Become a Freelance Grant Writer: Your Step-by-Step Guide
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hey there! Interested in becoming a freelance grant writer? 🦄
Good news! There's a high demand for skilled grant writers, and we're here to help you kickstart your journey. In this video, we'll share strategies and tips for breaking into freelance grant writing and building a successful consulting business.
Curious if grant writing is right for you? Take our personality quiz to find out 👉 www.learngrantwriting.org/suc...
So, what's driving your interest in freelance grant writing?
🌟 Are you drawn to the flexible lifestyle? Grant writing consulting only requires a laptop, internet, and clients to get started.
🌟 Want to take control of your destiny? With 40% of people freelancing, now's the time to understand the mechanics of running a successful consulting business.
🌟 Looking to make a meaningful impact? Grant writing offers a fulfilling career, allowing you to contribute to your community while amplifying your impact worldwide. 🌍
We're committed to supporting you on this journey. Here are three tips to kick off your grant writing freelance consulting practice:
1️⃣ Choose your niche. Focus on industries or organizations you're passionate about. Explore our training on starting a grant writing consulting business 👉 www.learngrantwriting.org/bec...
2️⃣ Develop essential skills. Learn the technical, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills needed for success.
3️⃣ Create a funding strategy. Help clients navigate the grant landscape and secure funding for their projects.
Ready to dive deeper? Check out our course at the Global Grant Writers Collective 👉 www.learngrantwriting.org/bec...
As a freelance grant writer, you'll need a grant database to find opportunities efficiently. We recommend Instrumentl, offering a $50 discount with this link: www.instrumentl.com?grsf=rpkih4
Forget the myth that you need experience before freelancing. Start now and build your expertise along the way. Questions? Let us know where you are in your grant writing journey!
See you next time,
🧡 The team at Learn Grant Writing
Build a grant writing career without prior experience: www.learngrantwriting.org/become-a-paid-grant-writer/
My husband and I just decided to become freelance grant writers as we transition from our current careers into semi-retirement. I found this video very encouraging and already learned a thing or two. Thank you!
A power combo team! That's super exciting. One plus one always equals three when it comes to grant writing. Here's a video training we have on starting a freelance grant writing business: www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/start-business-grant-writing-consulting
I want to be a Grant Writer for a lot of reasons, but mostly because I want to make a living helping as many people in the world as I possibly can doing something that allows me to work from anywhere in the world.
YAAASS! When our work goals align with our morals amazing things can happen. Add the added bonus of flexibility to your career and it's a no brainer! We have a free course on how to write grants and begin a grant writing side hustle that I think you will find really helpful! www.learngrantwriting.org/free-grant-writing-course/
You are fantastic. First time viewer here - found your presentation very engaging, informative, and on point. Thank you.
Thanks so much!
Thank you for explaining and being encouraging! I plan to watch other videos to learn more. I have become increasingly interested in specializing in this as I work for a nonprofit, and freelancing could be a great way for me to turn this into a career.
Absolutely Allison! Especially since you already work for a non-profit and are developing industry knowledge. If you haven’t checked out our website for a free training we have on how to pull off the career transition, it’s worth the watch. Here’s the link: www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing
Very excited about this! Looking into trying this myself, already registered for your crash course. I'm hoping to specialize in helping local school districts get grant approvals. I can't fully express how grateful I am for people like you that are willing to help others who are hungry to learn about and enter a new space. Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for the support. We'll see you on the inside!
All love. Just subscribed to you.. feeling your vibe
Ahhhh thanks!!
I'm bouncing around a bit trying to see what all I CAN do in Freelance writing. I'm willing to work on the self-discipline and am highly motivated. I just want to make sure this is something I CAN do. Is there a niche for those that have experience in professional childcare and networking, do you think?
Thanks for making this video! I hope to learn more!
Hey there - we can spot a grant writer from a mile away. It sounds to us like you have it. Focusing on a specific funding niche like childcare and networking is a very strategic move. This is absolutely something you can do. It pays well and it's wildly rewarding. Here is a video training we made that will help you visualize a path forward for getting into freelance grant writing: www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing
Drop us a line if you have any questions after watching that. We're excited to have connected with you and help you crush your 2021 goals. 🦄
I have my Bachelor's in Psychology. I want to help others and I tend to pick things up quickly. I want to work for myself and want to help underserved populations and animal welfare.
Sounds like all the right ingredients to be a stellar grant writer! Reach out to us if you have questions. info@senworks.org
This is all great to hear and I agree that there are great opportunities in this field, however, although the startup costs are low, is there a requirement for particular software you need to buy? For instance, I would think that there is some particular word processing software that best applies to this field? Also, what format are grant proposals submitted in? Paper? PDF? Thanks so much!!
You can use Google Docs. Having a professional email like mark@yourcompany.com is usually worth the expense as well. The other big expense our grant writers plan for is membership to Instrumentl, an online grant database. You can save $50 (and so do we!) if you go that route at www.instrumentl.com/lgw. That is an indispensable tool for finding the right grant opportunities efficiently. We cover in our online program, the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective, all the other SaaS products you can use to streamline business operations like time tracking, bookkeeping, budget tracking, etc.
That said, our belief is that you should get to $10k in revenue before adding in too many expenses so you can bootstrap your business from your actual earnings. We are believers in not going into debt to start this business!
