Category Archives: grant writer

How Much Is Writing Your Own Grants Costing You?

Some costs are easy to calculate.  You look at the price tag on something, and it’s pretty clear. However, most people calculate cost only in terms of the cost of having something, rather than the cost of not having it.  For example, depending on the time of year, you may think that the cost of fresh fruit is pretty high, and that might lead to choose not to buy it. Sometimes, though, you’ll think about the cost to your health of not having that fruit. When you weigh that cost against the dollar cost you have a more accurate picture of the real costs and you can make a more informed decision.

The same thing is true in the world of grant writing. People see the costs associated with hiring a professional grant writer and some decide it’s definitely a worthwhile expense (the smart ones) while others decide that it’s just too much and they’d rather do it themselves.

So, can you afford to hire a grant writer?  Before you answer that question, you need to ask yourself another very important question:  How much will writing your grant yourself really cost you?

First, consider the value of your time. Your time is definitely worth something.  If you’ll be writing the grant proposal during your work hours, you can apply your hourly or daily rate.  If you’ll be working on it beyond work  hours during your personal time, you’ll need to assign a value to that time also.  What is an hour of time with your children worth to you? We’re talking about opportunity cost here. If you’re working on the grant, you’re giving up time that could have been spent on something else. Everything is a trade off.

Next, you’ll need to calculate the value of the time of anyone who will be assisting you – administrative assistants, accounting clerks, collaborative partners, etc. Their time counts, too

Then, figure out how many hours the project will take you to complete. This is not easy task.  I can tell you for certain that it will take you more time than you expect.  So, once you have calculated the number of hours you expect to spend, add 30%.

When you multiple the number of hours by the hourly rate, you’ll have an estimate of the cost, in dollars, of writing your own grant.  At this point, most people realize that hiring a professional grant writer is definitely worth it, but we haven’t even come to the most expensive part of the equation.

If you are successful with your grant application, the expense will seem worth it, right?  But if you are not successful, your decision to do it yourself will have cost you not only the time involved in preparing the proposal, but the amount of the grant award itself.

The truth is that professional grant writers who write grants for a living (as opposed to those who do it as a side job or as a hobby) have a much higher success rate than the average, so your chances of actually getting the grant are higher when you use a real professional than if you do it yourself.  That risk vs. success factor should also be calculated into your decision.

The next time you think that hiring a professional grant writer is too expensive, ask yourself how much doing it yourself will really cost you.

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Related Posts:

Grant Writing Training at Taco Bell?

Gauging the Success of a Proposal Writer

Grant Writing is a Team Sport

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Get a free e-book on Non-Profit Grant Writing to help you with your work.

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Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Let’s be Honest – You’re a Lousy Writer

Ouch.  Was that really necessary?

Well, if you ever want to become a good writer, then yes, it was necessary.

Alright, I would never say it quite that way, but I have reviewed many grants and other writing samples, and it’s the hardest thing to have to tell someone. If the basic writing is solid, it’s easy to talk about structure, objectives, graphics, voice, flow, and responses to the scoring criteria. Having a discussion about poor basic writing skills, though, is very difficult.

I think it’s hard for several reasons.  First, people take their writing very personally. Criticism about someone’s writing feels a lot like criticism of them personally, even when it is not. Second, basic writing skills are the hardest to develop if a person doesn’t already have them. It takes time, focus, effort, and patience. Someone who is a lousy writer can’t just become a good writer overnight. Sure, it’s possible to become a good writer, but not in a week or through a single revision cycle. Finally, anyone who comes to me with a writing sample usually assumes and thinks he is a good writer.  There’s an identity and self-esteem issue in the mix. Getting through that without destroying the relationship and dashing a person’s writing hopes and dreams is like navigating through a mine field in the middle of a dark night, while blindfolded, during a rainstorm.  Your chances of success are…..limited (See?  I’m not a complete pessimist.).

