What I Do........................................

I am a teacher with 14 year experience, I have triple degress- 3-5 years of age, regular education K-5 grade, and special education Multiple disabilities K-12, and I have my masters in Ele Guidance. I would like to open an "educare" center in my county. Can you help me find grants for doing this? Do you have a book you are selling or do you actually help secure the grants and how much do you charge- thank you g~

What I do quite simply is find the grant programs that clients are eligible for. I send them all the information about the grant programs and then they can decide whether or not they want to apply for the funding on their own or whether they want someone to help them whether it be me or someone else. You can find more information on both my Grant Basics 101 page and my contact information pages.

One thing that you will have to understand about the grant process is that it is a process. You have to submit your application and it has to be reviewed before any grant award decision is made. Applying for a grant does not automatically guarantee that you will get the grant.

"We Can't Pay You Now But........................"

Some very insightful words from another grantwriter on how one should (or should not) handle the business of being paid as a grant writer:

Rather than preach against contingent pay as unethical behavior, I prefer to share with contingent-pay seekers (and providers) some real-life consequences of such arrangements which mainly puts the livelihood of the grant writer at risk. I believe grant writers should never agree to contingency pay. It is simply not fair for hard working grant writers to receive little or no pay for their efforts due to many reasons beyond their control. I'll list several of those reasons which I have seen crop up time and time again, resulting in rejected proposals. In those instances, a grant writer's time and effort were wasted and she or he received no compensation for their good faith professional services:

• Say an organization wants someone to write a grant proposal for a project costing $118,000 and that the grant writer was to be paid a 5% commission if the grant is approved. It is almost always a requirement by funders that every dollar to be raised for and spent on projects be accounted for on a line-item basis. For many funders, the line item in the budget showing $5,900 for grant-acquisition services, would be reason enough to deny the grant. It would make no difference what the commission size or even if the contingency-pay were a flat fee. Grant-writing expenses are seen as part of an organizations operating budget. Few if any foundations, corporations, or governmental organizations are willing to make a grant when a portion of the money granted is to be used to pay a grantwriting fee. Remember, the grant is being requested for a specific project, not to offset operating expenses nor to disguise a professional fee. A non-profit or a grant writer that fails to take the possibility of such a caveat into consideration may be facing a rude awakening. Discerning and experienced program officers can readily see right through, and will reject, poorly delineated projects, "soft" and questionable budgets, and a host of other weaknesses which cannot be overcome by well-crafted grant proposals. An ineffective and failing "selling" job might be made during a presentation meeting by an organization's officials. You do not know in advance the foundations which are over committed to funding other organizations, have limited resources, thus they will not have funds available for you at the time, nor possibly for some time to come.
  
  
• What if the grant was to be paid out over a number of months---or even years? Would an organization be willing to pay the grant writer for the services rendered in full at the moment of grant approval? Should the grant writer be willing to accept a compensation payment schedule in sync with that of the grant award which could be spread out over several years?
  
  
• The grant writer should be ready to accept the fact that she or he will receive little pay for a major work, should a much lesser amount be granted than was originally requested. A grant writer could conduct the best possible research, make the most helpful recommendations, and even voice strong protests and caution when called for--- but project directors and executive directors will prevail should they insist that the grant request be written in spite of flaws and concerns. They will say to the grant writer: "We'll send it anyway, what have we got to lose?" They should ask the grant writer that question who stands to lose a great deal. Most grantors have greater vision than grant-proposal-submitting organizations. Grantors routinely look for assurance from the organizations that what they fund will be reasonably evaluated and measured in the longer term for effective and efficient use of their money, and that the organizations have future financial sustainability plans in place, or pending---especially that there are well developed long-range, strategic plans in place or being planned. A grant writer's best efforts expended in the writing of a given proposal simply cannot be extended or expected to meet such governance and policy-making requirements and expectations. Grant proposals, even the best of them, are all too often prepared and presented to potential grantors when the organizations have no, or few, other important sources of contributions to show, especially from their boards of trustees. Chances are slim to none for grant awards when there are no other visible and viable sources of support available to the organization. The hope for grants to be awarded to ensure payment for the grant writer's efforts is even more uncertain, and most unlikely, when proposals are stretched beyond practical and common sense limits, and they are presented to new, potentially uninterested, prospects---some even to distant, uncaring potential benefactors---as is often the case.

