The Grant Writing Process

The writing process includes a series of simple, actionable steps. Applying the writing process to your grant writing will help your organization implement an easy and replicable proposal process. In this blog post, we’ll explore the grant writing process and offer insights on how to successfully implement it.

The Grant Writing Process

The grant writing process includes five steps: 

1. Research

2. Prewriting

3. Drafting

4. Revising

5. Editing 

Research

Thorough research is the first step in the grant writing process. Proper preparation will help you develop a strong grant proposal. 

Begin by carefully reviewing the funder's grant guidelines and application requirements to ensure you follow the funder's instructions precisely. This is a common grant mistake that is easily avoided. Inadequate research into the funder's guidelines and application requirements can lead to unsuitable proposals and missed opportunities. 

During your research, ask questions and request clarification from funders about aspects of the application guidelines or requirements. This provides an opportunity to connect with the funder while securing all the information needed to develop the strongest proposal possible. 

More broadly, it is crucial to understand the funder’s preferences to develop a proposal that aligns with their interests and priorities. 

Once you understand the funder’s guidelines, requirements, and preferences, you’ll be ready to begin the prewriting phase. 

Prewriting 

Prewriting is the second phase of the writing process. In this step, you decide on your funding request and structure your proposal. 

Begin this stage with a brainstorming session to determine your funding request. Consider your organization’s needs and programming in relation to the funder’s priorities. Reflect on your research to confirm that your request resonates with the funder’s interests. 

Once you have determined your funding request, develop an outline to organize your proposal. 

Creating an Outline

An outline provides the scaffolding for your grant proposal and ensures your funding request is thorough. 

We recommend that you begin your outline with the funder’s proposal prompts. Copy and paste each proposal prompt into a Word document. Then, consider how you might tell a story based on the order in which the funder requests information. 

Your outline should include a clear introduction, comprehensive needs statement, objectives, methods, evaluation plan, and budget.  

Once you have an outline, you can begin writing your first draft. 

Drafting 

Drafting is the third phase of the writing process, where you develop a powerful thesis and let your ideas flow freely onto the page. 

Before you begin writing, give yourself space to do so. Schedule time and find a quiet setting for writing to limit interruptions. This will allow you to put all of your focus into your writing. 

Begin to draft your proposal based on your outline. Write using plain language to ensure it is easy to read and understand. Break down your proposal into easily digestible sections using subheadings and bullet points to simplify complex topics. 

Utilize your boilerplate document to answer common grant prompts efficiently. Although you may be repurposing commonly used language about your organization, be sure your application remains authentic and speaks directly to the funder. The more you can connect your proposal with the funder's priorities, the more compelling your proposal will be.

Focus on progress over perfection and prioritize writing down all of your thoughts. Your first draft is a rough draft. It is a work in progress that you’ll continue to craft throughout the final steps of revising and editing. 

After completing a draft of your proposal, we recommend taking a step back before beginning revision. It’s important to allow yourself time away from your writing to revise with a fresh perspective. 

Revising

Revising is the fourth step of the writing process, allowing you to refine your proposal to improve its flow, clarity, and alignment with the funder.

Read your proposal and critically evaluate its structure and clarity. We recommend reading your proposal aloud. This will help you quickly identify confusing sentence structure and repetitive phrasing. As you read, mark up your writing with comments and suggestions. 

Rearrange, replace, and remove sections or unnecessary words. Cut the fluff and prioritize conciseness. 

Confirm that the information in your proposal is accurate. Errors and inconsistencies can harm your credibility and negatively impact your chances of receiving funding. 

Once your revision is complete, request approval from program staff to confirm the proposal reflects their work and aligns with their program objectives. Staff review can ensure the accuracy of your proposal. 

In addition, review that your proposal meets all application requirements for formatting, character, and word counts. 

Editing 

Editing is the fifth step of the grant writing process and is crucial to the success of your funding request. 

Begin by proofreading your proposal for spelling and grammar. This is a simple way to improve the professionalism of your request. 

Next, review your proposal for clarity and cohesiveness. 

Verify that your proposal adheres to all guidelines and requirements. 

