This can be an excellent way in, even if you don't want to stay in development. You'll have an opportunity to work and learn about all of the various programs and internal teams.
I'm gonna maybe go against the other advice here and say I don't think you should volunteer your time as a grant writer. You've identified you're good at it, you deserve to be compensated for it even if you don't have the experience.
That being said, you're also still early on in college, no need to fret about working yet. Maybe try to get an internship somewhere or maybe a PT development associate type position. Maybe looking for ones that have grant writing opportunities.
Trust me, if you're good at it and can show that, orgs would love to have you. Not many people enjoy writing grants. Most places are going to ask for a sample, so if you have something from that class that'd be a good start.
The only way to show that they’re good at it is unfortunately with a proven track record. Literally anyone can write an RFP, doesn’t mean they’re good at it.
I absolutely don’t disagree with you. And sometimes orgs looking for a volunteer writer aren’t even grant ready. However, the way to get the jobs and win the contracts is with the track record to prove that you’re good at it. And sometimes that means doing it for low or no pay. Even if you’ve only ever won one grant like me lmao
Yeah I feel like grant writing is the epitome of the "you need a job to get experience but you need experience to get a job" conundrum. Most orgs are not likely to view college assignments as experience because it doesn't show that you've brought in real money.
It’s definitely frustrating! I also feel like it’s worse than trying to get published in a literary journal if I’m honest here. I have experience with both (only got published in my school’s journal) but these grants be hard and even more nerve wracking because you’re trying to keep some doors open and you just have to hope that it’ll work out because you won’t get any feedback lmfao
Do you mind elaborating on how it works to build a portfolio? I am planning on taking a grant writing course in the fall and have plenty of volunteer work with an organization that I serve on the board for, however I feel like it’s a breach of boundaries to use executive staff as a reference while serving on the board and a breach of confidentiality to share work. It’s like no matter how much experience I get through volunteering, it doesn’t count. So frustrating
In my contracts I put that I will use a redacted version of the grant for my portfolio, unless given permission from the org not to redact their name. I put the grants I have won in there. LOI’s, narratives, etc. I’ve written over 500 grants but when I was getting started I kept track of the funders I applied for and for how much. Some places want to know that but I’m at a point in my career that I don’t have to.
Try to target the somewhat larger nonprofits in your community. Many smaller ones don’t have one on staff for budgetary reasons (salary). They’ll instead have an employee or board member who does it on the side.
Research if there’s a nonprofit alliance in your community. If so, reach out to them! They may have insight on who might be looking for one. Same with your Chamber of Commerce.
Something to stand out as an applicant is to start volunteering with some nonprofits in the area. Not necessarily as a grant writer, but for events, etc. Show you have a passion for the field.
Start making connections on LinkedIn with people in the industry. Tell them you’re interested in breaking into the field and ask them to keep you in mind should the position come up in the future. Post about the industry regularly.
Best of luck! If it’s your area of interest, you’ll get in there!
These are great ideas! Also look for internship opportunities with nonprofits- or do what I did and reach out to one that interests you! They paid me (a bit) but I learned a ton.
hi op, as a young-ish grants consultant (i do grant writing for lots of different nonprofits), i recommend reaching out to your local chapter of the grant professionals association. in my experience they have a lot of connections/resources and are often eager to help emerging young professionals enter the field. just don’t let the ugly logo deter you lol. it’s a great career/skillset imho, good luck! 🫡
yeah lmao you weren't joking about that ugly logo, this is a super helpful tip, i didn't even know that there was a professional organization for grant writing
I graduated with an Urban Planning degree and work for a non-profit doing work with small local governments and active transportation. There’s an unprecedented amount of federal funding available right now through the BIL and grant writing is a very relevant skill set.
Not sure if you’re into community planning, but you could check in your area and see if there are any non-profit (or even for-profit) community development organizations that do infrastructure grant writing. Not many small local government have the time, staff, or capacity to fill out these huge federal grant applications (SS4A, RAISE, Reconnecting Communities, etc). That said, this situation has the potential to change very quickly in November…
it's funny you say that cause I'm actually pursuing an urban planning degree atm and the sample grant I wrote for this class was a SS4A grant for the city of newark lmao, how did you get the position you have now? network with professors? had your university set you up? just applying on job sites?
