Maximize work with a grant consultant

Grants can accelerate your mission while stretching your team’s capacity if pursued without clarity and strategy. The more prepared you are for a discovery call with a prospective grant writing consultant or strategist, the more value you will receive.

Before you engage a consultant, the most important work is done internally.

Be prepared to discuss your current challenges. Are you trying to stabilize revenue? Expand a program or introduce a new one? Upgrade a facility? Most grantors want to fund defined projects, not general operating gaps.

The clearer you are about what you want funded and the problem your organization is solving, the more productive your early conversations with a consultant will be. A consultant must assess mission alignment, organizational capacity, financial sustainability, and outcomes. If those elements are unclear internally, they will be weak externally.

An experienced grant consultant will want to be confident in your organization’s grant readiness. What is your organization’s grant history? Are all appropriate financial and organizational documents related to grant funding current? What is the Board’s involvement in operations, governance and fundraising? Are the Board and Executive Director aligned in priorities and funding diversification?Quality matters far more than quantity. It's better to submit 10 highly strategic, well-researched proposals than 50 generic, mediocre ones

Grant writing is an analytical discipline rooted with intention, clarity, and alignment. Preparation does not slow the process. It strengthens it.