Grant proposals are usually submitted in PDF format (oh yeah so you might need an Adobe membership too or Smallpdf.com) or through online application forms. Hope that helps!
This is very helpful! I will be checking out more videos.
Right on! Glad you found it helpful. We go deeper on the strategies in this video: www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing 🦄
Currently I'm involved with a Small Technology Business. In order to raise my hourly wage from minimum (15) to a raised one (20) per hour, they asked me to help them acquire grant money within 3 weeks. Keep in mind, I personally asked them to give me only 1 month probationary period prior to raising my overall salary. This decision was spurred by me not asking for a decent wage right off the bat. Now I'm expected to earn the company money within a period of one month for my hourly wage to increase. I have an extensive list of multiple grants that I've researched (ones that would apply to the technology or app company I'm working for), and have promised to look at the ones that would earn the most money first and foremost (mostly Canadian Government ones). I have a basic plan, but I'm no fool in seeing how I'm not the hottest Grant Writer in town (the only experience I have with Grant Writing is a Non-profit 3 years prior). What initial steps should I take first?
Hot diggity you have a situation on your hands. Real talk - you won't land grant funding in a month. Grants have longer lead times. A faster route to making more money would be side hustle freelance grant writing for other organizations. That brings you a different revenue stream while buying you time to properly flush out and pursue grants for the small technology business. Those are extra tough to get as well as you must be super innovative and demonstrate significant impact if commercialized. We'd love to have you in the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective to guide a path forward. As a freelancer, your hourly rate will be MUCH higher than $15/hr.
@@LearnGrantWriting Thanks for your response. Yes, I'm also doing a bit of freelance writing on the side. My money situation for the moment is okay right now, so I can focus more on the current company I work for. Personally, I'm loving the people and the products they have, so I wish to help them however I can going forward.
And as I've suspected before, my wage most likely won't be increasing after a month :( Oh well, this little company I've chosen has a traditional 3 month probationary period, so there's still a bit of hope (especially if I manage to get my foot in the door with some grants).
I'll be sure to rely on advice from pros (such as yourself) in the future :)
@@CrimsonA1 Sounds like a solid strategy. We would love to have you in the Grant Writing Unicorn Collective if you decide you want the community, coaching, and training. You will thrive as a grant writer with your heart being in the right place.
YES
I'm want to write grants for a small business: online education company. I'm an employee of this business. Is there a certification or class for that?
Hey @Brittany-Rose! We certify grant writers through our Grant Writing Unicorn Collective which you can learn more about here: www.learngrantwriting.org/grant-writing-training We are an online education company so we are happy to riff on ideas with you! But, be aware that grants are typically for non-profit or other public entities and NOT for-profits. There are creative ways to get around this barrier like finding a non-profit fiscal sponsor partner or working with your customers (if they are non-profit type entities) and routing grant funds through them as partners.
Hi, nice watching your video. Please i wish to take on the grant writing career, but I have no background experience. Please could you guide me through ?
We highly recommend our free grant writing class: www.learngrantwriting.org/free-grant-writing-course
Sounds promising
I am interested.
Nice. It's a wonderful career path. Have you seen this training? www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing
Can the freelancer get acknowledgment in the grant proposal?
What do you mean? Can you expand on your question? Often the freelance grant writer is in the background and not really "seen" outwardly by the funder reviewing the application.
I want to expand on this other user’s question a bit: is it appropriate to save the grant for a portfolio for future potential clients? Would it be required to ask permission from the client to utilize the writing in this way?
When you are starting off, wouldn't it make sense to collect a fee based upon funds procured? That would give the client a risk-free proposition. It would seem to me that once you have proven abilities, you could begin collecting fees in advance.
We don't recommend getting paid from funds procured because it can be unethical. This is because grants are awarded for the future use of funds so using the money to pay a current fee is often deemed unethical.
@@LearnGrantWriting I’m sorry, but that just doesn’t make any sense.
If I want to get a grant for an impoverished area; let’s say, an Indian reservation; and I offer to do the work on commission, it’s a risk free opportunity for them. The situation can only be beneficial or neutral, because they have nothing to lose.
On the other hand, if my colleagues and I charge them an hourly fee, it could be a risk not worth taking.
This incentivizes taking on clients in more affluent areas. Why try to get funding for a playground on a reservation, when you can make more money getting a skate park in suburbia? THAT’S unethical.
I don’t mean to be disrespectful; I just think it’s backwards logic.
@@aguy559 We believe, as does the Grant Professional Association in their code of ethics, that grant writers should not accept a finder's fee, commission, or compensation based on percentage of award. We adhere to these standards of ethics and encourage other grant writers to do the same. But thanks for your comment. You can review their code of ethics here: grantprofessionals.org/general/custom.asp?page=ethics
@@LearnGrantWriting Thank you for responding, but you didn’t address the content of my statement.
Are you still offering this course? Also is it prerecorded or a love course?
Yep. And now it is much. much more than a course. It is a year-round program that includes a robust course, coaching, certificate, and community. You can learn more about it here: www.learngrantwriting.org/grant-writing-training/
My Niche is children and social justice
That's an amazing niche! Check out our resources page for your next grant writing opportunity: www.learngrantwriting.org/free-grant-writing-resources