Hotline

Calculating fees as a freelance grant-proposal writer

Moving into fund raising from a career in corporate grant making

By Rebecca Gardyn

The Chronicle's Philanthropy Careers section asks its readers to submit questions about job hunting, recruiting, and management challenges in the nonprofit world. In our bimonthly advice column, we respond to some of those inquiries with tips about resources and recommendations from experts.

Previous editions of Hotline are available online. Send your questions about job hunting, recruiting, or managing in the nonprofit world to hotline@philanthropy.com.

Q. I have worked as a grant-proposal writer for years and am now interested in doing such work as a consultant. However, I have no idea what to charge. Any advice?

A. To give you a ballpark figure, freelance grant-proposal writers generally charge between $60 and $150 per hour, says Gail Vertz, executive director of the American Association of Grant Professionals, in Kansas City, Kan. However, within that range, she says, fees vary tremendously depending upon a consultant's location, the needs in his or her community, and what other local consultants are charging.

To find out what the going rate is in your region, you may need to do a little digging. Ms. Vertz recommends calling a few nonprofit groups to ask what they typically pay, or contacting your state's or region's nonprofit association or your local unemployment office to see if they collect such information. (For a listing of state and regional nonprofit organizations, visit the National Council of Nonprofit Associations' Web site.). You can also find a listing of unemployment and Department of Labor offices by state online.

Since you have been working in the field already, you can probably get a general idea of what your skills are worth in your market by calculating what your current full-time job pays you by the hour. Or check out Salary.com, which lists the median base pay for grant-proposal writers in different parts of the country, suggests Ms. Vertz. For instance, grant-proposal writers in New York, according to Salary.com's employer-reported data, are paid a median salary of $69,593, while their counterparts in Oklahoma City are paid a median of $56,045.

Keep in mind, though, that these salaries are for full-time jobs, which typically come with valuable benefits such as health insurance and paid vacation time, not to mention administrative support, equipment, and supplies. As a freelance consultant, you will need to factor into your fees these sorts of additional costs.

Probably the best way to figure out what the going rate is in your area, however, is to talk with other consultants, says Allison Trimarco, a freelance fund-raising consultant in Bordentown, N.J., who started her own business in 2001. Joining membership organizations, such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the American Association of Grant Professionals, or smaller groups, such as a local chapter of Women in Development, and attending seminars and conferences with others in the business can provide some perspective, says Ms. Trimarco. "Getting involved with these groups is a great investment — not only can you get the lay of the land, financially and otherwise, from more experienced consultants, but you can usually get business referrals from them as well," she says.

Regardless of what the "average" rate is, she adds, consider how difficult you think it will be for you to attract clients. Do you already have several opportunities coming your way, or will you have to go out and beat the bushes? If the latter, you might want to keep your fees relatively low to start.

"I started my freelance business after moving to a new area, so I had no reputation and very minimal contacts," says Ms. Trimarco. "While I had a good track record in my previous city, anyone who hired me in my new location would be taking a big chance since I was an unknown quantity. So I lowered my hourly rate as one way of convincing them to take that chance."

She also did some work for a flat fee, she says, which helped attract new clients by eliminating any mystery about what her services would cost them once a job was completed. "Of course, in some cases my hourly rate ended up being very low when all was said and done. But I tried to focus on building the business," she says. "Once clients saw how good the product was, they were happy to absorb rate increases in the future." In addition, she notes, these early clients referred her to new ones.

Ms. Trimarco suggests that you develop an informal sliding scale, so that you aren't charging organizations with $2-million budgets the same rate as those with $200,000 budgets. "If you always charge a very high rate, a small organization won't ever be able to hire you, and if you always charge a low rate, you'll feel cheated when working for a big group," she says. "The idea is to settle on a rate that feels fair to everyone involved in each specific situation. If someone asks for the same rate as what you've offered another organization, you can decide whether or not you want to do it. Part of the beauty of being self-employed is having the power to make these decisions for yourself."

Above all else, remember — you are not a nonprofit group.

"You can, and should, still care about the missions of the organizations that you help raise money for, but you also have to have the confidence to ask to be paid a reasonable wage," says Ms. Trimarco. "No one should be getting rich from nonprofit grant-writing, but if you want to make a living at this, you can't afford to just break even."

For more information about the pros and cons of freelancing, check out "Self-Employed Consultants: What Works and What Doesn't" (The Chronicle, December 12, 2002).

