The Cost of Writing Your Own Grant

The Grant Writing Coaches are frequently called at the last minute by a team that has started to write a grant and has not been able to finish the proposal in time.  This situation causes heightened anxiety and frustration all around.  These clients may have believed that they were saving money by writing a grant “in house”.

Some organizations have the capacity to complete grant proposals without external help and some do not. Regardless, it is a misconception to think that in house grant development is free.  In fact, it is often more expensive than hiring a highly qualified consultant.

The writers’ time has value.  Is a team of writers involved? Is the grant writing being supported by clerical staff, accounting staff, the curriculum department, principals?  What is the cost of their time?

Writing completed during work hours is completed in place of other tasks that are not being completed. Writing is often done on staff members’ personal time.  If this work is unpaid, the writing team is frequently unmotivated.  Many grants are written after the regular work day when the mind is not at its best.

Can you write the grant efficiently? Are you familiar with the forms and the terminology and the format? If you are applying online, do you know how to access the portal?  Does it save your work (Oh, the agony of losing a proposal into the portal black hole)? Do you have access to information to document the needs, define the program and support its effectiveness, and plan an evaluation process?  How much time is “lost” to the learning curve?

There are times when money is just not available to pay for a grant writer.  This is the reason The Grant Coaches has created the coaching model — to help your internal team become more successful and more efficient.  Another strategy is to blend internal writers with an external consultant who guides the process and fills in gaps, such as developing the needs assessment methodology or designing a research-based program.

Always consider the true costs of proposal development and remember, no method of developing proposals is truly free.