Jim Collins, renowned business author, lecturer, and researcher, once said, "Great vision without great people is irrelevant." There is nothing more accurate than this, considering the essential contributions of grant writers in the development and sustainability of any organization.
Whether it's a public or private organization, grants play a significant part in pursuing and achieving its mission.
But to many, grants are considered way too cumbersome. They take time (most often, a lot of time), and they can be hard to understand. Sometimes, due to the Request for Proposal (RFP) specificity, it seems the funders have already decided who they want to fund before the competition is even open. Professional Grant Writers are well-versed in grant language; they also have experience developing sound programs and budgets that will help your organization succeed.
Here are three(3) reasons why hiring a professional Grant Writer is positive for your organization.
Hiring a professional Grant Writer allows you to focus on your daily activities to keep your organization running as usual. Nothing will get pushed to the side. Other than reviewing drafts, providing some attachments, and contributing to the budget, the burden of putting together an application package and its contents is the Grant Writer's responsibility. Keep doing what you do best daily to pursue your organization's mission.
Suppose you have already written grants for your organization and have been successful. In that case, hiring a grant writer will allow you to focus on your strengths. Grant writing requires you to pay a lot of attention to detail. An applicant must make sure that all forms, Cover letters, letters of intent, etc., are executed, signed, and collected for submission within the grant. When you hire a Grant Writer, you don't have to focus so much on technicalities. You can focus on what matters, including how the project will help your community? Who is the target audience or location? How will you sustain the initiative? Can you execute these tasks effectively? This allows you to provide the Grant Writer with the vital information to make your proposal the most competitive. You won't have to worry about the small technical details.
Suppose you have some experience writing grants, or your organization has been getting the same grant funding every year for many years. In that case, it may be time for you to think out-of-the-box and go for larger grants, or maybe from a different funder. Hiring a Grant Writer with experience in other areas will allow your organization to grow into new initiatives that will benefit your community.
When you hire a Grant Writer, it helps you have multiple writers working on various projects simultaneously. You don't have to worry about stretching anyone too thin because they only work on their assigned tasks. Every person has different levels of comfort when working on multiple projects. Depending on a person's responsibilities, they may only be able to pursue one at a time, while others may be explore their ability to multitask.
A professional Grant Writer knows their limits and will only commit to the number of grants they can complete at a competitive level. You don't ever want to pass up a suitable grant opportunity because there is no guarantee it will exist in the next funding year.
Another benefit to hiring a grant writer is that they have reviewer notes from the previous year's submission that will help you develop a more competitive program. The Grant Writer will be able to tell you about previous experiences they have had with the specific funder. They will be able to give you feedback related to what the funder wants.
Pursuing grants is a marathon, not a sprint. Most often, it takes more than one attempt to get awarded. Feedback received from a grant denial is extremely valuable and imperative to your success in getting a grant awarded next time. The reviewer notes have more detailed information not included in the Request for Proposal. You wouldn't be privy to this information, except your grant application has been denied. Grant Writing consultants have already gone through this process and are one step ahead of the competition. They have tested the waters for you!
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