Grant Writing & Funding · Ep. 222: How Much do Freelance Grant Writers Make?

How Much do Freelance Grant Writers Make?

This is a fully loaded question.

The thing is that freelance grant writers can make as much money as they want to make 😊.

No, I am not trying to be cheeky. It’s true.

So, really the question underneath this one is:

“How much money can I make as a freelance grant writer?”

Which brings us to another layer of a question…

“How much can I charge as a freelance grant writer?”

You can see that these questions are all related, right?

The thing is the answers to these questions are not cookie-cutter or set in stone.

It depends.

Here are some things to consider when wanting to know how much you can make as a freelance grant writer.

Watch the full interview here!

Grant Writing Experience

If you have been a grant writer for several years and are comfortable with grant writing, you will be able to charge more than someone starting from scratch. That is true for anything.

When you have more experience, you can showcase:

testimonials,
grants secured,
grants reviewed, and
number of years writing grants

This is huge!

But even if you have taken one grant writing course and are just getting experience, you can also charge for your services too. You just won’t be charging as much until you develop more of a portfolio (like anything else!).

Ways to overcome the newbie grant writing position is to partner with more seasoned grant writers to review your work and give you feedback.

In that case, feel free to charge more as you will get those seasoned eyes on your grant awards. This is a great opportunity to have a mentor and develop your grant writing skills while also increasing your grant writing credibility.

Geography

If you are working with local nonprofit organizations, then it is important to know what market rates are for consultants. You can usually find out this information by checking out local department of labor wages or reaching out to other consultants and asking them what their rates are.

Some consultants may want to keep their pricing private, but it’s worth developing relationships with other consultants (not just grant writers, but service-industry consultants) and find out what the going rates are. These are also just great relationships to develop 😊.

But many of you work online and have national and international clients so you can also see what other folks are charging online.

The problem with just googling other grant writer rates is that you will see prices all over the map.

I’m talking anywhere from $25 per hour to $150+ per hour. This does give you a baseline, but pricing is more nuanced then just pointing out a number.

Types of Services You Deliver

Writing foundation grants and federal grants are two different ball games.

A foundation grant of two-pages will not be the same price as writing a 50-page federal grant application.

Therefore, it is important to know what type of grant writing you will be doing.

You can still make the same amount of money, but you will have a different number of clients.

For example, if you charge $2,000 to write a 2-page foundation application and $12,000 to write a federal grant application, then you would need to write six foundation grants to make the same as writing one federal grant.

You can also combine both types of grant writing!

So that is something to take into consideration. Your specific tailored services should vary in pricing based on the level of expertise, time, and capacity it takes for each service.

Value Issues around Pricing

Here is my favorite one. We all have different emotions and values around money and especially around making money.

Research shows that women compared to men struggle with charging what they are worth.

This comes down to a slew of different reasons with most based on being born into a patriarchal system. This manifests itself with the following:

Not feeling confident enough to price what we are worth (will people really pay it?)
Giving way too many discounts (yes, I was there once too)
Giving away the kitchen sink of all the deliverables you will do (it’s like we are convincing ourselves we are good enough before we even show our price!)

The other thing is that a lot of times you will see grant writing prices up to $150 per hour. As if that is the holy grail of pricing.

That does NOT need to be your glass ceiling. Raise your rates appropriately.

Expenses (overhead)

Here’s the thing. To know what your rates are, you also need to understand what your goals are.

Do you want this to be a side-hustle or full-time job?

It’s not always about working harder to make more money, but if you are a service-based consultant (versus having products and passive income – more on that later), then having more of the right clients does improve your overall bottom line.

If you are doing this as a full-time business, then additional expenses will come into play that include:

Taxes
Retirement
Health Insurance
All your personal bills! i.e., salary for YOU!
Profit
Office space (even in your home)
Internet, phone, communications
Gas mileage, travel, etc.
Online software and apps (this is where you might spend a large percentage)
Computer, printer, office supplies
Training and association fees
Consultants, virtual assistants, or employees
Bookkeeper, professional services
And anything else for business success

Your old hourly rate from a J-O-B just will not be the same as your consultancy hourly rate. There is so much more that goes into this.

So how much can you make as a Freelance Grant Writer?

Well, it really depends on:

What goals do you have?
Are you geographical based?
What type of grant writing experience do you have (or can leverage)?
What types grant writing services you offer?
How much confidence do you have in pricing your rates?
How much do you want to work (and then associated expenses to integrate into your pricing)?

Freelance grant writers make anywhere from a side-hustle income to save up for a trip all the way to a 7-figure+ business and anywhere in between.

As a grant writing coach and mentor, I’ve seen all the different income levels. What holds most freelance grant writers back from making more money is their confidence in pricing.

Once a freelance grant writer starts to improve their confidence (especially in our Mentorship!) they really start charging more and they start getting clients that pay more.

For example, a side hustle consultant might make way more than a full-time grant writer if the side hustler is more confident in their pricing and has more experience writing grants.

One of the best things I’ve seen is a freelance grant writer mentee double or triple their rates and then secure a nonprofit client that happily pays that rate!

My favorite thing to hear is, “I was so nervous showing them my new rate, but they didn’t even ask any questions and just paid the rate! Now I have more confidence and am getting ideal clients!”