Writing Grants

Are you a talented writer with a passion for supporting various causes and nonprofits? You can combine this talent and passion and start a highly lucrative side hustle as a grant writer.

In this post, you’ll learn all you need to generate money by writing grants.

An Overview of Writing Grants: A Primer

As a grant writer, your job is to craft persuasive, well-written grant applications for entities to help them obtain funds from government agencies and funding organizations.

You’ll often work with nonprofit organizations such as charities, research institutes, and some healthcare providers. However, you can work on writing small business grants as well.

Your job involves identifying your organization’s goals and initiatives and crafting a grant application targeting potential funders that can help in funding your entity’s projects.

For you to thrive in this career, you need to be able to search for grant opportunities and write successful grant proposals. That way, you should have strong writing and research skills.

You’ll also need to develop excellent communication and organization skills.

If you’re looking for guidance to help you start a career in writing grants, check out this post on becoming a grant writer.

How Much Can Writing Grants Earn You?

Freelance grant writers can make an hourly rate ranging between $11 and $75 depending on various factors, according to ZipRecruiter.

Similarly, the famous freelance platform Upwork reported that grant writers on its website charge from $35 to $60 per hour.

However, on average, the hourly rate grant writers charge in the US is $29.

The exact amount a grant writer can earn depends on their experience level and the type of projects they work on.

The pricing strategy a grant writer follows can also make all the difference in the total amount they can make.

That is why every grant writer should learn the best strategies to price their services to boost their income.

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Side Hustle Writing Grants?

The cost you need to start a grant writing side hustle varies hugely depending on your current level of education.

It can be as little as only $1,000 if you have a bachelor’s degree and can reach up to $45000 if you don’t.

You’ll spend the estimated $1,000 on a reliable grant writing certification or course. This is because a grant writing job requires extensive knowledge to start it.

If you don’t have a bachelor’s degree, you’ll need to spend between $15,000 and $45,000 to obtain one.

Although having a bachelor’s degree isn’t mandatory to work as a grant writer, many employers prefer candidates with this education level.

The bachelor’s degree is preferred to be in English or communication fields. Still, a degree in any other discipline is acceptable as well.

You’ll also need professional mentorship, especially at the beginning of your career.

Finally, you’ll need to market your service through advertising and digital content. This can cost up to $300 a month.

It depends on whether you’ll do marketing activities yourself or hire someone to take care of them.

Where Can You Find Grant Writing Gigs?

A crucial part of succeeding in your grant writing career is to be able to secure continuous gigs. To achieve this, here are the best places to look for grant writing gigs:

Where to Independently Find Grant Writing Work?

Building a wide network of potential clients can be a significant source of grant writing gigs.

You can find great opportunities to expand your network by joining communities of grant writers like LinkedIn communities, GrantStation, and Grant Professional Association.

Similarly, attending conferences, local events, and workshops of nonprofits and grant writers will provide massive opportunities for networking with potential clients.

Gig Economy Companies that Offer Grant Writing Work

Many gig economy platforms provide you the opportunity to market your skills to potential clients.

These platforms include hundreds of projects for clients looking for professional grant writers. You can easily apply to these gigs.

Here are the most popular platforms to consider for this purpose:

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Guru

Why You Should Consider Writing Grants as a Side Hustle

Working as a freelance grant writer comes with a bunch of benefits. Here they are:

• An opportunity to support causes: Many grant writing gigs are related to nonprofit organizations. Working on these gigs will be highly satisfying if you’re into standing for various causes.
• Highly flexible: Most grant writing gigs allow you to set your working schedule as long as you meet projects’ deadlines.
• Location-independent: Most grant writing jobs are location-independent. So, you’ll be able to do your work from anywhere in the world.

Problems with Writing Grants

Grant writing comes with a few challenges that you need to be aware of. Here are the most common problems for writing grants as a freelancer:

• Can be a challenging writing type: Writing grant proposals entails spending considerable time learning about current grant writing guides, trends, and protocols. It also requires extensive practice. This makes it more difficult than other types of writing.
• Takes a long time to master: Because of the complexity of grant documents’ requirements and sections, you might take a long time to master the grant writing process.
• Can be frustrating: The chances of acquiring funds from any organization are generally low. Despite going out of your way to write a winning grant proposal, all your efforts may not lead to obtaining funds. This can be highly frustrating for some grant writers.

Frequently Asked Questions