THE DOLLARS AND SENSE OF HIRING A GRANT WRITER…
WHEN AND WHY TO HIRE A FREELANCE GRANT WRITER AND HOW MUCH TO PAY
Getting valuable support from a skilled freelance grant writer can be a great investment, when the time is right!
While nonprofits large and small often develop multiple types of fundraising channels, many nonprofits, public entities, and even businesses commonly look to GRANTS as an important source of regular or periodic revenue to fund PROGRAMS, OPERATING COSTS, or, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.
However, when you need a grant to achieve your organization’s goals, it can seem counterintuitive to spend extra money upfront to hire a grant writer to help you apply for a grant that may…or may not…get funded…
This is why some leaders struggle to decide when it makes sense to pay for the services of a grant writing professional.
How much do grant writers charge, and is it worth the cost?
Let’s face it, the grant world can be very competitive, and for every winning proposal, there are many that don’t make the cut…or, worse, get disqualified from the outset, due to an eligibility exclusion that the applicant overlooked, or due to a mere, but fatal, formatting oversight or similar technicality…
That said, with the right strategy and a qualified grant writer to help you, the money spent to develop and submit competitive grant proposals usually pays off over time.
This is why smart organizational leaders see that the costs of submitting the best grant proposal possible amount to a wise investment and not just an added expense.
Put another way, it makes dollars and sense to think LESS in terms of the fees you’ll pay to a professional grant writer…and MORE in terms of:
potential opportunity costs–such as the revenue you never see as a result of submitting a flawed or less competitive proposals…
the inverse of lost opportunities—the potential for positive ROI measured in terms of the organizational gains associated with submitting the most competitive proposals possible, increasing the potential for positive revenue flows, and, in turn…enhancing organizational capacity and promoting organizational sustainability and credibility—in essence positioning your organization to win both new donors and new grants down the road as well.
The costs associated with paying a professional grant writer are typically, over time, proportionately quite small compared to the potential earnings from the grants you can win for your organization.
And, the positive returns on investment over the long term, often hold true when paying larger fees as well—the kinds of fees typically required for getting professional help with longer, more complex grants proposals, such as federal grant applications, for example.
Let’s be clear, while hiring a grant writer to prepare a longer, more technically complex federal grant proposal can cost upwards of a thousand dollars, winning just one federal grant can in many cases deliver tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars, in organizational funding–resulting in something in the neighborhood of a one-hundred fold return on investment–a rate of ROI that corporate managers might only dream of achieving!
What to do when your organization doesn’t have an in-house grant writer…
The largest nonprofits typically rely on significant and continuous grant-making and grant-management efforts. For this reason, larger enterprises will usually have their own fundraising staff, including one or more full-time or part-time in-house grant writers.
While having your own grant writers on payroll can be effective, it can be a very costly and inefficient solution for organizations or businesses that don’t engage in full-time, ongoing grant development efforts to meet their present objectives…
Paying professional salaries and benefits for even one part-time IN-HOUSE grant writer can be a somewhat EXPENSIVE proposition over time! From this perspective, it’s easier to see why partnering with a freelance grant writer can be seen as a money-saving solution rather than an added expense…
Many organizations and for-profit entities actually save a lot of money by hiring a freelance grant writer, investing wisely in growth opportunities by benefitting from professional grant proposal support only when they most need it, and only when the most compelling grant opportunities present themselves.
But…If you’re reading this, you’re probably worried about these very grant writing fees that we keep referring to!…
And…you may be asking yourself:
Doesn’t it make more sense to simply ask my own staff, board members, and volunteers to write the organization’s grant proposals?…
While the temptation to use existing in-house staff or lean on the professional expertise of board members is understandable, even organizations with very limited resources should consider the cost vs. benefit analysis at hand. Do you want to risk burning out staff or driving talented people off of your board by asking them to do too much work outside what’s expected? And again, it’s important to weigh the cost of a professional freelance grant writer against the opportunity costs—the grant monies you might end up forfeiting by not engaging a professional grant writer and not submitting the most competitive proposal possible…
Let’s look at some important benefits that fundraising leaders may want to consider when deciding whether or not to partner with a freelance grant writer:
Key Point #1: Writing a “satisfactory” proposal is not the same as writing a highly competitive one…
While having a great mission that is well aligned with a funder’s area of interest is a key part of a successful grant strategy, it’s worth keeping in mind that most grant proposals will be scored by reviewers who may also be seasoned grant writers or grant management consultants themselves and they will quickly identify any gaps or flaws in the development of your proposal and be drawn, in most cases, to assign more review points to proposals that are: well-researched and data-informed; professional in presentation and formatting; crafted to be highly persuasive and compelling…and these skilled reviewers will also be scoring for technical factors related to highly prescriptive and sometimes technical funding goals and objectives.