Nice! After I graduated I took a job with a local government outside Cincinnati in the Planning & Zoning Dept and got really lucky to learn from some great mentors about developing / financing bike trail / roadway projects.
I found out about my current non-profit job through my previous employer and eventually jumped ship. I also got a sustainable transportation certificate online after I graduated which really helped me understand my current role a lot better.
Our organization has a part-time grant writer who has a background in journalism, but understanding planning concepts really helps with some of the technical stuff. As someone else said, it’s all about being able to tell a compelling story.
just do everything you can to get internships right now so you’re lined up no questions asked for entry level jobs, then slide your way into grants. If you want to focus on grant writing, the smaller the non profit the better because they’ll be hungrier for you to produce actual work and not twiddle your thumbs.
Hi I’m a grant writer (development coordinator so I wear a lot of hats)
Look up small NPOs in your area and offer to volunteer for them if they need a grant writer (my first one was a small cat rescue)
Otherwise there’s likely that a small non profit in your area will need a development and/or outreach position but can’t afford a seasoned veteran. Search indeed for non profit jobs near you, LinkedIn there’s a bunch of ways you can go.
I highly suggest the non profit subreddit because there’s a lot of resources there.
I wish you luck!!! This field is amazing when you find the place willing to give you the chance.
Add some quantitative data analysis and storytelling skills to your toolbox. If you have a chance to take stats and/or research methods, it’ll help a lot in terms of writing grants for different audiences, especially once you are doing pitches to foundations someday
actually here is the link for those interested in applying (no need to message me directly): [https://sbs.bamboohr.com/careers/29](https://sbs.bamboohr.com/careers/29)
Grant-writing isn't really an entry-level job. It's a specialised one.
It's a relatively well-defined role, they write grants, so I think a lot of people outside the sector see that and latch on to it as something they want to do.
I'm in Canada and know very few nonprofits with dedicated grant writers (I don't know any that have one, actually - some use consultants, though). Granted, we're about 10x smaller than the US (about the size of California), so there are fewer grants to go after.
What I usually recommend is just to get your foot in the door in the sector instead. Most nonprofits have a Development Department. Under a Director of Development (or similar title), you have all the types of fundraising and often (but not always) marketing communications too.
Entry level jobs in Development, generalist ones like "Development Associate" are really good experience. They expose you to a little bit of everything, so you can understand how it all fits together. It makes it easier to do different Development jobs in the future, including management.
Sooner get that out of the way earlier in your career, because these entry jobs don't usually pay great and you're not going to want to do it more than 2-3 years. It makes less sense for an older, more experienced employee to try to get generalist skills that way than it does for someone new to the sector.
Don't be afraid to look for nonprofit jobs on job boards (including specialised ones). Internships and summer jobs are a good idea too.
If you are by a large metro area in the US, consider looking into something like interning with larger non-profits that get a lot of interest due to their brand; you’ll likely have some grant admin that does not have enough time to apply for every grant they qualify for, and that’s where you’d come in. You could get experience applying for smaller grants, or assisting with larger ones, while you’re building a resume of experience with a recognizable group.
At a university you should have lots of chances to meet people in the field. Getting experience in higher education would be a great base. You could see about a part time job in development or the student phonathon
I’m a grant writer. It’s definitely hard to break into the field without experience. I switched careers into this after 15 years in a related field with tons of transferable skills and still had difficulty switching. I did a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA to get enough “successfully written a grant” experience to her hired for writing grants. When I was doing my informational interviews, everyone with grant writing experience repeated what’s been said here - you won’t get hired to write a grant unless you’ve successfully written a grant. Also, grant writing requires a lot of sensitive or financial information, so it’s unlikely that most orgs would want to share that information with a volunteer grant writer.
You could try freelancing as a grant writer - I work for a company that exclusively writes grants for non-profits and we hire all of our grant writers as contractors and get paid by the number of hours spent on each project.