Still, knowing about any shortcomings in your basic writing skills is critical information if you’re going to get any better. Writing is a craft that requires constant improvement. Everyone makes mistakes when they write. That’s why we learn to proofread our own work and sometimes employ outside proofreaders, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about writing that is grammatically incorrect more than 20% of the time or that is riddled with punctuation errors. That kind of writing will not improve without a focused effort to learn what’s wrong and to fix it.

Then, you have to practice writing.  Work through critiques and revisions, and practice some more.

At the same time, you need to read a lot so you can see examples of excellent writing of all kinds and allow the millions of structural variations to become part of your own language repertoire.

My suggestion is to find a friend or mentor who is already a good writer, and who will tell you the truth.  This is no small task (for the reasons I cited above), but it’s essential if you want to become a good writer.

Anything worth doing requires effort.  Writing is no different. Get an honest assessment of your skill, and then don’t pout.  Get busy making your writing better.

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Let’s be Honest – You’re a Lousy Writer

Ouch.  Was that really necessary?

Well, if you ever want to become a good writer, then yes, it was necessary.

Alright, I would never say it quite that way, but I have reviewed many grants and other writing samples, and it’s the hardest thing to have to tell someone. If the basic writing is solid, it’s easy to talk about structure, objectives, graphics, voice, flow, and responses to the scoring criteria. Having a discussion about poor basic writing skills, though, is very difficult.

I think it’s hard for several reasons.  First, people take their writing very personally. Criticism about someone’s writing feels a lot like criticism of them personally, even when it is not. Second, basic writing skills are the hardest to develop if a person doesn’t already have them. It takes time, focus, effort, and patience. Someone who is a lousy writer can’t just become a good writer overnight. Sure, it’s possible to become a good writer, but not in a week or through a single revision cycle. Finally, anyone who comes to me with a writing sample usually assumes and thinks he is a good writer.  There’s an identity and self-esteem issue in the mix. Getting through that without destroying the relationship and dashing a person’s writing hopes and dreams is like navigating through a mine field in the middle of a dark night, while blindfolded, during a rainstorm.  Your chances of success are…..limited (See?  I’m not a complete pessimist.).

Still, knowing about any shortcomings in your basic writing skills is critical information if you’re going to get any better. Writing is a craft that requires constant improvement. Everyone makes mistakes when they write. That’s why we learn to proofread our own work and sometimes employ outside proofreaders, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about writing that is grammatically incorrect more than 20% of the time or that is riddled with punctuation errors. That kind of writing will not improve without a focused effort to learn what’s wrong and to fix it.

Then, you have to practice writing.  Work through critiques and revisions, and practice some more.

At the same time, you need to read a lot so you can see examples of excellent writing of all kinds and allow the millions of structural variations to become part of your own language repertoire.

My suggestion is to find a friend or mentor who is already a good writer, and who will tell you the truth.  This is no small task (for the reasons I cited above), but it’s essential if you want to become a good writer.

Anything worth doing requires effort.  Writing is no different. Get an honest assessment of your skill, and then don’t pout.  Get busy making your writing better.

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Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

The Accidental Grant Writer

I wasn’t going to be a grant writer.  No, I was going to be an attorney.  That was definitely my plan as I was growing up.  It was still my plan in college.  That’s what I thought the smart girls were supposed to do.

Then the twists and turns of life led me to the classroom at the age of 22 and I became a teacher.  I loved it.  It wasn’t necessarily the kids I loved (but yes, I do love children), but it was that moment of epiphany when a child finally learned something new. I loved learning so much that it shouldn’t have surprised me that I would enjoy helping others learn, too.

It was as a teacher that I wrote my first grant proposal. It was a $5,000 grant for some technology equipment.  Specifically, I wanted a videodisc player (remember those?) and a large screen TV (back before they were in anyone’s home) to help my ELD students have more multimedia experiences (there were no computers in classrooms in those days – only small labs with Apple IIe machines) so they could understand the curriculum better. It required a 5-page narrative and it was very challenging for me, but I did it, and I was successful. The grant was awarded to my classroom!

Still, even though I had written a successful grant, I didn’t think of myself as a grant writer.