In the end, grant writers should be paid for their time and efforts by the hour or project, whether or not the grant is received. I question whether an organization unable to pay a fair fee for work done is likely to survive. Few non-profits forced to operate in ways not fully in accord with accepted professional standards flourish and grow.

I believe in the standards that have resulted from thousands of grant writing professionals working to help raise billions of dollars over decades of time. For me, not everything should be a matter of personal opinion; codes of ethics are established through collective wisdom because we do need absolutes by which to work and live. When I see all the wrong that can befall an organization or a grant writer in contingent-pay schemes, I cannot imagine for the life of me why either would want to go that route.

From My Email Bag...................................

Dear Rose,

I read on your blog that there are entrepreneurial grants available for for-profit businesses such as a recording studio/company. I am in the process of starting a recording company.

Can you give me the website or sites where I would go to gather information or apply to these grants.

Also, you stated that there are two programs which offer grants to help people fulfill their dream. Can you give me the websites or contact information for these grant programs.

I would greatly appreciate this info.

Your blog is a very helpful resource in the complicated and intimidating web of information to find a grant for start up expenses. I thank you immensly.

L~

I get this kind of email all the time. Unfortunately I have to remind the people who send me this kind of email that since they are not a client of mine that they will have to find this kind of grant information themselves.

If you take a good look at my contact and payment information page you will see at the very top of the page that if you send me any email asking for grant information and you are not a client then your information will be returned back to you - unanswered. You will also see that there are a list of questions that have to be answered before I can even begin my research into finding any grant programs that you may be eligible to apply for.

The person that sent me this email above only stated that they wanted to start a recording studio. I have no idea if they are a minority (there are some grant programs out there that are specifically for those who are minorities that want to start their own business). I also don't have any idea as to what kind of recording studio they want have as a business. This is very important information that has to be included when you are looking for grant programs that you may be eligible to apply for. The email doesn't even say where this recording studio will be located? There are grant programs out there for those that want to start their own business that are specific to specific areas only and of course I have no idea whether or not this person is eligible to apply for them because I don't know the location of where their recording studio is going to be. Another important piece of information that has to be had is how much in grant money are they looking to get? What will they need that grant money for? Those organizations and other entities that award grants like to know what their money is going towards. There are a few grant programs out there that allow you to spend your grant money any way you want but I don't even know if this person would qualify for these kind of grant programs because I just don't have enough information about what they are seeking a grant (or a number of grants) for.

Yes, you are very right when you say that finding information about grant programs that one may be eligible for is very complicated and that is why I do it for clients only!

Once you start looking for this kind of grant program information yourself you will see that it is hard and complicated work and hopefully it will give you a new respect for those of us that do it for a living!

"Will I Work For Free?"

I get this question asked a lot. Here is a very good answer (credited to another grantwriter) who sums it up best!

Will You Work for Free?

Like most freelance grantwriters, I am frequently asked if I will write a grant proposal on a contingency, commission or percentage basis. In plain language, these people are asking me to spend many hours, days, or weeks working on a proposal for which I will get paid only if the grant is awarded. How would you like to go to work each day, put in your full eight (or whatever) hours, and have your boss tell you that you might get a paycheck in two or three months, but only if five conditions are met -- and you only have control over one of those conditions? I suspect that most people would find another job FAST! Who wants to work for free?


That is the case with grants. The grantwriter has control of one thing -- writing a good grant proposal. And this is assuming that the grantwriter receives all the information that he/she needs to prepare a good proposal. The grantwriter has no control over the many other factors that are considered by funding organizations in determining whether or not a particular grant will be awarded.

In addition, many people and organizations think that once they receive a grant, they will be able to use part of the grant money to pay the grantwriter. But this is exceedingly rare. The government won't let you do it, and neither will most non-government funders. So where are these organizations going to get the money to pay the grantwriter who has already done the work? If they didn't have the money to pay the grantwriter then, where will they get it after the grant is awarded? It's almost certain that it won't be from the grant.

