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When an organization wants to apply for grant money, it can be tempting to quickly hire a grant writer and get working right away on composing a grant narrative for any funder giving out money. However, a few items should be thought through and discussed before this process begins. Both the organization wanting to apply for funding and the grant writer who will help them compose their grant application can benefit from discussing the following three items:
Brainstorming: While a grant writer can help flesh out the details of a project with an organization, the organization applying for funding should spend a good amount of time thinking through the project prior to hiring a grant writer. “Who will this project serve? What are our goals? How will it be managed?” These and other questions help ensure that the organization is not just asking for money for general operational costs, but rather for a specific project to meet a specific need. Once organizational leadership has done this step, the grant writer can put feet on the project, add ideas, and really help it develop into a full proposal.
Funding Source: It helps for an organization to have a funding source in mind before contacting a grant writer. It is one thing to have a great project in mind, but it is difficult to get it off the ground if no one is interested in funding that particular service. Identifying both a funding source and a grant will usually ensure that your organization has aligned the funding agency’s priorities with your own, and that you’ve begun to formulate your project’s key components with that funding agency in mind. The grant writer will be able to write the proposal knowing that your priorities align with the funding agency’s priorities. (I have written an article titled "Fast Ways To Find Funding Sources" to help on this topic. You can access it here.)
Payment: A quality grant writer is worth far more than the fee you will pay for their services; a good grant writer may get a client approximately $50,000 to $100,000 for every $1,000 paid to them in fees. A $5,000 grant writing fee can realistically result in $500,000 of funding. Quality grant writers have waiting lists of clients who have done their brainstorming and found a funding source, in addition to being willing to pay. The grant writer doesn’t necessarily need to be paid up front, but a contract for payment needs to be secured before he or she start writing. You could develop an ongoing relationship with a grant writer through a retainer. Or, the payment could be half up front, half after grant submissions—whatever works for the organization and the grant writer. However, the writer should never be paid out of the potential grant money to be received. (I have writtern about this topic as well; access "Should You Pay A Grant Writer Out Of The Grant?" here.)
On these three points, you can always find an exception. My own business, Educational Resource Consultants, is a full-service grant writing agency. We have often helped clients both in the past and present to develop projects and identify funding sources. It is, however, to the benefit of both the grant writer and the organization applying for money to have good ideas established as to what the organization truly needs before proceeding with grant composition.
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When an organization wants to apply for grant money, it can be tempting to quickly hire a grant writer and get working right away on composing a grant narrative for any funder giving out money. However, a few items should be thought through and discussed before this process begins. Both the organization wanting to apply for funding and the grant writer who will help them compose their grant application can benefit from discussing the following three items:
Brainstorming: While a grant writer can help flesh out the details of a project with an organization, the organization applying for funding should spend a good amount of time thinking through the project prior to hiring a grant writer. “Who will this project serve? What are our goals? How will it be managed?” These and other questions help ensure that the organization is not just asking for money for general operational costs, but rather for a specific project to meet a specific need. Once organizational leadership has done this step, the grant writer can put feet on the project, add ideas, and really help it develop into a full proposal.
Funding Source: It helps for an organization to have a funding source in mind before contacting a grant writer. It is one thing to have a great project in mind, but it is difficult to get it off the ground if no one is interested in funding that particular service. Identifying both a funding source and a grant will usually ensure that your organization has aligned the funding agency’s priorities with your own, and that you’ve begun to formulate your project’s key components with that funding agency in mind. The grant writer will be able to write the proposal knowing that your priorities align with the funding agency’s priorities. (LINK TO “FAST WAYS TO FIND FUNDING”)
Payment: A quality grant writer is worth far more than the fee you will pay for their services; a good grant writer may get a client approximately $50,000 to $100,000 for every $1,000 paid to them in fees. A $5,000 grant writing fee can realistically result in $500,000 of funding. Quality grant writers have waiting lists of clients who have done their brainstorming and found a funding source, in addition to being willing to pay. The grant writer doesn’t necessarily need to be paid up front, but a contract for payment needs to be secured before they start writing. You could develop an ongoing relationship with a grant writer through a retainer. Or, the payment could be half up front, half after grant submissions—whatever works for the organization and the grant writer. However, the writer should never be paid out of the potential grant money to be received.
On these points, you can always find an exception. My own business, Educational Resource Consultants, is a full-service grant writing agency. We have often helped clients both in the past and present to develop projects and identify funding sources. It is, however, to the benefit of both the grant writer and the organization applying for money to have good ideas established as to what the organization truly needs before proceeding with grant composition.
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