"Get Me The Grant First, Then I'll Pay You"

Of course it is inevitable that I would get an email like this. Here is an excerpt from my Payment Information Page

How to Hire a Freelance Grantwriter

Count on having to pay a freelancer before you get any grants. Very few professionals will accept a percentage or commission or deferred payment. If you don't have the cash needed, collect enough from your board, staff and volunteers to pay for an hour or two with a freelancer. He or she can clarify some initial steps you could take on your own and suggest some potential grantors for you to research and cultivate. Don't ask a freelance grantwriter to volunteer their services. Seasoned grantseekers get asked constantly to work for free. If they do volunteer, it's usually for organizations or individuals they already have a relationship with. The fact that you're a non-profit carries no weight – that's all they work with!

As I have said many, many times before - A grant is not guarenteed! You have to apply for the grant. Your application will be reviewed along with all the other grant applications that have been submitted. Theoretically speaking the grant application that best fits the needs of the program offering the grant will be the application that gets the grant.

If any grantwriter guarentees that you will get the grant you should be suspicious right there! You have to understand the process involved in getting a grant. Not every grant program is the same. They all have their different requirements for submission. Some are complicated, some are not and some are in-between. That is why I give all of my clients the grant information first! That way they can decide whether or not they want to apply for the grant program themself or whether or not they want to hire a grantwriter - be it me or someone else - to write the grant for them.

So if you are looking for me to guarentee that you will get the grant then you are going to have to look for someone else.

I work with the rules - not against them!