Review your research and consider the funder's priorities. Does your proposal align with their unique goals and objectives? 

Request constructive feedback. It’s essential to improve your grant writing for the proposals you write today and those you will write in the future. Reach out for feedback from trusted colleagues to better understand how others interpret your proposal. Provide them guidance on what to look for in the proposal, including evaluating the clarity and conciseness of your writing. If available, provide the funder’s evaluation guidelines to your reviewers so they can provide feedback based on the criteria against which your proposal will be reviewed. 

Complete final edits to your proposal and proofread your final proposal. A well-edited proposal will allow you to submit your proposal confidently. 

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In conclusion, the grant writing process includes five steps: research, prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. Breaking these steps down can help your organization navigate the process easily and efficiently. 

We understand the grant writing process can be challenging to navigate. Our team members at Bloom Grant Consulting are experienced grant writers. We offer a range of investment options, including leading all grant efforts as your contracted teammate, building grant programs from scratch, developing content, creating grant calendars, researching funders, and more. Contact us to learn more about how we can help your nonprofit Bloom. 

Pitching a Grant Consultant to Nonprofit Leadership

Strategies for effectively presenting the case to hire a grant consultant to executive leadership.

You’ve defined your nonprofit's needs and identified a grant consultant as the key to unlocking financial sustainability and mission impact. Now, you need the support and approval from your executive leadership. In this blog post, we’ll share strategies for effectively presenting the case to hire a grant consultant to your nonprofit’s leadership. 

Position Hiring a Grant Consultant as a Strategic Investment 

A grant consultant can help your organization manage its grant program and approach funders confidently and consistently. This is a strategic investment in your organization’s future, providing financial sustainability through grant research, writing, and management.  

Take a holistic view of your organization, from mission and vision to strategic plan. Align your pitch with your organization’s strategic plan and showcase how a grant consultant can help your organization reach its goals. 

Highlight Your Nonprofit’s Grantseeking Challenges 

Ensure your executive leadership understands the internal challenges your organization faces. You are the expert in your organization's day-to-day challenges. Communicate these clearly and explain how they affect your organization’s ability to achieve mission impact and financial sustainability. Highlight the specific solutions a grant consultant can provide to address your organization's challenges.

Common challenges we see include time and capacity. These challenges can lead organizations to spend less time building relationships with funders, researching funding opportunities, and submitting funding requests. Deadlines may be missed, and crucial funding may be lost. These challenges can leave staff feeling overwhelmed and unsupported, which may cause staff turnover. 

Connect Your Challenges to Grant Consultant Solutions

When pitching a grant consultant, connect your specific challenges to the support a grant consultant provides. Remember, a grant consultant can do more than write grants for your organization. They can ensure staff have the tools and support to reach their full potential and strengthen their organization. 

Our comprehensive services ensure your organization has the tools, resources, and coaching to secure funding. Our services can save your organization time with efficient project management. We can increase your organization’s capacity by allowing staff to focus on executing mission-driven programming and services. We can help you identify new funding opportunities with access to cost-prohibitive prospect research tools. We can guide you on how to build relationships with funders. A grant consultant can address all of these challenges and more. 

Present the Cost of Hiring a Grant Consultant

Executive leadership is responsible for the organization's financial health. The cost of hiring a grant consultant will be a key concern of leadership. Root the cost of hiring a grant consultant in reality by obtaining proposals and vetting consultants.  

Depending on your position in the organization or relationship with executive leadership, you may require approval to begin conversations with grant consultants. These initial meetings are essential to build support from executive leadership throughout the discovery process by highlighting the true cost. Ask questions and gain perspective on what executive leadership would like to see from a grant consultant proposal and questions or concerns they may have. By understanding the priorities of executive leadership, you’ll be prepared to ask the right questions and identify the right consultant for your organization.

Learn the process of engaging a grant writer and find tips to prepare for each stage in our blog, Navigating the Process of Engaging a Grant Writer. 

Leadership will also benefit from understanding the consultant’s history of success. Request case studies, testimonials, and references to demonstrate the consultant’s effectiveness and the potential return on investment for your organization.  

