Pros and Cons to Hiring a Freelance Grant Writer vs. a Staff Grant Writer

If you have been thinking about starting or growing a freelance grant writing company or nonprofit consultancy…NOW is the time!

Forbes recently wrote an article titled, “The Freelance Revolution is Just Getting Started” and that is absolutely correct!

In fact, I remember discussing the growth of the freelance grant writing sector with Rodney Walker back in 2019. Back then, it was projected that 50 percent of people would be freelancers by 2030. But we have fast-tracked this trend. In fact, Gen Z workers have already hit the 50 percent mark in being freelancers! 

This freelancing trend exponentially grew due to the COVID-19 pandemic with technology becoming more accessible and the work-from-home model normalized.

Freelancing Impacting Nonprofit Organizations

The growth of freelancing has also impacted nonprofit organizations, which make up 5.6 percent of the United States economy. 

What the pandemic and Great Resignation has taught many nonprofit organizations is that they needed to update their operational budgets. Staffing has been a line item that is being analyzed with a fine-toothed comb. Grants oftentimes do not cover many staffing positions, fringe benefits, and more. An alternative has been to tap into the growing talent pool of freelancers. 

Freelance grant writers are not an exception to this pool. With fundraising positions as a top priority for many nonprofits, hiring a freelance grant writer is very, very desirable. 

Pros to Hiring a Freelance Grant Writer vs. a Staff Grant Writer

From the point of view of a nonprofit organization, hiring a freelance grant writer can be very attractive. Here are reasons for hiring a freelance grant writer:

 1. A Freelance Grant Writer Doesn’t Need to Be Kept Forever on  Payroll

When navigating grants, donations, and other sources, being able to fit in a specific budget for a freelance grant writer is easy compared to forever payroll. Consultancy is not a staffing position that needs to be sustained long-term (although it can be a long-term position). 

A freelance grant writer will give the nonprofit a specific scope of work within a specific amount of time; i.e. deliverables. 

For example, a freelance grant writer could find ten grants and write five grants by the end of one year, which will cost $30,000.

That is easy to include what outputs and costs are for budgets. However if you hire staff they will also need to get funding to cover other non-tangible work such as: administrative, meetings, and of course ‘any other work as needed’. 

2. A Freelance Grant Writer Does Not Need to Be Managed

A  Freelance Grant Writer isn’t a staff member so you don’t have to micromanage their work. In fact, because you hire a professional, they will work together on a specific scope of work. 

That does not mean that you don’t have meetings or communicate, but it does mean that you should not be keeping tabs on them throughout the day, having them punch in and out, etcetera. 

Having regular meetings with your hired freelance grant writer is important, but much of the time they will be running most of the meetings and asking you for items. 

In most cases, I actually see freelance grant writers managing their point of contact at nonprofits. Don’t fall into this trap, either. Remember, it is a mutual relationship where you work together. Don’t just think that you hired a consultant that they will magically get everything done without speaking to you.

3. A Freelance Grant Writer has Specific Skills in Writing Grants

Here’s the thing. Most nonprofits do not have a full-time, in-house grant writer on staff. Most of the time that internal grant writer is also the executive director, program director, fundraiser, intern, or volunteer. 

Grant writing usually just gets thrown on the lap (tied into the ever-popular ‘all other things as needed’ clause in the job description) of a staff person or volunteer. And most of the time they have no idea how to write a grant, or even if they do it’s not their only or primary job responsibility. 

Therefore, much of the time grant writing isn’t the expertise of someone on staff and is seen more as a necessary evil. 

On the other hand a freelance grant writer specializes in writing grants. It’s what they do. 

To open a freelance grant writing business, they need to at least have some education and experience in writing grants. Most freelance grant writers have extensive experience in securing funding and it’s their  zone of genius work. Sure, they also do marketing, administration work, and other items for their business but they are skilled at writing grants.

