Feedback
Perfect for first-time grant writers and small budgets, our team uses a rubric to give you feedback on your grant application thru the eyes of a funder.
Submit for Feedback
Seek Funding With Confidence!
Schedule a Discovery CallSupport for Existing Funding Programs
Proofing
Need more confidence on your high-stakes grant proposal? Proofing means we'll leave suggestions and corrections throughout your application down to the suggested character count.
Submit for ProofingProspecting
#1 Requested Topic in our grant writing workshops is finding your next funder. Let us find 3-5 candidates by comparing your goals to funder missions and opportunities.
Submit for ProspectingStart Fresh or Reinvent
1
Get Grant Ready
The first thing we teach in our grant writing courses is all the things that come BEFORE the actual writing. Let us help you with road mapping your grant plans.
- Proof of Entity Status
- Agency History
- Board Roster
- Approved Budget
- Strategic Plan
- List of Have's and Have-Not's
2
Program Development
- What's the problem?
- How do you address it?
- What change you plan to see?
- Fiscal planning
- Inventory of similar services
- Evaluation implementation
3
Prospecting for Funders
From “Data Mining” programs and census information to “prospecting” for funders, our team can research what your organization needs to be successful.
- Industry Searching
- Alignment
- Making Contact
4
Writing
We provide support where you need it. Anything from a professional review to a complete written grant. Leverage just the support you need that utilizes your resources efficiently.
- First Draft
- Data Mining
- Review and Comment
- Second Draft
- Final Adjustments
5
Submit with Confidence
Beyond Submission:
- Implementation
- Awarded Grant Management
- Annual Reports
- Swipe Files and Templates
- Maintaining Rapport
- Grant Strategy and Tracking
Build Your Confidence
Choose Your Path
One-on-One
This solution works for agencies that want our team to do the heavy lifting for you.
Contact Us
Group
Virtual meet ups and live webinars are awesome places to get feedback from the experts and network with peers.
Learn More
Solo
You CAN do this work solo... Mostly. Follow our course and feel free to check in for one-off consults and coaching.
Reserve a CallCore Services
Consult
We’ll take the time to understand your organization, proposal, and provide feedback in real time.
Prospecting
Prospecting can take a lot of time, but the right one (or three) is a huge payoff! Let us help you look for your next funder.
Proofing
Perhaps you want to write the narratives yourself, but need an experienced professional to do the review and comment – we are here for it!
Writing
You have the idea, we can write your narratives for you in a way that appeals to your funder. We’ll provide a first draft, get your feedback, then provide a final version.
Development
Often our agencies have GREAT ideas, but need help sorting out the details. We can help with the program development – doable for your team and increasing your chances at grant awards.
Evaluation
Along with program development, we can help you structure your evaluation implementation plan and tools.
Management
If managing prospecting, writing, and/or reporting feels like a bit too much for you, our team can set up a structure that works for you or be the managers of those timelines.
Reports
Your funders are going to look for updates and reports throughout or at the end of a grant cycle. We can catch you up and make your deliverable informative and beautiful.
What You Can Expect
Book a Discovery Call
We’ll ask you about what your grant cycle is currently like, where your pain points and needs are, and we’ll be transparent about pricing and next steps.
Onboarding
We’ll ask you to share what documents and data you currently have, while we get you set up on our project management tool with an outline of tasks and timelines.
Draft - Review - Draft - Submit
We provide you with a first very rough draft of the grant proposal you are planning to submit. We ask that you provide review and comment to ensure we are going in the correct direction. With those comments, we do a second complete draft and together we do final tweaks until you are ready to submit the final version.
Reassess the Relationship
At this point, we ask if you’d like to keep working together and, if so, what additional support or caps would you like to have in place. Typically we see clients ask for additional prospecting for funds or request we start drafting the next proposal, but we also get requests for assistance with program development or program evaluation planning.
Testimonials
Grant Seekers Say
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for providing probably the best course I have attended for grant writing. I have attended several over my 5 year tenure here at VIND and this, by far, has provided so much more than I ever expected.
I think that is such a great service, especially when we read and re-read our proposals and our eyes get cross-eyed; a fresh set of eyes would be so helpful. … It made sense to a non-grant writer and was easy to follow and understand.
This class has reframed my perspective on the way I approach work. … This class reminded me how important it is to build a proposal out of a budget, rather than the other way around.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Any Level Client
What does it mean to create a grant management "roadmap"?
We like to see your organization have a vision and implementation plan for grant seeking. This plan would include funding streams with their contacts, open dates, due dates, approximate request amounts, and a general idea of what the dollars will be used towards.
What do you mean by "data mining"?
Many foundations and government grants ask the applicant for various data figures to support the request. Sometimes this data is needed from your internal statistics, which we can help collect, and sometimes external data needs to be sourced from census to subject matter information.
Do you write grants?
Yes, our team can draft the grant proposal for you. We require you submit it as most require an agency representative to electronically sign the application.
Do you draft budgets?
We can help draft budgets but we will need you to provide supportive information such as staff wages, insurance amounts, and other agency specific data.
Do you do evaluation plans?
We will create your evaluation plan, create the survey questions, and we can create the infrastructure for you. However, we do not contact your clients.
Grant Seeking Beginners
What do I need for my first grant proposal?
Besides a funding source, you’ll need items including but not limited to your IRS 501(c)3 Declaration Letter, mission statement, project plan, budget, and internal/external data. If you are asking for equipment or consultants, you’ll need quotes.
How do I find a funding source?
For your first one, we recommend looking at a local community foundation or credit union. Some chains like Wal-Mart and Home Depot offer grants as well – great place to get your feet wet!
After that, we implement strategies with search engines, networking, 990-PF investigation, etc.
How do you keep everything organized?
There are certainly a lot of moving pieces to maintaining grant proposal processes! We can show you a few strategies, but find each person and agency need it managed uniquely.
We have used Google Sheets but currently use a project management tool calledClickUp (affiliate link).
How can I learn this at my pace?
Go to our learning page to read more about our options for you. We have courses, work books, and webinars that provide instructions and guidance at your pace.
Advanced Grant Seekers
We are trying to level up our grant award amounts. Do you have any advice?
Typically when you get to this level, we see agencies shift to government contracts – sometimes this is a grant process but not always. This could be from your municipality, county, or state institutions.
We’ve also seen clients shift to larger philanthropic entities, which you’ll need personal introductions to program officers start courting those dollars.
We also recommend that your budgets reflect the need for this, including growing 990s/audits. This gives your funder the confidence that you are managing your impact dollars well.
If you want to talk about your strategy, get on our calendar.
Should we expand our grant management team?
THAT’S a good question.
Marie here: It really depends on your team, agency size, number of grants to manage, etc. I would love to talk to you about it.
Generally, I’ve recommended no. Often I see too much put on the grant management person or two, so I’d rather see appropriate delegation before expanding your team.
I also recommend no because there should be expanded fundraising efforts and fee structures instead of more grant seeking and tracking efforts for the health of your agency. I’m happy to discuss this with you as well.