For every $1 our clients spend, we raise $12 for their mission. 

A grant consultant can also be highly cost-effective for your organization, especially compared to the cost of hiring a grant writer as a full-time employee. This includes reduced overhead and benefit costs that can be a significant long-term investment. In addition, a consultant's flexibility allows your organization to respond quickly to funding needs and scale your contract up or down accordingly. 

Beyond the cost, establishing key performance indicators for the engagement will ensure leadership that you’ve considered success measures to ensure a fruitful partnership with clear goals.

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You recognize the impact a grant consultant can have on your organization’s financial future, advancing your grant program from research to submission. By following these steps, you can craft a compelling pitch that will resonate with your nonprofit leadership and clearly demonstrate the value of hiring a grant consultant. 

Showcase your understanding of the organization’s long-term goals and position a grant consultant as a strategic investment to help achieve them. Highlight the challenges your nonprofit currently faces and explain how a consultant can offer personalized solutions. Finally, present the cost and outline how you’ll measure the partnership's success to ensure the investment delivers tangible results.

With the approval of your nonprofit leadership, we’ll be excited to partner with you and help your organization Bloom. Contact us to learn how we can support your organization. 

Navigating the Process of Engaging a Grant Writer

A step-by-step guide to engaging a grant writer for nonprofit organizations

Engaging a grant writer can feel intimidating and overwhelming. Handing your grant program to someone outside your team requires deep trust and respect. Additionally, several layers of approval may be required to begin partnering with a grant writer. In this blog post, I will walk you through the process of engaging a grant writer and provide tips on preparing for each stage to help you navigate the process with confidence. 

Why Engage a Grant Writer

Like most nonprofit professionals, I’ve worn many hats. With several years of experience in executive leadership, fundraising, programs, and boards of directors, I understand the many hurdles organizations face in fulfilling their mission. 

Applying for grants is a time-consuming process and requires constant attention from prospect research, managing deadlines, relationship building with funders, grant writing, and reporting. It entails more than simply writing grants. Managing the process with limited capacity and greater organizational demands can be tedious. From research and practice, I know that resources are abundant, and acquiring a sustainable base of funders invested in your nonprofit's mission is possible. 

A grant writer can help your organization secure the funds it needs to bloom. Grant writers have a specialized skill set to harness grants as tools to strengthen organizations. Grant writers are excellent communicators and project managers who thrive in untangling the complexities of your organization’s work and developing clear, concise language to communicate its unique mission-aligned impact to funders. 

However, a grant writing consultant can do more than simply write grants for your organization. At Bloom Grant Consulting, we offer various services, including leading all grant writing efforts as your outsourced teammate, building new grant programs, developing content or boilerplate, creating grant trackers and calendars, researching and qualifying funders, coaching, and more. Our comprehensive approach ensures your organization has the tools, resources, and language to communicate with funders confidently and consistently. 

Explore the financial benefits of hiring a grant writing consultant versus a full-time, in-house grant writer in our blog, Unlocking Savings: Why Contracting a Grant Writer is a Cost-Effective Choice for Your Organization.

The Process of Engaging a Grant Writer

Define Your Organization's Needs

First, it’s essential to outline your nonprofit’s grant writing needs. 

Consider the following questions to define your organization’s needs: 

1. What is the status of your organization’s grant program? Are you approaching grants for the first time? Are you restarting after a prolonged period of inactivity? Are you actively applying for grants? 

2. How much support does your organization need with its grant program? Do you want a grant writing partner to manage your grants start-to-finish, or are you interested in support with research and strategy? 

3. What are your funding needs? 

4. Who will be the primary contact for your grant program? 

5. What is your budget for grant writing? 

6. Do you need organizational approval from executive leadership or the board of directors to contract a grant writer?

   
   

Research Grant Writing Consultants

You can find grant writers on various online databases. Nonprofit professional associations or organizations may have trusted recommendations for consultants. We are members of the Puget Sound Grant Writers Association and the Nonprofit Association of Oregon and can be found in their respective grant writer and nonprofit service provider directories.  

Consider the following when researching grant writing consultants: 

• History of success: The grant writer has a portfolio of existing or past clients and has delivered results. 

