What does a grant writing consultant do?
Many nonprofits turn to a grant writing consultant to assist with fundraising efforts, rather than hiring a someone to do the work full-time, in-house. A grant consultant can help find grant opportunities, organize your grant calendar, apply for grants, and much more.
Grant Writing Consultants
A grant writing consultant can offer many grant writing services: they can research grant opportunities, write and submit grants, help with follow-up and grant reporting, and much more. Here’s a breakdown of the services a grant consultant might offer:
Grant Writing Contracts
Many grant writers offer a full suite of services on a recurring monthly basis. This complete package often includes researching funding opportunities, developing a series of highly competitive grant proposals, participating in debriefs with foundations on rejected proposals, and helping clients build long-term relationships with foundations following a successful proposal.
Grant Prospect Research
A consultant usually has access to subscription-based databases listing thousands of possibilities for grant opportunities. The consultant can develop a list of strong grant prospects; this report can stand alone for your own in-house use, or as a jumping off point for further grant writing assistance.
Writing and Submission
Working closely with your organization’s staff, a grant writing consultant can complete your federal, state, or foundation grant application, proposal, or letter of inquiry, ensuring it’s highly competitive and thorough. The consultant can also package it for submission.
Proofreading and Editing
Even if your organization opts to develop its own grants in-house, a consultant can be an editing resource. And often, this service is cheaper than hiring the professional to write the entire application from scratch.
Grant Consultations and Training
A grants consultant may also offer private coaching sessions to make suggestions and offer advice for your grant proposals. This includes insight on areas of improvement, training your staff to write grants, and building a sustainable grants program. The consultant can also help with site visit preparation.
Organization and Program Development
Not every nonprofit is quite ready to write grants — and be competitive for funding. Nonprofit consultants know what it takes to be successful with grants. They can assess your organization and then compile and implement a detailed plan of action for program and organizational development to help your nonprofit become grant ready.
Other Services
Consultants offer other services depending on their expertise. This might include fundraising and development, individual donor cultivation, event planning, outcome measurement and data tracking, grant compliance monitoring, and more.
Learn more about our grant writing services here.
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