The price range for grant writers can begin as low as $20–$35 per hour for beginners and $75–$125 per hour for senior writers. Hiring a grant writer and the cost of doing so is an essential part of any nonprofit and several for-profit businesses.
After all, whether or not you have a budget to pay for salaries, office supplies, and daily operations may depend on whether or not you’re able to access grants. An effective grant writer is the key to doing so.
How much you pay a grant writer will depend on several factors. It first begins with the type of grant you’re aiming for. Would you want a grant writer who is experienced with that specific grant? Or is that too much to ask?
However, in general, the pay for a grant writer will be influenced by these three main things: 1. The seniority of the grant writer; 2. The level of responsibility assigned to the grant writer; and 3. The size of the grant.
The price of a grant writer
The price range for grant writers can vary widely. As mentioned earlier there are three factors that determine the price that you pay for a grant writer: Seniority, Responsibility level, and Grant size.
1. Paying grant writers based on experience
Here, we will look at Seniority levels. The information here is from Grant Watch.
Grant Writer Level | Definition | Cost Per Hour |
Beginner | Writers who have won less than three grants | $20–$35 |
Intermediate | Writers who have won four to 10 grants | $40–$75 |
Advanced | Grant writers who have won more than ten grants | $75–$200 |
As can be seen, the range depends on how many grants the grant writer has already won. The range is quite wide, beginning from as low as $20 per hour for beginners and as high as $200 for more advanced grant writers.
Besides the experience of the grant writer, you can also rely on the tasks given to the grant writer. The more tasks that the grant writer is given, the more money that they earn. What would this look like?
2. Paying grant writers based on responsibility levels
The responsibilities assigned to a grant writer can range from simply writing the grant to searching for grant funding organizations, writing letters of introduction, coming up with ideas for grant projects, and so on.
Taking this into account, we can divide grant writers into two categories — 1. Grant writers restricted to writing single grants according to RFPs that have already been picked out and 2. Dynamic grant writers who are on contract to find a range of grants that can result in a constant flow of funds for your non-profit organization (NPO).
Which one of the two is better? Well, it all depends on the structure of your organization. A business owner with less time to search for grants would probably want to hire or contract a grant writer. A business owner with a larger organization or staff that can locate appropriate grants or RFPs would have less need to hire a dynamic grant writer.
3. Paying grant writers based on the size of the grant
There are some owners of NPOs who elect to pay based on the size of the grant. This would mean that the grant writer will be paid a percentage of the grant. This could range from one to five percent.
Now, it would make sense to have an agreement with the grant writer where you pay them according to the amount of grants that they secure. That would make a lot of economic sense.
However, in the case of the United States, there are legal prohibitions against such arrangements. According to Grant Watch:
If you win the grant, you can not use the money to pay the grant writer. Grant writers should not work on a contingency basis or a ‘success fee.’ Not only is this unethical, but it also violates state, federal and foundation funding guidelines. If a funder discovers the grant writer was paid a percentage of the grant award, at the very least you’ll likely lose the grant. At worst, there could be legal consequences as well.
Therefore, even if grant writers are paid as a percentage of the grants they win, you should be careful to ensure that they are not being paid on a contingency basis. On average, according to the industry standard, a grant writer is typically paid two to three percent of the grant applied for.
How to hire a grant writer
The funny thing about hiring is the bottleneck that is typically involved. On the one hand, you have several hundred talented grant writers looking for the chance to write grants. On the other hand, you have several employers lamenting how hard it is to find professional grant writers.
The key to avoiding this dilemma is to develop a proper hiring process that reduces the time and energy spent in matching your NPO with the appropriate grant writer. Before you begin, you should acknowledge that there are a number of questions to consider when hiring a grant writer:
Should you get a contract, part-time, or full-time grant writer?
Should you get a solopreneur grant writer or a grant-writing agency?
There are pros and cons to each one of the three options. Let’s take a look at each in turn.
What type of grant writer should I hire?
This depends on what the goals of your NPO are. A contract grant writer is a writer hired on contract to write a single grant or hired on a grant-by-grant basis. This is a somewhat risky option. When it comes to writing grants, it’s a case of hit and miss.
There is no guarantee that any single grant proposal will go through or win. The best approach would be a grant writer who acts not simply as a contractor, but a partner that you work with and collaborate to determine the best approach to develop a grant-writing process that will result in a constant flow of grant funds for your organization.
The best option would be then a full-time or even part-time grant writer who works closely with you long-term across several grants. They would be in charge of locating grants, and sending out emails to verify the TORs (or terms of references) of RFPs (or request for proposals).
In the absence of this option, you should hire a contract grant writer that you take on as a partner to help you locate the appropriate grants and RFPs to increase the chances of your NPO landing lucrative grants.
There is also the option of a grant-writing agency. Grant writing agencies are hit amd miss. The larger the agency, the cheaper the service they offer. However, you have to consider the price you pay for these cheap costs. Grant-writing agencies rely on poorly paid writers who have to work under fake aor artificial deadlines or urgency.
This will not result in work that will increase your chances of success. A grant writer, whether it be a contractor or full-time employee, who understands your organization and its goals is the best bet. Knowing about the requirements of an RFP is one thing.
However, knowing the values that motivate the organization applying for it is another. A grant writer working on a single grant contract or an agency using a non-personalized or factory-like process to write your grants won’t cut it.
Get in touch with one of our representatives today to see how we can help you increase your chances of winning lucrative grants |
EminentEdit’s grant writing services
EminenentEdit is a small group of talented academic writers, editors, and grant writers. We offer a range of grant writing services. It doesn’t simply begin and end with writing a single grant.
We offer personalized services where we evaluate the type of NPO you run and match you with the appropriate sponsors. We also believe in spreading out your chances. You shouldn’t rely on the hope of winning a grant from a single sponsor.
Your grant-writing strategy should include an approach that can ensure a constant flow of grant funds to keep your NPO operational, functional, and in the green. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, November 06). How much does it cost to hire a grant writer? https://www.eminentediting.com/post/how-much-does-it-cost-to-hire-a-grant-writer |
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