Key Point #2: Knowing the most about your organization isn’t always the best qualification for writing a successful grant proposal…
When organizational leaders take on time-consuming grant proposal writing tasks, this is not necessarily a winning strategy. First, leaders are likely to best serve their organizations by leveraging their leadership skills, not by exhausting themselves or by short-changing their staff and programs by writing lengthy grant proposals. And, even if it seems counterintuitive, the person closest to the action, so to speak, may actually lack some of the objective, fresh, and outside perspectives that a skilled, well-educated grant writer can bring to the table.
In most cases, in fact, effective collaboration between staff on the inside of the organization and a professional consultant or grant writer with an outside perspective may be the best strategy for producing a strong proposal.
Key Point #3: Professional grant writers can quickly gain the information and understanding they need to provide their clients with highly competitive grant proposals…
Most experienced and professional freelance grant writers will have tried-and-true onboarding systems with efficient mechanisms and practices for learning about the mission, goals, values, programs, and data points required to portray client organizations in the best light possible. And, by collaborating consistently with the same freelance grant writer over time, you’ll obviously eliminate the time needed for onboarding.
When you work with a grant writer with professional training and high ethical standards, your organization will sometimes get more objective and honest assessments about advantageous grant-writing strategies than it may get from its own leaders, board members, or other loyal organizational insiders—their professional credentials and their very best intentions notwithstanding!
A professional, freelance grant writer can quickly see your organization objectively and strategically from the outside–and that’s an advantage, because the people reviewing and scoring your organization’s grant proposal—alongside many other deserving proposals—will also be viewing your organization and its proposal from the outside.
Key Point #4: Newer nonprofit organizations may also find it advantageous to pay for a professional grant writer…
Sometimes newer organizations fall into the trap of trying to do everything with the smallest budget possible, which really amounts to doing very little, because they have such a small budget…
When organizations are perceived as “fragile” by potential funders simply because the organization is new and under-funded, it can make it even harder to win grants. It’s critical for young nonprofits to break out of this Catch-22 and improve their odds for success by getting professional help when it comes to choosing which grant opportunities to pursue in the short-term (and which opportunities to pass over). And, when pursuing the most promising funding opportunities, young organizations can sometimes benefit immensely from the skills and insights of a trained grant writing professional .
An experienced, professional grant writer can provide insights from working with a wide range of clients and help young organizations identify what may be easy-to-overlook strategies for highlighting their organizational credibility, leadership capacity, and their organization’s potential to make meaningful impacts—all of which, together, can improve your organization’s profile and grant proposals.
While collaborating with a professional grant writer may seem like a costly proposition at first, this kind of partnership is likely to help you reduce stress, save time, and, ultimately, increase the odds you’ll secure the funding you need to energize your staff and expand your operations and programming.
And…an advantage of working with a freelance grant writer is that your organization can get just the amount of expertise it needs and pay for it ONLY when most needed…
While investing in freelance grant writing services is generally a wise use of resources, spending money on an ill-advised grant-making strategy can be wasteful…
While it’s true that your organization will typically need a strong grant proposal to compete effectively and win grant awards, there is one thing that even the best grant writer in the world can’t fix—bad grant-making strategies!
If your organization doesn’t fully understand how to identify, vet, and pursue the right grant opportunities, spending money to hire a grant writing professional will likely prove a waste of money.
For example, if your organization is pursuing a grant but doesn’t satisfy a specified eligibility requirement, or some aspect of your proposed programs are not technically compliant with grant specifications or not fully aligned with the goals and priorities of the funding opportunity, then even if Shakespeare or Toni Morrison writes your proposal, chances are it won’t win funding!
