Jennifer

Melissa: I have to respond to your comments regarding your distrust of outside grant writers. My desire to help non-profits is what led me to this area in the first place. Good grantwriters share a passion for one or more areas of interest to which they apply their research and writing skills. They know the field and wish to provide a valuable service. As an outside contractor, I may not be part of your program, but I can still share your vision and help you achieve your goals.
You could apply this logic to any number of professionals. No one loves your children like you do, yet you trust teachers to give them a quality education. You trust your hairstylist to make your hair look good. You trust a mechanic with your car. In the same way, you trust a good grantwriter to present your program to a prospective funder with a compelling proposal. That’s their job. If, as a grantwriter, I have a heart for youth, then I will do everything in my power to help you find funding to serve those youth. Part of the appeal of grantwriting is that you can benefit your community or the world, on some level, while earning an income.

And reading these comments makes me especiallu leery of having someone come in and write a grant for my program…illiterate? disorganized? yikes! Illiterate, well, that’s just insulting. But disorganized, definitely! We’re doing too much on too few resources.

If you don’t have respect for the work we do and the people we serve, then I wouldn’t want to pay you to seek funding to keep us going! And I say this as the person who writes most of the grants for my own program and also does freelancing on the side.

I agree with Annie, it is important to note that nonprofits are a business. I worked half my career for B2B corporations, the other in nonprofits. Neither is perfect. I tend to weight more heavily my working relationships with individuals, rather than with particular industries.

Go with what works. My clients are a mix of markets, industries, etc. There are many sources of work for freelancers, examine them all and stick with the ones that work for you. If you are finding the well running dry, move on to something else.

However, my favourite parts of the job were always the writing components and I did manage to get some good direct mail campaigns, newsletters etc for my portfolio which have served me well.

Since I’ve started my freelance career I haven’t really ventured into the world of non-profit, but I will definately give it a shot.

I think it’s just important to remember that a non-profit is a business and as such, you should be paid accordingly.

And I agree with Annie, midsized is the way to go. Most of the larger organizations here outsource their copy to large agencies.

Great post!

HOWEVER, I will say that working a mid-sized nonprofit as an entry-level person gave me more opportunities to write than I would have had in many other industries at the same level. If you’re a good writer who works at a nonprofit they will probably put you to work on writing projects (even if your job description does not include writing). My portfolio still includes samples of the enewsletter I edited and the brochure copy, radio ad, and press releases I wrote at my first job. Yes, I was underpaid, but I’m happy to have clips from several different mediums and the experience of working at an nonprofit.

Maybe other states have far more lucrative non-profits than California but it’s a sad state out here in California for non-profits right now. All my friends in non-profit are trying to leave and move on to the business/corporate sector (because they are tired of being overworked and not paid enough).