If I Only Had the Time, I Could Write the Grant Myself

When you receive the grants newsletter from GrantWatch, do you find yourself saying, “If only I had the time!”?

Your job as an executive director is to grow your nonprofit in order to serve more and more of your constituency.  So how do you do that on a shoestring budget?

First off, you cannot be penny wise and pound foolish, thinking “with grants there are no guarantees.” Yes, you are correct. Grant writing has its risks. You could pay a grant writer and have a beautifully written grant that can score a 95, but there may be five others that score a 96 and above, and they got funded and you did not.

But here is the caveat: you have a beautifully written on-target proposal. With some tweaking and matching of another funder’s requirements, you can reuse that grant application, and apply it to one or more funding sources.

How do you pay for a grant writer if you are short on funds? Local community people really respect an organization looking for funds for capacity building. When you ask for a donation that will pay for a grant writer to complete a few proposals, you will get that donation. You wouldn’t be asking for an annual salary — just enough for the grant writer consultant. And if you were to open a YouHelp campaign, you could raise the money from more than one funder; so, smaller contributions that total your immediate needs.

Where will you find that grant writer that matches your organization’s needs? GrantWriterTeam has a service to match you with grant writers. Once you put up a request for a grant writer and pay the $50 administrative fee, you receive bids from skilled professional grant writers. You can review their one-page writing samples from three different grants and see if you like their writing style. In their bids, they will list grants they have won and their experience and expertise. You can see if they have the background that matches the mission and vision of your organization.

What will it cost you to hire a grant writer? Or what will it cost you if you do not hire a grant writer? Just look at the GrantWatch newsletter to see all your the missed opportunities.

There are two ways of working with a grant writer. You can locate the grant yourself and the grant writer will give you a flat fee from start to finish (you will list the URL of the grant in your grant writer request), or you will request that the grant writer do the research and locate a certain number of grants for you to choose from (allot a certain number of hours for research). And then when a grant is chosen, you will negotiate the flat rate for the proposal.

Do you really have the time or do you have someone on your staff who is capable of and has the time to locate federal, state and local grants; and find foundation and corporate grants? Do you have the time to write proposal narratives; developing budgets; research the needs of your target population; complete the needs assessment; and research literature for best practices

Grant writers on GrantWriterTeam have the time and the skills for all of these tasks and they work with a system of deliverables in which the project is broken into smaller parts (with the exception of the small retainer to start the work). You pay only when a deliverable is completed and then you receive the work within the hour of payment.

Writers at GrantWriterTeam.com will collect your background data, articulate your concepts and ensure that your passion jumps off the page. If you don’t have the time and energy to commit to finding or writing a grant proposal, GreatWriterTeam.com will help you find a qualified writer who does. Request a grant writer here or call 561-249-4129.

About the Author: Libby Hikind lives and breathes grants and funding for nonprofits and small businesses A retired NYC Public School Teacher and Grant Writer, she established GrantWatch to serve the nonprofit community. Libby is the Founder and CEO of GrantWatch.com, GrantWriterTeam.com, YouHelp.com, GrantNews.com, and GWI.education.