Building institutional and human capacity for integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) is increasingly recognized as critical to the future of sustainable development in coastal states. Agenda 21 of the UNCED conference has underscored the urgency of capacity building for ICZM as have other international bodies such as the North American Agreement for Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC). One appropriate way to build human capacity for coastal management is through carefully tailored, short-term training that facilitates institutional problem solving in the training experience itself This paper explores one such effort to develop a fundable proposal for a workshop based at Oregon State University for coastal resource managers in Mexico. The approach used was to create a workshop agenda by soliciting substantive input on priority ICZM concerns from potential Mexican participants and then to match that agenda to faculty resources at OSU. This approach departed from the traditional paradigm for most international training programs which usually start with an agenda prescribed by the sponsoring institutions before trainees are selected rather than being designed as a workshop to address the trainees' expressed needs. Using this new needs-based approach, a pre-proposal for the OSU hosted workshop was submitted to several foundations. Although none of the solicited donors agreed to fund the workshop, the paper analyzes their responses to find clues that might aid in future workshop design and funding requests. As a critique and analysis of the overall proposal development process, the paper may serve as a learning model for Oregon State University's Office of International Research and Development as it considers new initiatives in ICZM training.