After years as a teacher, I became a school administrator.  That’s what I thought the smart girls were supposed to do. As a school administrator, I was responsible for overseeing several grants. It was interesting.  I enjoyed starting new programs from scratch, and it was in that capacity that a met a grant writer and program evaluator who became my mentor (Read about the Top 10 Lessons I Learned from my Grant Writing Mentor).

After several years, he asked me to do some grant writing for him on the side.  I discovered that I was pretty good at it, but I was still an educator who also did grant writing.  I still didn’t think of myself as a grant writer.

A few years later, he asked me to leave public education and to come work for him as a full time grant writer and program evaluator. It was a big step for me, but he told me that’s what the smart girls were supposed to do, so I did it.

A few years after that, I left his firm and started my own. By then, there was no question in my mind that I was a grant writer; however, there was no point in my life in which I said to myself, “I want to learn how to be a grant writer.”  It just happened.  I stepped from opportunity to opportunity and learned what I could as I went along. There were no classes on grant writing offered in graduate school at that time. No one had even even mentioned it to me as a potential career path.

It was almost as if it happened by accident.  I was the accidental grant writer.

(Of course, I know there are really no accidents, but that’s the subject of an entirely different post.)

Things are different today for folks who have some writing talent who want to make a difference in their corner of the world.  There are online courses in grant writing to teach you how to become an excellent grant writer, and there are even courses in how to become a freelance grant writer so you can learn the business side of the business. There are courses in colleges and universities, and even certification programs (although a certificate does not guarantee any success; the most successful grant writers I have ever known hold no special certificate). There are blogs, like this one, and websites to read to learn about the industry.

There is so much more support available now than when I started. Tapping into this support, well, that’s just what the smart girls (and boys!) do.

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Related Posts:

Grant Writing: A Romantic Misconception

Think Positively and Make It Happen

So You Want to Become a Freelance Grant Writer: Are you Barking Mad?


Would you like the digital version of 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers to download right now?  Download it now!

The Accidental Grant Writer

I wasn’t going to be a grant writer.  No, I was going to be an attorney.  That was definitely my plan as I was growing up.  It was still my plan in college.  That’s what I thought the smart girls were supposed to do.

Then the twists and turns of life led me to the classroom at the age of 22 and I became a teacher.  I loved it.  It wasn’t necessarily the kids I loved (but yes, I do love children), but it was that moment of epiphany when a child finally learned something new. I loved learning so much that it shouldn’t have surprised me that I would enjoy helping others learn, too.

It was as a teacher that I wrote my first grant proposal. It was a $5,000 grant for some technology equipment.  Specifically, I wanted a videodisc player (remember those?) and a large screen TV (back before they were in anyone’s home) to help my ELD students have more multimedia experiences (there were no computers in classrooms in those days – only small labs with Apple IIe machines) so they could understand the curriculum better. It required a 5-page narrative and it was very challenging for me, but I did it, and I was successful. The grant was awarded to my classroom!

Still, even though I had written a successful grant, I didn’t think of myself as a grant writer.

After years as a teacher, I became a school administrator.  That’s what I thought the smart girls were supposed to do. As a school administrator, I was responsible for overseeing several grants. It was interesting.  I enjoyed starting new programs from scratch, and it was in that capacity that a met a grant writer and program evaluator who became my mentor (Read about the Top 10 Lessons I Learned from my Grant Writing Mentor).

After several years, he asked me to do some grant writing for him on the side.  I discovered that I was pretty good at it, but I was still an educator who also did grant writing.  I still didn’t think of myself as a grant writer.

A few years later, he asked me to leave public education and to come work for him as a full time grant writer and program evaluator. It was a big step for me, but he told me that’s what the smart girls were supposed to do, so I did it.

A few years after that, I left his firm and started my own. By then, there was no question in my mind that I was a grant writer; however, there was no point in my life in which I said to myself, “I want to learn how to be a grant writer.”  It just happened.  I stepped from opportunity to opportunity and learned what I could as I went along. There were no classes on grant writing offered in graduate school at that time. No one had even even mentioned it to me as a potential career path.

