by Lisa Jo Rudy

Answer: it sounds a whole lot harder than it is.

If you can think in a straight line and follow a set of written guidelines, you’ll probably do just fine as a grant writer. Of course, you’ll want to hit the deadlines, fill in all the blanks, and be sure you’re writing the correct number of words in the right font.

Outside of that, there are just a few keys to success.

* Make it absolutely clear to your client that you are a writer, not
an accountant. No, you don’t do budgets or money management!
* Know the difference between a marketing piece and a grant
proposal. Tearjerker tales (if not for X non-profit, little Janey
would have DIED) have no place in a grant.
* Be specific. Not good: Y non-profit reaches many people with
wonderful programs. Good: Y non-profit reaches 20,000 children
each year with programs that improve both grades and fitness.
Best: Though Y’s programs, 20,000 children per year improve their
grades by an average of a full grade.
* Be positive – but make no promises. You can tell the client their
program is terrific, but never promise them the grant before it’s
granted.

Oh – about your pay: again, no commissions! My suggestion: agree on a project fee based on an hourly rate and your best guess of how long the project will take. Then get paid half up front, and half upon final submission.nb

by Lisa Jo Rudy

This is part 3 in our series on grant writing.

A grant proposal is a document which requests a donation of money from a corporation, foundation, funding agency or individual.

Contrary to popular opinion, grant writing is NOT always a monumental or technical project. Nor does it necessarily require years of experience .A grant proposal may be long or short, complex or simple. It can contain charts and tables – or just a few paragraphs of compelling prose.

The biggest, most complex grant proposals are big federal proposals written to request multiple millions of dollars for technical projects. For example, Big University wants a $10 million grant to build and run a particle accelerator. Quite frankly, I’ve never written such a grant – it sounds overwhelmingly complex and difficult, and I know relatively little about particle accelerators. (pay – starting at the low thousands and going up into the tens of thousands – nice work if you can get or do it!)

The smallest, least complex proposals usually go to individuals or small local corporations. They may be as small as one page long, and they’re typically relatively informal. They’re also usually written for small amounts or in-kind gifts – “please donate party platters for our annual fundraising event,” or “please give us $500 to pay for the rental of a bus for a special outing for disabled residents.” (pay – $100 up to about $500 depending upon the size of the grant. No one will pay you $500 to write a grant for $500 – but they might pay you that much to write a grant for $5,000.)

It’s perfectly reasonable to cut your fundraising teeth on small grant writing projects for local non-profits, and it’s equally reasonable to charge a small amount of money to do so. In fact, if you can get out there and write three or four small proposals for, say, $50 apiece,

* you’ll have a nice set of “clips” to show off to other prospective
clients,
* you’ll have done a good thing for a non-profit you care about,
* you’ll have raised your profile locally as a fundraising writer
* you’ll have made a few hundred dollars

Not all bad!

by Lisa Jo Rudy

I once wrote a grant that won $4,000,000. If I’d earned a 10% commission, I’d’ve been a wealthy woman.

I didn’t. I was paid a nice fee, but no commission.

The reason was simple: professional grant writers don’t earn commissions. They are paid fees.

So why, you may wonder, do so many online ads offer grant writers a hefty commission if and when they “earn” a grant? The reasons for that are simple too: either:

(a) the client is broke, and they think this is a terrific way to get money for nothing and/or

(b) the client has no idea what a grant really is (except that they’ve seen Google ads for “free grants” all over the Internet), and/or

(c) the client has the idea that grantwriters are really fundraising gurus who know where and how to dip into free pots of money (it doesn’t occur to them that anyone with that kind of knowledge surely doesn’t need to work for a startup on commission!).

There are two basic reasons why grant writers don’t work on commission.

The first is that grant writers have no control over the factors that make a “sale.” Sure, they can write a persuasive proposal. But once the proposal is sent out into the wide world, the quality of your writing won’t be enough to help it succeed.

The reviewers have to love the project, be impressed by the people involved with the project, and believe that the project fits their guidelines and is BETTER than the 100 other projects that have been pitched to them this quarter. In the best of all worlds, too, your client went out there ahead of time and did some spadework. They met with the granting agency, took all the advice they could, selected the right people, and put together the budget with great care.

If they didn’t do their up-front work, or if the reviewers don’t love their idea, or if their personnel aren’t impressive enough, or if they’re just unlucky…they lose.

If you were paid a fee, you don’t.

But the biggest and most important reason why grantwriters don’t work on commission is that grants don’t work that way. Grants are donations to do specific work as described in a written document with a budget attached. NO grantmaking agency will allow “pay the grantwriter his fee” to be a budget line item. So where does that “extra” money come from to pay you?

The only way to find the grant writer’s ten percent in a grant budget is to monkey with the budget numbers, and then doctor their books.

For example, your client could claim it will cost them $20,000 to rent buses to take disabled kids from school to their afterschool special needs recreation program. But it really only costs $10,000. So if you win the grant, they pay for the buses with $10,000, pay you $10,000, and then doctor the books to make it look like the money was legitimately spent on bus rental.

Not only did the money come to you in a highly questionable manner, but you, in essence, just lifted $10,000 of money that was intended to support the needs of disabled children.

Oh – and one other point to consider.

When you write a grant proposal, it can take months (or even a year) to get a final decision out of the grant making agency. Then it can take months for money to come through. Sometimes, the client has to request their money in chunks as they need it. As the grant writer, you have to depend upon your client to let you know “oh! We got the grant – and your cash will be available in a few weeks.”

If you met your client online, worked for them once, and then went on your way – how likely is it that they’ll be in touch when and if the cash comes through? And if they don’t, you’re out that cash forever.

Up next: What Does a Grant Proposal Look Like?

Also see: How to Be a Grant Writer: Part 1 – What’s a Grant Writer and Why Would I Want to Be One