• Referrals or testimonials: The grant writer is recommended by existing or past clients who speak highly of their work.  

• Excellent communication: The grant writer exhibits strong writing skills and is responsive to your outreach. 

• Service options: The grant writer offers various services to meet your organization’s needs within budget.

• Compatibility: The grant writer aligns well with your team. 

Your organization may have additional priorities when hiring a grant writing consultant, including familiarity with your organization, mission space, or location. 

Similarly, grant writing consultants have priorities when evaluating potential nonprofit partners. Bloom Grant Consulting is excited to work with passionate nonprofit leaders who are ready to make an impact. We prefer to work with established nonprofit organizations with paid staff and two or more years of 990 filings. These nonprofit organizations have a solid foundation to secure and implement mission-driven services and programming supported by grant funding.   

Schedule Consultations with Select Grant Writers 

Once you’ve narrowed down your research, contact the grant writing consultants on your list to schedule consultations to learn more about how they can support you and your organization. 

During a consultation, be prepared to speak about your organization's mission, goals, objectives, budget size, team structure, and more. 

As grant writing consultants, we are focused on building successful and collaborative partnerships with organizations to ensure long-term sustainability and mission impact. This requires meaningful participation and communication. This meeting is an opportunity to get to know one another and ensure compatibility for a future partnership.

Establish a Scope of Work and Sign a Contract

Following a successful consultation, we’ll align a scope of work for your nonprofit organization, valid for two weeks. Once we’ve agreed on a scope of work, we’ll prepare a contract for your organization to formalize our engagement. Once a contract is in place, we’ll begin the discovery phase. 

Dive into Discovery

The discovery phase is just what it sounds like! It’s an opportunity for our team and your organization to lay the groundwork for our work together. We begin discovery by providing our clients with a document discovery checklist. 

These core materials will help our team understand your organization’s structure and financial foundation. Many of these documents lay the foundation for future grant applications we will submit in collaboration with your team. 

We understand that our clients may not have all of the documents on our list, so we provide indicators for what documents you have, what documents are in progress, and the ones you don’t have. We’re here to help you fill in the gaps! 

We give our clients two weeks to complete the checklist before we jump into a kickoff meeting. Our client kickoff meeting is about setting expectations. In the first half of the meeting, we review the agreed-upon scope of work and timeline. The second half of the meeting is an in-depth discussion of prospect research. We discuss what type of funding prospects are suitable for your organization. This conversation leads seamlessly into the research phase. 

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Our Grant Readiness Checklist can help your organization prepare for the discovery phase. 

At Bloom Grant Consulting, we are all about finding ways to help you reach your grant potential. This will help you assess your grant readiness before investing in a grant consultant, including a comprehensive checklist, detailed assessment questions, and space to self-reflect and strategize.

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Begin Research

Research is pivotal to our work at Bloom Grant Consulting. Whether assessing an organization’s grant preparedness or identifying funding prospects, we are meticulous in our research. We use public data, subscription-based tools, and our experience in the field to provide you with an organized matrix packed with information to help your organization confidently approach the right funders. 

Continue Based on Your Scope of Work

Once discovery and research are complete, we continue based on your organization’s unique scope of work. Throughout our engagement, this could include reviewing funding prospects, providing personalized training, one-on-one coaching, and more. 

Our process for ongoing support is custom-made for our nonprofit partners. We become an integrated member of your team, executing your grant to-do list. This service is for organizations that need a partner to increase their capacity for grant writing, develop a regular cadence of proposal submission, meet deadlines, and build authentic relationships with funders. These are long-term engagements with six- to twelve-month contracts. We meet with our ongoing support clients bi-weekly for one hour to review and discuss upcoming grant proposals, develop funder outreach strategies, and provide cultivation coaching. 

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Engaging a grant writer is like planting the seeds for your nonprofit’s growth. By defining your needs and carefully selecting the right grant writing consultant, you can cultivate a partnership to help your organization thrive.

Plant seeds for future growth. Contact us to schedule a free 30-minute consultation today. We’re excited to meet you, explore how we can nurture your mission together, and watch it bloom!