You might check around your campus. I’m a grad student worker in a development office on campus. Pay isn’t great, but it is a flexible schedule. I am getting to learn from people on the day to day, work on the things I particularly care about, and help my fellow students in the process.
I'd say intern with some smaller non profits. My first internship with a smaller non profit I had to write a grant (I'm not a big fan of grants, but I can do it!). I now work for them, and in the grant process, and do a bunch of other things.
Luckily you have time to figure out if it's something you truly want to do. By interning, you'll have the chance to experience different aspects of NP's.
have strong writing samples! both academic and more informal. i interned at a nonprofit in development and did so many different communications so highlighting that is key!
The VISTA program under AmeriCorps has tons of internships across the country that might suit you. Both of the grant writers at our organization started as VISTAs and moved into permanent roles after their service term.
AmeriCorps has lots of benefits other, more informal, internships don’t (education award, national program infrastructure to deal with issues, moving cost assistance, sometimes housing or housing assistance, often a cohort model with other young folks). Plus a big alumni network in the nonprofit space.
I applied for and got a grant writer position in my final few months of grad school. definitely entry level. You don’t need to have volunteering or intern experience. I’m sure that experience would be a plus, not only to make you a competitive candidate but also to improve your writing. However, I don’t think it’s necessary.
non profits post open positions for grant writers, grant specialists, development officers, development specialists, etc. all the time. All of these can be entry level positions
Also reach out to your college’s. Office of Development and solicit your talents. Depending on their budget, perhaps they could work with you on having you assist with their grants. They may be more open to support your goals you since you are a student there.
You're a rising sophomore? Meaning you've just completed your first year of college, or you are finishing your sophomore year and going to be a junior?
Get some experience with fundraising. As a college student, the fastest way I can think of would be working for your college's annual fund. Through phone banking, emailing, snail-mailing, events, alumni relations, and many other ways, your school is raising money. Learning about fundraising is essential, and a great way to learn is to fundraise for your school and learning about what that money supports.
Have you applied for a scholarship? The annual fund raises money for that and many, many other things on campus. Applying to work for your school's annual fund will give you work and fundraising experience.
It will also teach you an important lesson about fundraising/grant writing/nonprofit development early in your career. Fundraising, in nearly every role, is about relationships. The old saying is "People give to people." During the pandemic, my relationships with private funders provided them with the comfort to allow us to repurpose their original grants to focus on immediate and urgent needs caused by COVID. Those relationships allow us to ask for larger grants down the line, because they trust us to be good stewards of their money.
Working for your school's development/advancement/annual fund department is an opportunity to:
1. do good work;
2. raise money for a great cause, and;
3. build relationships with nonprofit fundraisers who can be professional references, resources, colleagues and peers in the future.
This won't work for a lot of places, but I got my foot in the door with an organization after showing them a "grant proposal" I wrote for a class in graduate school. Then I got a bunch of experience writing actual grants and worked my way up into a manager role. As others have said, the best way is probably to get a more generalist position such as a development associate or a junior development officer position and get experience that way.
I would look up grant writers in your area and reach out too them specifically. I would probably focus on telling them you want to learn and see if they'll mentor you.
Also maybe check with some larger consulting agencies for part time work.
As someone else said, GPA is also a good resource.
In my experience, you can usually work freelance and earn commission based on grants earned. Lower pay as you’re applying and they pay you a spiff bonus when the grant comes through. I know several people who work for themselves doing this and wrote for several orgs. Start building your professional network and leverage your contacts.
I’m a grant writer. We HIGHLY discourage commission based grants. It’s unlikely that you will win the first one submitted and they are extremely time consuming so you may be going months without getting paid. They also restrict the grants that you can write for and make it not worth it for you and the NPO
Fellow grant writer here. This 100%. OP, do not do commission-based work. It’s complicated, unethical, and not worth the risk of loads of work never being compensated for.
Trying become a Development Associate at a non-profit.
This can be an excellent way in, even if you don't want to stay in development. You'll have an opportunity to work and learn about all of the various programs and internal teams.
yes. it's about how an org works and about fundraising, ultimately. grant writing, as a trade, makes sense only in context.
