Publications

Grantcraft

The Comprehensive Guide to Strategic Funding for Public Service, Healthcare, and the Nonprofit Sector

Second Edition — Publishing January 11, 2027

Now available for preorder in eBook, paperback, and hardcover formats.

Grantcraft is a comprehensive guide to strategic grant practice across the full funding lifecycle—from identifying and assessing funding opportunities through feasibility, program design, proposal development, submission, award acceptance, implementation, reporting, closeout, and ethical stewardship.

Substantially expanded for the Second Edition, the book integrates organizational readiness, population-responsive program design, budgets, logic models, evaluation, responsible use of artificial intelligence, award management, and ethics into a unified approach to grant practice. Practical frameworks, realistic examples, academic discussion questions, practitioner exercises, and applied assignments make it both a professional reference and a teaching resource.

Ideal for:
Grant professionals and writers, public administrators, nonprofit and healthcare leaders, program and evaluation staff, consultants, faculty, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and organizations seeking a more disciplined and integrated approach to strategic funding.

→ Learn more about Grantcraft

The California Public Budget Challenge

A Semester-Long Applied Budget Practicum

The California Public Budget Challenge transforms public budgeting from a subject to be studied into a professional experience to be performed. Participants work as members of a Budget & Strategic Finance Team assigned to a real California public agency and progress through five interconnected milestones—from organizational and fiscal assessment to strategic resource allocation and an executive-level budget briefing.

Designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate education, professional development, and executive learning, the practicum is supported by a complimentary Facilitator and Instructor Guide containing implementation models, facilitation resources, Fiscal Shock Scenarios, evaluation tools, and Executive Review Panel materials.

Now being adopted by faculty at California State University, East Bay and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Ideal for:

Faculty members, graduate and advanced undergraduate students, emerging budget and management analysts, public managers, trainers, and professional-development programs in public administration, public policy, government, public finance, and nonprofit management.

→ Explore the Budget Practicum

Promoted into Incompetence

Why Good Workers Become Poor Leaders—and How Organizations Can Change That

Promoted into Incompetence examines a leadership crisis hiding in plain sight: technically capable employees are routinely promoted into management roles without the preparation required to lead effectively.

Drawing on more than three decades of executive, public-service, healthcare, and academic experience, David E. Fraser explains why leadership failure is often systemic rather than personal—and how organizations can strengthen leadership readiness, development, mentoring, promotion, and succession practices before failure occurs.

Ideal for:
Executives, managers, boards, HR leaders, leadership-development programs, and graduate-level leadership and management courses.

→ Learn more about Promoted into Incompetence

Designed for Academic and Professional Use

Dr. David E. Fraser’s books and applied educational resources are designed to support learning and professional practice across a range of settings, including:

Graduate and professional degree programs
Instructor-led courses and applied-learning experiences
Executive and leadership-development initiatives
Public-sector training and professional development
Organizational workshops and seminars
Board governance, succession planning, and management development

Each publication is designed to connect academic knowledge with practical application, supporting individual learning, professional development, and organizational use.

About the Author

David E. Fraser, Ed.D., MPA, is a scholar-practitioner, senior public-sector leader, educator, author, and organizational consultant with more than three decades of experience across government, higher education, healthcare administration, and the nonprofit sector.

He has taught graduate courses in public administration and healthcare administration at California State University, East Bay for more than twenty years. His teaching and professional work emphasize ethical governance, public budgeting and financial management, organizational competence, leadership readiness, strategic planning, grant development and administration, and the application of academic knowledge to professional practice.

Dr. Fraser is the founder and managing director of Fraser Leadership Group and the author of works addressing strategic funding, leadership readiness, and applied public budgeting, including Grantcraft, Promoted into Incompetence, and The California Public Budget Challenge.