angeles Department of Arts & Culture and others.