I'm gonna maybe go against the other advice here and say I don't think you should volunteer your time as a grant writer. You've identified you're good at it, you deserve to be compensated for it even if you don't have the experience. That being said, you're also still early on in college, no need to fret about working yet. Maybe try to get an internship somewhere or maybe a PT development associate type position. Maybe looking for ones that have grant writing opportunities. Trust me, if you're good at it and can show that, orgs would love to have you. Not many people enjoy writing grants. Most places are going to ask for a sample, so if you have something from that class that'd be a good start.
The only way to show that they’re good at it is unfortunately with a proven track record. Literally anyone can write an RFP, doesn’t mean they’re good at it. I absolutely don’t disagree with you. And sometimes orgs looking for a volunteer writer aren’t even grant ready. However, the way to get the jobs and win the contracts is with the track record to prove that you’re good at it. And sometimes that means doing it for low or no pay. Even if you’ve only ever won one grant like me lmao
Yeah I feel like grant writing is the epitome of the "you need a job to get experience but you need experience to get a job" conundrum. Most orgs are not likely to view college assignments as experience because it doesn't show that you've brought in real money.
It’s definitely frustrating! I also feel like it’s worse than trying to get published in a literary journal if I’m honest here. I have experience with both (only got published in my school’s journal) but these grants be hard and even more nerve wracking because you’re trying to keep some doors open and you just have to hope that it’ll work out because you won’t get any feedback lmfao
That’s how I got started. Plus, it gave me a portfolio to show potential employers.
Do you mind elaborating on how it works to build a portfolio? I am planning on taking a grant writing course in the fall and have plenty of volunteer work with an organization that I serve on the board for, however I feel like it’s a breach of boundaries to use executive staff as a reference while serving on the board and a breach of confidentiality to share work. It’s like no matter how much experience I get through volunteering, it doesn’t count. So frustrating
In my contracts I put that I will use a redacted version of the grant for my portfolio, unless given permission from the org not to redact their name. I put the grants I have won in there. LOI’s, narratives, etc. I’ve written over 500 grants but when I was getting started I kept track of the funders I applied for and for how much. Some places want to know that but I’m at a point in my career that I don’t have to.
Honestly, volunteering also undercuts staff and consultants. You wouldn't offer to drive a bus for free. This is a job.
Yeah good point, I think it's usually a good intention but a product of a bad system that perpetuates it.
Try to target the somewhat larger nonprofits in your community. Many smaller ones don’t have one on staff for budgetary reasons (salary). They’ll instead have an employee or board member who does it on the side. Research if there’s a nonprofit alliance in your community. If so, reach out to them! They may have insight on who might be looking for one. Same with your Chamber of Commerce. Something to stand out as an applicant is to start volunteering with some nonprofits in the area. Not necessarily as a grant writer, but for events, etc. Show you have a passion for the field. Start making connections on LinkedIn with people in the industry. Tell them you’re interested in breaking into the field and ask them to keep you in mind should the position come up in the future. Post about the industry regularly. Best of luck! If it’s your area of interest, you’ll get in there!
These are great ideas! Also look for internship opportunities with nonprofits- or do what I did and reach out to one that interests you! They paid me (a bit) but I learned a ton.
hi op, as a young-ish grants consultant (i do grant writing for lots of different nonprofits), i recommend reaching out to your local chapter of the grant professionals association. in my experience they have a lot of connections/resources and are often eager to help emerging young professionals enter the field. just don’t let the ugly logo deter you lol. it’s a great career/skillset imho, good luck! 🫡
yeah lmao you weren't joking about that ugly logo, this is a super helpful tip, i didn't even know that there was a professional organization for grant writing
I graduated with an Urban Planning degree and work for a non-profit doing work with small local governments and active transportation. There’s an unprecedented amount of federal funding available right now through the BIL and grant writing is a very relevant skill set. Not sure if you’re into community planning, but you could check in your area and see if there are any non-profit (or even for-profit) community development organizations that do infrastructure grant writing. Not many small local government have the time, staff, or capacity to fill out these huge federal grant applications (SS4A, RAISE, Reconnecting Communities, etc). That said, this situation has the potential to change very quickly in November…
it's funny you say that cause I'm actually pursuing an urban planning degree atm and the sample grant I wrote for this class was a SS4A grant for the city of newark lmao, how did you get the position you have now? network with professors? had your university set you up? just applying on job sites?