That is HUGE! Just for comparison, if you wanted a great website designed, you would probably hire a web developer and not your 18-year-old cousin who has never done it before. Or if you want your accounting done, you will hire a bookkeeper or CPA and not throw it on an intern who signed up to lead field trips in the forest.

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4. A Freelance Grant Writer Doesn’t Need an Office

One of the beauties that nonprofits and business owners have experienced in this increasingly freelance world is that you don’t need to pay for office space, internet, computers, utilities, and all the other things that staff require. 

Real estate is an expensive market and so is technology and utilities. A freelance grant writer will work out of their own home or office (and actually can’t work in your office and you cannot demand them to work certain hours!) so you do not have to worry about those added expenses. 

This can be a huge consideration as this can be a huge savings to your budget!

5. A Freelance Grant Writer Can Actually Save Your Nonprofit Money

Yes, a freelance grant writer is definitely going to have a different price tag compared to what you might pay an employee for an hourly wage. But remember, you don’t need to pay for their taxes, an office, computer, training, and wasted time of an employee surfing online.

So you cannot really compare apples to apples on this one. Maybe you would pay an internal grant writer employee $35 per hour, so when a freelance grant writer is charging $150 per hour you feel a little sick.

But here’s the thing. They aren’t going to be working 2,080 hours (full-time salaried position). You don’t pay for all the above, including vacation time, sick leave, etc. Really, most freelance grant writers average about 20-40 hours per month of actual working time. This means that they will charge you for productive actual working time. 

If you add it all up, you save BIG time and you get top-level expertise to focus on exactly what you need. Grant writing. 

CONS (SORT OF ) TO HIRING A FREELANCE GRANT WRITER VS. STAFF GRANT WRITER

Now that we highlighted all of the glory of hiring a freelance grant writer, let’s consider some of the potential cons.

#1: Your Nonprofit Does Not Build Up Internal Capacity

A freelance grant writer is not on staff means that you are outsourcing. Sure, they can help build up your capacity to secure grants, but at the end of the day they are not necessarily a part of the culture of your nonprofit.

Staff, on the other hand, are more involved in the culture of your organization as they are involved in team-building, regular meetings, and more. They have more skin in the game as this is their eggs are all in one basket. They are invested in your nonprofit.

But that’s not all sunshine and roses either, as staff turnover is also real at a nonprofit. And those who you may have heavily invested in may pick up and leave quicker than a termination clause in a freelance contract.

#2: Your Nonprofit Can Get Detached from Donor Nurturing

By outsourcing grant writing (or any other service) sometimes nonprofit staff feel like they can be hands off. This is a disservice to the nonprofit! Don’t do that! But many do. 

With this fault, many nonprofit staff then rely on the freelance grant writer to develop relationships (on behalf of their organization) with funding sources. Because the nonprofit staff isn’t involved in this process, that relationship may end when the freelance grant writer no longer has a contract with your nonprofit.

#3: Your Nonprofit May Lose Intellectual Data

Here’s the thing. I always send the final grant documents to the nonprofits I work with. But I don’t have enough fingers to count the times that a year or two later (or more!) nonprofit clients will come back to me and ask for copies of the grant documents. 

They may have had turnover at their organization or just don’t know where they put the files. 

Well, a freelance grant writer probably will not hold onto your documents after they deliver them to you! It’s not because they don’t have your back! It’s because storing this can take up huge space that they pay for on Dropbox, Google docs, etcetera and they have delivered the product to you already!

Now even if you have internal staff writing your grants this can also happen due to staff turnover, computers crashing, etc. Therefore, I recommend you invest in grant management software at some point in your nonprofit journey!

OUTCOME: IT CAN BE A HUGE PRO TO HIRING A FREELANCE GRANT WRITER FOR YOUR NONPROFIT

All in all, in the age of the growing freelance revolution, hiring a freelance grant writer could be a HUGE advantage for your nonprofit organization. If this isn’t something you haven’t thought about before, then maybe it’s time to rework your budget and see if it makes sense! But first make sure that this hiring strategy fits the goals of your organization. 

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