Grant Writers: What’s your Worth?

I’m sure all grant writers have wondered at one time or another if they are being paid what they’re worth. As a staffer – full- or part-time – or as a consultant, we’ve all heard or experienced stories of pushback on how much we should be paid.

Today I will share a few tools that help you measure your worth and put to rest those questions we all have had.

For the staffer:

• The need for external benchmarks for organizations to use to monitor their grant fundraising efforts was outlined in the Abstract by Tim Calabrese and Amanda Mason here: Benchmarking Strategy Paper_calabrese & mason.pdf. They offer background into what was currently in use at the time of their writing (2014) and tee up the next article.
• Danny Blitch MPA, GPC, and David Broussard, GPC developed and published an ROI calculator for grant professionals to use to calculate their value to their employer. They outlined their process and the factors they took into account in the development of the Calculator, along with detailed instructions on how to complete and put it into use here: ROI strategy paper _blitch & broussard.pdf
• The Blitch-Bloussard ROI Calculator can be downloaded here: BlitchBroussard-ROI (windfieldtimmons.com)

For the consultant:

• There are a lot of conjectures out there about what consultants should charge. When I was ever questioned about what I charge, I could count on the following article more than any other to explain my rates in logical, black-and-white, terms: Consulting fee rates | Consultant fees (consultantjournal.com). It helped me when I first set my rates, and continues to serve as a helpful resource when consultants first starting out ask me for advice on fees.
• My rate varies depending on what service I am offering, how well I know the client, how fast they need it, and the length/depth of the services they are calling for.

The Grant Professionals Compensation Guide (2021 GPA Compensation & Benefits Information – Grant Professionals Association) is another great resource for establishing what to expect to pay for a grant writer on staff or a consultant.

All these tools should be taken as a starting point for negotiations, benchmarking, rate-setting, etc. All cases are individual, and should be considered as such. I am sharing these resources here as the best tools I have found in my years of living and working within the industry.

I hope you find these useful! Do you have any that have proven useful to you?

For more on this and other grant topics, visit my website.