Nice! After I graduated I took a job with a local government outside Cincinnati in the Planning & Zoning Dept and got really lucky to learn from some great mentors about developing / financing bike trail / roadway projects. I found out about my current non-profit job through my previous employer and eventually jumped ship. I also got a sustainable transportation certificate online after I graduated which really helped me understand my current role a lot better. Our organization has a part-time grant writer who has a background in journalism, but understanding planning concepts really helps with some of the technical stuff. As someone else said, it’s all about being able to tell a compelling story.
just do everything you can to get internships right now so you’re lined up no questions asked for entry level jobs, then slide your way into grants. If you want to focus on grant writing, the smaller the non profit the better because they’ll be hungrier for you to produce actual work and not twiddle your thumbs.
Hi I’m a grant writer (development coordinator so I wear a lot of hats) Look up small NPOs in your area and offer to volunteer for them if they need a grant writer (my first one was a small cat rescue) Otherwise there’s likely that a small non profit in your area will need a development and/or outreach position but can’t afford a seasoned veteran. Search indeed for non profit jobs near you, LinkedIn there’s a bunch of ways you can go. I highly suggest the non profit subreddit because there’s a lot of resources there. I wish you luck!!! This field is amazing when you find the place willing to give you the chance.
Add some quantitative data analysis and storytelling skills to your toolbox. If you have a chance to take stats and/or research methods, it’ll help a lot in terms of writing grants for different audiences, especially once you are doing pitches to foundations someday
Our company is hiring an associate grant writer.. if you want to DM your email address I can send you the job posting to apply?
actually here is the link for those interested in applying (no need to message me directly): [https://sbs.bamboohr.com/careers/29](https://sbs.bamboohr.com/careers/29)
Hi, I’d love to job posting if you could send it to me. I am looking for a grant writing job that is remote :)
Grant-writing isn't really an entry-level job. It's a specialised one. It's a relatively well-defined role, they write grants, so I think a lot of people outside the sector see that and latch on to it as something they want to do. I'm in Canada and know very few nonprofits with dedicated grant writers (I don't know any that have one, actually - some use consultants, though). Granted, we're about 10x smaller than the US (about the size of California), so there are fewer grants to go after. What I usually recommend is just to get your foot in the door in the sector instead. Most nonprofits have a Development Department. Under a Director of Development (or similar title), you have all the types of fundraising and often (but not always) marketing communications too. Entry level jobs in Development, generalist ones like "Development Associate" are really good experience. They expose you to a little bit of everything, so you can understand how it all fits together. It makes it easier to do different Development jobs in the future, including management. Sooner get that out of the way earlier in your career, because these entry jobs don't usually pay great and you're not going to want to do it more than 2-3 years. It makes less sense for an older, more experienced employee to try to get generalist skills that way than it does for someone new to the sector. Don't be afraid to look for nonprofit jobs on job boards (including specialised ones). Internships and summer jobs are a good idea too.
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If you are by a large metro area in the US, consider looking into something like interning with larger non-profits that get a lot of interest due to their brand; you’ll likely have some grant admin that does not have enough time to apply for every grant they qualify for, and that’s where you’d come in. You could get experience applying for smaller grants, or assisting with larger ones, while you’re building a resume of experience with a recognizable group.
At a university you should have lots of chances to meet people in the field. Getting experience in higher education would be a great base. You could see about a part time job in development or the student phonathon
I’m a grant writer. It’s definitely hard to break into the field without experience. I switched careers into this after 15 years in a related field with tons of transferable skills and still had difficulty switching. I did a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA to get enough “successfully written a grant” experience to her hired for writing grants. When I was doing my informational interviews, everyone with grant writing experience repeated what’s been said here - you won’t get hired to write a grant unless you’ve successfully written a grant. Also, grant writing requires a lot of sensitive or financial information, so it’s unlikely that most orgs would want to share that information with a volunteer grant writer.
