Grant writing specialists formulate proposals on their clients’ or employer’s behalf to compete for grants. Grant writing experts hail from a variety of backgrounds, including English majors, medical writers, social workers, and scientists. The skills they have in common include the ability to “sell” through persuasive writing, to collaborate with other key staff, to meet tight deadlines, to work on several projects at once, and to adhere to detailed grant guidelines. While writing is, of course, integral to their job, freelance grant writers also perform several other functions that are critical to the process. Further, while some grant professionals are mainly involved in the pre-award process, others are involved throughout the grant life cycle. 

The services grant writing experts provide can include:

• Working with key staff to develop fundable programs

• Researching potential funders and specific grant opportunities

• Drafting compelling program or research grant proposals

• Working with staff to obtain relevant supporting information (budgets, graphs, statistics, etc.)

• Ensuring compliance with grant criteria and guidelines

• Drafting grant progress reports after grants are awarded 

• Managing grants that have been awarded to ensure that the promised objectives are being met

• Maintaining the grant calendar

• Writing grant acknowledgments on websites and in brochures, reports, and academic articles

• Regularly communicating with clients/managers and donors

• Developing and implementing planned giving and major gifts strategies 

• Providing key COVID-19 grant writing and general coronavirus grant writing in the wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic

Program and research grant writers work for non-profit organizations, colleges and universities, healthcare entities, research institutes, and government agencies. They work as either employees or freelance contractors. The job titles and roles of grant writers vary and can include Grant Writer, Grant Coordinator, Fundraising Manager, Donor Relations Manager, and Planned Giving Officer.

There is no specific degree required for grant writing, although most professional grant writers will have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from a college or university with a major in fields such as English, journalism, science, marketing and communication, or social work. Those who specialize as science or medical grant writers will typically have a more advanced degree in a related field and several years of relevant work experience in the industry.

To hire a freelance grant writing consultant, the fee generally ranges from 35–100 USD per hour depending on the required skill set and the level of experience necessary. 

The hourly fee can be negotiated upfront based on the estimated number of project hours, or a flat fee (for projects of a defined scope) can be discussed. If you need short-term/temporary access to professional grant writing services, then hiring a freelance consultant on our platform is a convenient and cost-effective way to access this expertise.

The best way to attract the top Kolabtree freelancers in this field is to make your project description informative. You will need to provide details on the following:

• Skills required (e.g., medical grant writing)

• What the project area is (e.g., research on viral respiratory disease)

• What the project entails (e.g., writing a grant for clinical research on improving patient treatment outcomes)

• What the deliverables are (be specific about what you need the outputs to be)

• Duration of the project (provide an estimate of how many hours work you will need per week/by when you need the project to be completed)

• By when you need to hire (having more leeway on this will give you more time to choose the best expert for your needs)

• Your budget (per hour or fixed fee)

If you are unsure what exactly is required, providing as much detail as possible will allow the experts to still make an informed bid for your project and suggest the best routes forward. 

The Kolabtree platform makes it easier than ever before to rapidly connect with top professional grant writing experts who can assist you with your upcoming grant proposals.