It was almost as if it happened by accident.  I was the accidental grant writer.

(Of course, I know there are really no accidents, but that’s the subject of an entirely different post.)

Things are different today for folks who have some writing talent who want to make a difference in their corner of the world.  There are online courses in grant writing to teach you how to become an excellent grant writer, and there are even courses in how to become a freelance grant writer so you can learn the business side of the business. There are courses in colleges and universities, and even certification programs (although a certificate does not guarantee any success; the most successful grant writers I have ever known hold no special certificate). There are blogs, like this one, and websites to read to learn about the industry.

There is so much more support available now than when I started. Tapping into this support, well, that’s just what the smart girls (and boys!) do.

——————————————-

Related Posts:

Grant Writing: A Romantic Misconception

Think Positively and Make It Happen

So You Want to Become a Freelance Grant Writer: Are you Barking Mad?

Would you like the digital version of 101 Tips for Aspiring Grant Writers to download right now?  Download it now!

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Grant Proposal Writers must be Lifelong Learners

Trite phrases that roll off the tongues of keynote speakers leave a bad taste in my mouth. “Lifelong Learner” is one of those and I’ll apologize for using it in case it causes a gag reflex for you as it does for me. It’s one of those terms I consider as insightful and descriptive of the human condition as terms like “Lifelong Breather” or “Lifelong Eater.” The only people who aren’t learning left us.

Each time the government changes leadership, priorities change and usually there are some new grant programs created. These new programs often represent funding opportunities for the biggest institutional campaign donors of the ruling elite. (Wow, did I really say that? Yes, I did.) Doubters may need to check out who got awarded the latest round of grant proposals by the Federal Government and compare it to the largest institutional donors in the last campaign. You’ll find a discernible lean toward making grants to large institutional campaign donors. But that’s for another post and is an entirely irrelevant bird walk from lifelong learning, unless you learned something in which case it fits in a tangential way.

Grant writers need to learn constantly because grant programs and priorities are established whenever there is a change in leadership and philosophy – like the time that GW Bush came in and wiped out all of the bilingual education programs, and most other grant programs, from the US Department of Education, which thrived under Bill Clinton. President Bush opted for doling out pennies per child across the nation rather than grants, which one can argue the pros-and cons of; but that again is not the topic of this post, but which may yet represent some level of new information, hence lifelong learning for some of you breathers.

Learning a new grant program involves some identifiable steps, 1) reading the authorizing statute, 2) plugging the title of the new program into your Google Alerts to gather news about it, 3) calling a program officer with questions you may have, and 4) reading the Federal Register and the RFP carefully, and 5) attending all bidder’s conferences, webinars, and teleconferences throughout the pre-application period.

Grant proposal writers must also learn another lesson – their livelihood can ebb and flow with the public political whims come election-time, so my advice is not to finance a mortgage based on expertise in a particular grant program or you could end up in foreclosure when it’s de-funded.
So be a lifelong learner. Impact the world by creating win-win scenarios in the hot-button issues of your day. Get up-to-speed. Bite the bullet. Be proactive, because, the ball’s in your court and your clients are counting on you to be on the cutting edge. That’s why they passed you the baton!
(Offers for keynote contracts may be mailed for consideration to veronica@grantgoddess.com 😉

The public is a ferocious beast – one must either chain it up or flee from it. Voltaire (1694 – 1778)

Grant Proposal Writers must be Lifelong Learners

Trite phrases that roll off the tongues of keynote speakers leave a bad taste in my mouth. “Lifelong Learner” is one of those and I’ll apologize for using it in case it causes a gag reflex for you as it does for me. It’s one of those terms I consider as insightful and descriptive of the human condition as terms like “Lifelong Breather” or “Lifelong Eater.” The only people who aren’t learning left us.