Q. Since a layoff four years ago from a corporation's grant-making office, I have been struggling to find a full-time nonprofit job. I have more than 20 years in corporate grant making and marketing. I have had three temporary, part-time jobs since my layoff, two of them in the nonprofit field, and have tried to create a network of fund-raising contacts in my area. My problem is that I'm stuck between two extremes: my long years of experience, which I've been told means I should apply for senior-level positions, and my focus on corporate grants (and lack of major-gifts experience), which I've been told relegates me to midlevel jobs. What can I do to promote myself better and land a position?

A. Before you can figure out how to promote yourself "better" to employers, you first need to clarify what your career goals are, says Kathleen Lago, director of annual giving and alumni relations at Marymount College, in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. Exactly what type of job do you seek, and in which part of the nonprofit field? Are you interested in working for a religious institution, a hospital, a university or college, or a social-service organization? And if, for instance, you are interested in higher education, do you want to work in advancement services, annual giving, alumni relations, major gifts, or grant-proposal writing?

"I don't think you have to home in on your focus too narrowly — you need to be open to a variety of opportunities — but I do believe you need to have some definite ideas about what you think you will find gratifying," says Ms. Lago, who worked for 12 years in corporate marketing before making the switch to nonprofit work last August. "Otherwise, potential employers will think that you don't even have a basic understanding of what makes a nonprofit tick, which is an obvious deterrent to your landing a job."

You say that some people have told you to apply for senior-level positions, but if you have never worked in development at a nonprofit organization before, you can't realistically apply for a leadership position. "You do need to get your feet wet somewhere," says Ms. Lago. Rather than thinking in terms of being "relegated" to a midlevel position, however, she suggests looking at such a job as an opportunity to gain valuable experience for use in future professional endeavors. "While I am currently in a position that is somewhat lateral to the positions I held in the corporate world, I am learning a lot because I have opportunities for hands-on work as well as campaign management," she says. "I view my position as a steppingstone to acquiring skills and expanding my career horizons."

Ms. Lago also suggests that you enroll, as she did, in a few fund-raising courses, both as a way to learn some valuable skills and to help you win favor with potential employers. "I not only found the classroom experience beneficial on a practical level, but I believe it increased my credibility in the eyes of prospective employers, because they saw that I was seriously committed to nonprofit work," she says. "Anything you can do to demonstrate your dedication to skills transfer will help you tremendously."

Consider also doing some volunteer work while you continue your job search, suggests Ramona Baker, a management consultant in Indianapolis who works for nonprofit clients. Ms. Baker published a study in November on baby boomers who leave the corporate world for the nonprofit one. "Volunteering is a great way to meet other people who are involved in nonprofit organizations, and an advantageous way to find out about job openings," says Ms. Baker, who before becoming a consultant spent 25 years as a charity leader, most recently as the chief executive officer of the Arts Council of Indianapolis.

Indeed, Ms. Baker suggests contacting your local arts council or United Way to see if they would be interested in having you serve on a grant-proposal review panel.

"Most nonprofits that distribute public or private funds are looking for folks with experience in the area of grants and funding, and you certainly have that experience," says Ms. Baker. "That would be another way to network with people in the nonprofit area in which you are interested, as well as a chance to be seen for your skills in this area."

While you have many assets that nonprofit groups may find very attractive — particularly your experience in marketing and your firsthand knowledge about what corporate grant makers are looking for — you can't just sit on your laurels, particularly when you are attempting to make the transition into a new career. Employers don't just want to know what skills you have, but how the skills you have can help them, says Ms. Lago: "Learn how to tell your professional story in a manner that is interesting and engaging, and refrain from just rattling off a litany of job experiences and skills that will not help prospective employers clearly see how your background has prepared you for the position you are seeking."

Most important, be sure to convey your genuine passion for the nonprofit world. Says Ms. Lago: "Make certain that they know that your reasons for entering the field have to do entirely with your dedication to this line of work, and not with any suggestion that you're trying to 'take a break' from what may be perceived as a harsher, colder corporate environment."

Q. How much is given annually to philanthropic organizations in the United States?

A. In 2004, charitable organizations in the United States received $248.5-billion in donations, according to the most current findings from the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, as reported in its annual report, Giving USA. You can read The Chronicle's full report, "Giving Ticks Upward" (June 23, 2005). Data for 2005 is scheduled to be released in June. For more information, visit the association's Web site.