"A Grantwriter" by Rose

While a grantwriter does what the title says - write grants - what is often mistaken about the term is that 95% of the time the person wanting the services of a grantwriter doesn't have any idea of the kind of grant they want to apply for. That increases the duties of a grantwriter to not only include writing the grant but FINDING the grant programs as well. I have seen posts by other grantwriters about how someone wants to hire (or want the services of) a grantwriter but they fail to
mention (at least at first) that they don't have any specific grant program in mind. Their response is "Oh I thought you would have some grant programs for me." I have
even heard one grantwriter refer to these kind of people as "flakes" - someone that doesn't have ANY idea as to the process of finding applicable grant programs - and I stress the word applicable because unlike a magician a grantwriter can pull a grant out of his or her's "hat"! Time and time again (and I suspect that it will be an ongoing time and time again thing)people have posted about wanting a grant (which by the way shows they need more basic information because one is not automatically guarenteed a grant and if anyone says that they can guarentee a grant you had better think twice (plus it also shows that one does not know the
process of the "grant-making machine"!

Time and time I will get an email that says "I need a grant to start a daycare". First of all this lets me know that the person has not taken the time to read my daycare page where I have posted a LOT of information about the various day-care related grant program. It also lets me know that they are not familiar with the "grant" process. There is NO grant programs for someone that wants to "start a day-care".

• I have since come to realize that there are actually grant programs out there for people that want to start a for-profit daycare and it's not just limited to starting a daycare business but includes people that want to start a business of their own - period!

You can't decide that you want to start a daycare and expect to get a grant for it
and THEN decide the details later! It doesn't work that way! Sure there are day-care grant recipients that have received as much as $250,000.00 in grant money to start a
daycare but you can't honestly believe that they were awarded the grant simply because they just said "I want to start a daycare" - and nothing else!

Do you know what a grantwriter does? It can be comparable to what researchers and technical engineers do! Why? Because it involves finding information, deciphering it so that it makes sense. It's hours and hours of reading "fine print", mounds and mounds of papers (or disks - whatever the case may be), databases, searching and finding and searching some more, keeping up with the current programs and finding out about the new ones (and yes there are new ones being created). As a point for my own curiosity I'm wondering how many grantwriters out there wear glasses - you know all that fine print and all - because I am one of them! - LOL!

It is a LOT of work finding these programs and I will repeat that again because it bears repeating - IT IS A LOT OF WORK FINDING THESE PROGRAMS!

Quote - About Clients

"In my experience (granted, mostly in a different type of consulting),
the clients who are most difficult from the beginning, expect an
unrealistically low price, etc. are the ones most likely to stiff me."

I saw this quote and I just HAD to add it here! I can't tell you how many times I have gotten an email or phone call from someone that wanted me to find them a grant program. They mention nothing about paying me, they don't even answer the questions that appear here. I'm just supposed to know - sight unseen - about which grant program they can get.

This also tells me a lot about the person in question because I have said time and time before that you don't automatically get a grant. You have to apply for the grant.

Have I ever got "stiffed" by a client? Yes - once - and that is why it is NEVER going to happen again!

My Very 1st (Professional) Grant Client Was.......

Although I was doing grant research and grantwriting before I even knew that people did it professionally my very first client was a single mother that was looking for financial help. She was raising two children alone, plus she was going to school and she was doing an internship in her field of study plus she wanted to start her own business. I found 4 programs that she was eligible to apply for. One was a grant program from an organization that was specifically interested in helping single mothers continue with their education. They provide financial help to help pay back student loans. They also have other financial grant programs to help single mothers. Another grant program that I found for her was from another foundation that had grant programs to help people out financially. The third grant program that I found for her provided grant awards to minorities who wanted to start their own business. The fourth program that I found for her was a program that provided financial assistance to students.

Now these were just 4 grant programs that I found for her. But that didn't mean that she didn't qualify for more because she did! What stands out the most is that she was continuing her education in a certain field of study and I have since come to find out that there are many more grant programs that she is eligible to apply for.

If you are a single mother that is looking for financial grant programs to help you, you should know that there are lots of grant programs out there that you may be eligible to apply for. Even though some would consider this kind of financial assistance a "hand out" a lot of these grant programs exist simply because they want to help people make a better life for themselves. And the people who are most serious about wanting to change their life for the better stand the best chance of being able to get a grant (or two, or three.................)