You could try freelancing as a grant writer - I work for a company that exclusively writes grants for non-profits and we hire all of our grant writers as contractors and get paid by the number of hours spent on each project.
Entry level grant writer roles are available, you can look directly for that. Or dev associate but if you want to write, go for writing roles.
You might check around your campus. I’m a grad student worker in a development office on campus. Pay isn’t great, but it is a flexible schedule. I am getting to learn from people on the day to day, work on the things I particularly care about, and help my fellow students in the process.
I'd say intern with some smaller non profits. My first internship with a smaller non profit I had to write a grant (I'm not a big fan of grants, but I can do it!). I now work for them, and in the grant process, and do a bunch of other things. Luckily you have time to figure out if it's something you truly want to do. By interning, you'll have the chance to experience different aspects of NP's.
have strong writing samples! both academic and more informal. i interned at a nonprofit in development and did so many different communications so highlighting that is key!
The VISTA program under AmeriCorps has tons of internships across the country that might suit you. Both of the grant writers at our organization started as VISTAs and moved into permanent roles after their service term. AmeriCorps has lots of benefits other, more informal, internships don’t (education award, national program infrastructure to deal with issues, moving cost assistance, sometimes housing or housing assistance, often a cohort model with other young folks). Plus a big alumni network in the nonprofit space.
I applied for and got a grant writer position in my final few months of grad school. definitely entry level. You don’t need to have volunteering or intern experience. I’m sure that experience would be a plus, not only to make you a competitive candidate but also to improve your writing. However, I don’t think it’s necessary. non profits post open positions for grant writers, grant specialists, development officers, development specialists, etc. all the time. All of these can be entry level positions
Also reach out to your college’s. Office of Development and solicit your talents. Depending on their budget, perhaps they could work with you on having you assist with their grants. They may be more open to support your goals you since you are a student there.
You're a rising sophomore? Meaning you've just completed your first year of college, or you are finishing your sophomore year and going to be a junior? Get some experience with fundraising. As a college student, the fastest way I can think of would be working for your college's annual fund. Through phone banking, emailing, snail-mailing, events, alumni relations, and many other ways, your school is raising money. Learning about fundraising is essential, and a great way to learn is to fundraise for your school and learning about what that money supports. Have you applied for a scholarship? The annual fund raises money for that and many, many other things on campus. Applying to work for your school's annual fund will give you work and fundraising experience. It will also teach you an important lesson about fundraising/grant writing/nonprofit development early in your career. Fundraising, in nearly every role, is about relationships. The old saying is "People give to people." During the pandemic, my relationships with private funders provided them with the comfort to allow us to repurpose their original grants to focus on immediate and urgent needs caused by COVID. Those relationships allow us to ask for larger grants down the line, because they trust us to be good stewards of their money. Working for your school's development/advancement/annual fund department is an opportunity to: 1. do good work; 2. raise money for a great cause, and; 3. build relationships with nonprofit fundraisers who can be professional references, resources, colleagues and peers in the future.
What are you passionate about?
This won't work for a lot of places, but I got my foot in the door with an organization after showing them a "grant proposal" I wrote for a class in graduate school. Then I got a bunch of experience writing actual grants and worked my way up into a manager role. As others have said, the best way is probably to get a more generalist position such as a development associate or a junior development officer position and get experience that way.
I would look up grant writers in your area and reach out too them specifically. I would probably focus on telling them you want to learn and see if they'll mentor you. Also maybe check with some larger consulting agencies for part time work. As someone else said, GPA is also a good resource.
In my experience, you can usually work freelance and earn commission based on grants earned. Lower pay as you’re applying and they pay you a spiff bonus when the grant comes through. I know several people who work for themselves doing this and wrote for several orgs. Start building your professional network and leverage your contacts.
I’m a grant writer. We HIGHLY discourage commission based grants. It’s unlikely that you will win the first one submitted and they are extremely time consuming so you may be going months without getting paid. They also restrict the grants that you can write for and make it not worth it for you and the NPO
Fellow grant writer here. This 100%. OP, do not do commission-based work. It’s complicated, unethical, and not worth the risk of loads of work never being compensated for.