Choosing the right funding opportunities is an essential FIRST STEP in the process of submitting a winning grant proposal!
Smart organizations make the necessary upfront investments in order to submit the most compelling and competitive grant proposals possible, but the only real way to maximize the potential for a positive return on these investments in the first place is by carefully SCREENING ALL POTENTIAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES before deciding whether or not to spend time and money developing a proposal.
Whether you have in-house systems in place to achieve this or prefer to rely on the help of an experienced grant writer or other fundraising professional, it’s wise to screen all grant opportunities carefully to ensure that your organization’s profile and its proposed goals and activities will:
satisfy all specified eligibility and compliance requirements…
align in a substantive way with the funder’s goals and interests…
match the kinds of funding objectives permitted by the grant opportunity (such as program implementation vs. operating expenses vs. capital improvements…and other more specific alignments as well)…
The good news is that a professional grant writer or consultant can typically assist clients by efficiently and effectively RESEARCHING, IDENTIFYING, and SCREENING potential funding opportunities so the client can better determine when to invest time and money pursuing a specific grant opportunity. If you’re new to grant prospecting, check out our tips for evaluating prospective grant opportunities.
But that’s not all…
The other essential components of a winning grant strategy include:
crafting the most compelling Narratives possible
developing persuasive and evidence-based Need Statements
anticipating the Reviewers’ questions and expectations, and crafting a proposal that is responsive to Scoring Rubrics
ensuring clear alignments between proposed activities and proposed budgets
conforming to all prescribed length, formatting, and submission specifications
meeting the submission deadline
ensuring inclusion of necessary addendums, appendices, M.O.U.s, letters of agreement, policy compliance verifications…
Even though a collaborative team effort is typically needed to develop a really competitive grant proposal, having a qualified in-house grant writer or a professional freelance grant writer on your team, could meaningfully increase the odds of winning more grants!
Getting down to brass tacks: grant writer rates and fees…
We’ve helped you figure out why, and also when, paying professional fees for a grant writer can be a wise use of organizational funds…but we still need to talk about hourly rates and how grant writers structure grant writing fees…
Rates and fees—can vary significantly and do vary significantly…
A less experienced or less qualified grant writer, or one with exceptionally competitive rates, may charge as little as $30.00 to $40.00 an hour, while most qualified grant writers will charge between $50 and $80 an hour, and, in some cases, up to, or above, $130 an hour. ..
For most organizations the best strategy is arguably not simply striving to pay the lowest fee advertised, but contracting with a grant writing professional who possesses outstanding educational credentials and offers the kinds of expertise you need, at competitive rates…
The following questions may help you determine both the kind of grant writer profile to look for, and the right fee range, based on your organization’s present grant writing needs:
What credentials, educational experience, and professional affiliations does the writer have?
Does the writer have a positive track record when it comes to winning grants for past clients?
What kinds of grants has the writer submitted successfully–such as smaller foundation grants, or larger and more complex state and/or federal grant proposals?
If relevant, will the prospective grant writer help you with finding and evaluating potential grant opportunities?
Does the writer have, if needed, pertinent expertise or professional insights related to the sector your organization operates in (such as social justice…health services…international relief services…K12 education or higher education…environmental conservation…legal services…)?
Does the writer have excellent qualifications when it comes to organizing and subordinating information and the proficient use of language— usage, grammar, and spelling…?
Determining who to work with and what rates to pay when seeking a freelance grant writer is typically, in addition to being a function of your organization’s budget, more about determining the kinds of qualifications you need (or don’t need) for current grant writing objectives, and looking for someone whose fees reasonably reflect their education, knowledge, qualifications, and relevant professional experiences.
Common Fee Structures for Grant Writers
It may seem that a grant writer’s hourly rate provides a good guide for evaluating the costs of getting professional help with grant writing.