Each time the government changes leadership, priorities change and usually there are some new grant programs created. These new programs often represent funding opportunities for the biggest institutional campaign donors of the ruling elite. (Wow, did I really say that? Yes, I did.) Doubters may need to check out who got awarded the latest round of grant proposals by the Federal Government and compare it to the largest institutional donors in the last campaign. You’ll find a discernible lean toward making grants to large institutional campaign donors. But that’s for another post and is an entirely irrelevant bird walk from lifelong learning, unless you learned something in which case it fits in a tangential way.

Grant writers need to learn constantly because grant programs and priorities are established whenever there is a change in leadership and philosophy – like the time that GW Bush came in and wiped out all of the bilingual education programs, and most other grant programs, from the US Department of Education, which thrived under Bill Clinton. President Bush opted for doling out pennies per child across the nation rather than grants, which one can argue the pros-and cons of; but that again is not the topic of this post, but which may yet represent some level of new information, hence lifelong learning for some of you breathers.

Learning a new grant program involves some identifiable steps, 1) reading the authorizing statute, 2) plugging the title of the new program into your Google Alerts to gather news about it, 3) calling a program officer with questions you may have, and 4) reading the Federal Register and the RFP carefully, and 5) attending all bidder’s conferences, webinars, and teleconferences throughout the pre-application period.

Grant proposal writers must also learn another lesson – their livelihood can ebb and flow with the public political whims come election-time, so my advice is not to finance a mortgage based on expertise in a particular grant program or you could end up in foreclosure when it’s de-funded.
So be a lifelong learner. Impact the world by creating win-win scenarios in the hot-button issues of your day. Get up-to-speed. Bite the bullet. Be proactive, because, the ball’s in your court and your clients are counting on you to be on the cutting edge. That’s why they passed you the baton!
(Offers for keynote contracts may be mailed for consideration to veronica@grantgoddess.com 😉

The public is a ferocious beast – one must either chain it up or flee from it. Voltaire (1694 – 1778)

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

An Expensive Day as a Freelance Grant Writer

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares some thoughts about his expensive day this week:

Some days just cost more than other days. I can go for a week without spending much money except on gasoline and food. But then there are days like today when the universe just seems to have its hand in my pocket and it’s cleaning out my wallet with a vengeance.

I suppose that one of the best things about being a freelance writer is the fact that if your car breaks down, you can go to work in the coffee shop. Well, rather, you have the freedom to link to the Internet and work remotely and you don’t actually have to check with anyone about it.

But if you are an employee, you need to notify your boss or supervisor that your car broke down and that you’re stuck working remotely. You may need to take time off to get the car fixed which has an impact on your income whether you lose vacation time or personal leave, it’s all the same thing –  money out of pocket.

A freelance writer can pretty much work wherever their computer is and can link to clients and needed online resources wherever they have an Internet connection. That’s a pretty nice thing about freelancing.

One issue about working remotely is that it gets expensive quickly. For instance, this morning, I dropped off the car at the mechanic. I then had to take the light rail to a meeting which cost money, and the light rail back which cost money, and then used Internet at a coffee shop which cost money, and bought coffee at another coffee shop which I learned did not have Internet so that was a wasted cup of coffee.

So in addition to paying $150 to the mechanic, and buying light rail tickets, and buying cups of coffee to use Internet services, it is turning out to be a fairly expensive Wednesday. I don’t like spending money, so an expensive Wednesday is not what I was planning on when I went to bed last night.

But that’s the free-wheeling life of a freelance grant writer, you never know where you’ll be working tomorrow and the expenses are out of your own pocket, there’s no accounting department to submit receipts to for reimbursement, when the universe decides to clean out your account, it’s kind of like the IRS, there’s simply nothing that can be done to stop it.

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Free e-book about Freelance Grant Writing!
 

An Expensive Day as a Freelance Grant Writer

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares some thoughts about his expensive day this week:

Some days just cost more than other days. I can go for a week without spending much money except on gasoline and food. But then there are days like today when the universe just seems to have its hand in my pocket and it’s cleaning out my wallet with a vengeance.

