Grant Writer vs. Fund Development Coach

Grant Writer vs. Fund Development Coach:
Leveraging Scarce Resources to Increase Organizational Sustainability

In these current economic times, many if not most nonprofit organizations and nongovernmental organizations, throughout the U.S and abroad, struggle to maintain operations and services at pre-recession levels. In some cases, funding has all but dried up for some services and activities. Many of the major foundations, who have historically provided funds for new and novel community projects as well as support for traditional and tried and true organizational work, are finding their own coffers becoming increasingly limited in a post-Bernie Maddoff world. In a word or three, times are tight.

Add to the lean times, the fact that some organizations have had to downsize staff and/or staff hours, while at the same time seeing demand for services increasing. Historically, nonprofits have depended overwhelmingly on the grants funding from a variety of sources, including private donors, foundations and the various levels of government. However, accessing such resources always requires the work of a skilled grant writer or grant writing team. Ironically, when staff cuts happen, that person is often one of the first to go, as opposed to those providing direct services to the organizations clients and consumers.

But, you still need someone to help with finding and procuring funds. Some organizations outsource the work, hiring independent contractors to help search and apply for appropriate funding. Generally, independent grant writers work for a fee – either hourly and a percentage negotiated per job based on the size and complexity of the grant. Payment is always required in full, generally at the time the proposal is completed and submitted. No reputable grant writer will work on contingency – paid only if the proposal is ultimately funded. That’s just not good business sense.

This is a viable option for some organizations, depending on how much of the work of the organization is generally dependent upon grant funding. However, if the organization is surviving primarily from grants – never a good idea, but often the case – it can become very expensive to contract with someone to write several grants in a year’s time. On top of that, it does little to build the overall capacity of the organization — which is essential for the long-term sustainability of the organization. Additionally, in the never-ending search for funding, organizations run the risk of losing focus on their primary vision and mission as they adapt to what is increasingly becoming a funding marketplace, complete with its own economics. Organizations with human empowerment, social justice and social change agendas often find themselves challenged to compromise core organization values in order to continue to fund empowerment and social change activities. But, finding funders with similar core values, as well as the vision and passion to put their money where it can work is not the first job.

The creation of a comprehensive fund development plan is crucial to every organization. Generally, an organization will include some fund development strategies within its periodic strategic plan. However, a fund development plan is a more comprehensive plan that includes clear and quantifiable financial targets, identification of some potential and promising funding sources, clear-cut strategies for how those sources will be approached and accessed, and clearly defined responsibilities for members of the organization’s fund development team (which generally includes board members, executive and other staff and volunteers).

Organizational assessment is a critical part of fund development planning. In particular, organizational leaders need to determine the readiness of the organization for targeted fundraising

Another option holding considerable promise for both resource acquisition and organizational capacity building and sustainability is to contract with a fund development coach. Fund development coaches are usually successful grant writers, but more importantly, have the necessary skills to facilitate more comprehensive planning related to organizational funding needs. A fund development coach generally has two primary responsibilities: 1) facilitating organization stakeholders in the creation of a comprehensive fund development plan; and 2) building, training, coordinating and critiquing the work of an internal organization fund development team.

With a comprehensive plan, the fund development coach can then begin developing the team to work the plan. Developing the team can include providing group workshops or one-on-one training on all aspects of fundraising, from grant searching to initiating and nurturing relationships with potential donors. In addition, coaching can include oversight of and coordinating the team process of developing proposals (e.g. research, narrative development, evaluation design, and budget development),as well as review and critique of proposal components.

While fund development coaches work as independent contractors, with pay negotiated by the hour or per project, the benefit is that the goal is for organization members to gain valuable skills that remain with the organization even after the coach is no longer working directly with the organization. Utilizing a fund development coach can build the organization’s internal capacity, add value to and show appreciation for staff and volunteers, and more broadly distribute responsibility for the organization’s overall success. Ultimately this has the effect of improving the prospects for the organization’s long-term sustainability.