But it’s not usually as simple as that…
Hourly Rates—pros and cons…
Even if your organization prefers hiring a grant writer at a set hourly rate, you and your organizational team may be left wondering how much you really need to budget for the work needed–that will require an accurate ballpark estimate of the total number of hours required for writing a specific grant proposal…
And, even if relying on rough estimates is not an obstacle to moving forward, you may be wondering if an hourly rate and the writer’s time estimates provide you enough transparency…
For projecting the cost of services, one partial solution is to work with a grant writer who, when contracting at an hourly rate, will provide you with a good-faith estimate of how long the larger project is likely to take to complete–along, perhaps, with some insights into why…
For example:
what critical tasks and challenges does the grant writer anticipate?
how does the writer’s assessment relate to delivering a compelling and competitive proposal?
Reviewing these kinds of questions with your prospective grant writer could help you feel more confident in moving forward and in terms of budgeting…
In terms of further transparency…Don’t hesitate to ask the grant writer how they bill and what detail they provide on their invoices.
Finally, consider asking for references…
When you ascertain that other clients have had positive experiences with the freelance writer you’re considering, that can provide your organization with comforting assurances that make it easier to move forward and commit to a collaboration!
Proposal Pricing (Fixed Fee Structure)
Some organizations may prefer a proposal pricing structure.
As opposed to an hourly rate, a proposal structure means you and the grant writer agree on a clearly defined scope of work and other related expectations about the work to be done–all for a predetermined project fee.
Agreements in the “Services Proposal” that are related to the scope of work will typically include the grant writer’s outline of the key steps of the process (such as researching…drafting…revision cycles…proofreading, etc.), with, in some cases, and depending on the circumstances or the writer, time estimates for various steps, along with some details about key deliverables, project deadlines, file formats and file management, etc.
With this pricing structure, the grant writer is likely to require an initiation fee of 30% to 60% of the total proposal fee before work commences, and require payment of the remaining portion of the project fees when the work is completed and any promised deliverable has been submitted to the client for approval.
Proposal fees will vary greatly from grant writer to grant writer, or from consulting firm to consulting firm…
A services proposal for a grant writer to develop a shorter, less complex foundation grant application could demand a fee ranging from $400 to $800. A proposal for a longer, more complex federal grant application could demand fees between $1,200 to $5,000 or more, as grants in this category can sometimes be particularly demanding and complex, or may require extensive data collection, or require the services of a grant writer with some relevant technical knowledge in a specified field.
Retainers
In some form or another, a “retainer” typically means paying a recurring fee to the freelance professional , or grant consultancy, or grant management firm.
Some professionals think caution is required, especially when publicly or charitably funded organizations pay retainers…The goal is to ensure transparency, good stewardship of funds, and avoid any real or perceived conflict of interest when an organization agrees to pay a retainer for professional services.
Some retainer arrangements, however, may simply provide a structure for simplifying invoicing when a contract grant writer is working with the same client organization on an ongoing basis, and when the “retainer” primarily compensates the grant writer for concrete services and deliverables. In these arrangements, the organization will typically also agree to pay the grant writer additional hourly fees if the services required or requested exceed the services covered by the monthly retainer fee.
As for professional ethics related to forms of compensation in the fundraising sector, many professional organizations have codes of ethics that may touch on such topics. If you want to know more about how some codes of ethics in the grantmaking sector treat matters of compensation, you can check out the following online resources (among others):
Association of Fundraising Professionals - Code of Ethics
Grant Professionals Association - Code of Ethics
(Note: sometimes engaging an independent contractor can have specific tax or payroll related requirements. Check with relevant and qualified HR, legal, and tax and accounting professionals or advisors as needed…)
In the end, each organization will need to figure out what grant writing support solutions make sense for their own budget, needs, and interests…
By doing your best to ensure you’re working with someone with a college education or graduate-level degree who possesses excellent written communication skills and who offers competitive rates based on the kinds of specialized talent and insights you need…you should find you’re well on your way to finding an effective grant writing associate and making a wise investment in your grantmaking efforts!
In addition, be sure to consider what kind of professional collaboration experience, supervisory experience, or training skills you want to look for in a freelance grant writer, and what kinds of pricing structures make sense…
In the end, the “right” freelance grant writing solution for your organization will likely be one that is competitively priced, delivers a quality product on time, and offers services that provide the right level of transparency, communication, and flexibility needed to support positive collaboration and workflow…