I suppose that one of the best things about being a freelance writer is the fact that if your car breaks down, you can go to work in the coffee shop. Well, rather, you have the freedom to link to the Internet and work remotely and you don’t actually have to check with anyone about it.

But if you are an employee, you need to notify your boss or supervisor that your car broke down and that you’re stuck working remotely. You may need to take time off to get the car fixed which has an impact on your income whether you lose vacation time or personal leave, it’s all the same thing –  money out of pocket.

A freelance writer can pretty much work wherever their computer is and can link to clients and needed online resources wherever they have an Internet connection. That’s a pretty nice thing about freelancing.

One issue about working remotely is that it gets expensive quickly. For instance, this morning, I dropped off the car at the mechanic. I then had to take the light rail to a meeting which cost money, and the light rail back which cost money, and then used Internet at a coffee shop which cost money, and bought coffee at another coffee shop which I learned did not have Internet so that was a wasted cup of coffee.

So in addition to paying $150 to the mechanic, and buying light rail tickets, and buying cups of coffee to use Internet services, it is turning out to be a fairly expensive Wednesday. I don’t like spending money, so an expensive Wednesday is not what I was planning on when I went to bed last night.

But that’s the free-wheeling life of a freelance grant writer, you never know where you’ll be working tomorrow and the expenses are out of your own pocket, there’s no accounting department to submit receipts to for reimbursement, when the universe decides to clean out your account, it’s kind of like the IRS, there’s simply nothing that can be done to stop it.

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Free e-book about Freelance Grant Writing!
 

Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com

Do You Want to Become a Freelance Grant Writer: Are You Barking Mad?

Non-profit consultant and expert grant writer, Derek Link, shares his experience as a freelance grant writer with others who believe they are ready for the task:
 This is a serious question with serious consequences only to be considered by serious people because freelancing is a dangerous business.
First let us peer back through the annals of history to get some perspective on the term with the help of Wikipedia…
According to Wikipedia – The term was first used by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Ivanhoe to describe a “medieval mercenary warrior” or “free–lance” (indicating that the lance is not sworn to any lord’s services, not that the lance is available free of charge). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelancer, accessed on 9/16/10)
As you can see, the term referred originally to a mercenary warrior which is what we still are; however, to borrow an over-used phrase from literature, “The Pen is Mightier than the Sword” or in this case, lance.
Just as a mercenary warrior for hire wasn’t free, neither are freelance grant writers.  We charge for our services reflecting the skill involved and the grave difficulty of overcoming the wicked enemies (RFP’s, RFA’s, Dragon Naturally speaking, etc).
We’re also similar to the warriors of old, in that if we aren’t really good at what we do, we’re likely to die a premature death;  although, our death would be figurative and primarily financial involving a future of cardboard signs and shopping carts; while the warriors, on the other hand, simply died a hideous death.
You must possess certain qualities to become a freelancer. You must be brave to confront the possibility of failure and certain death, you must be skillful to defeat the enemies, and you must be active to find someone who will employ you (or you’re just a vagrant with a lance).
Ah indeed, the life of a freelancer is fraught with danger and intrigue.  It is a life on the road, never sleeping in the same place for two nights (Motel 6), eating whatever you can forage along the road (AM/PM, 7-11, conference buffets), and trying to earn enough money to keep your trusty steed healthy and well-fed (oil change on your ’87 Honda Civic and gas at $4 a gallon – scary).
But you think still this life as a freelancer is for you?  Ah, you’re hale and hearty if you do, but you’ll be forsaking allegiance to one master, a risky business (i.e., leaving your cushy government job).  There will be mistrust because you’re a stranger; there will be misunderstanding (because you don’t speak their language); there will be blind attacks from the right and the left (from nasty Board members and inept leadership); and there will be times of feast and famine (carry trail bars and water in the trunk).
If freelancing courses through your blood then prepare well, for all your skills will be tested and re-tested.
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Knight photo courtesy of Freerk Lautenbag.
Published by Creative Resources & Research http://grantgoddess.com