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August 18, 2004
Will You Work for Free?
Like most freelance grantwriters, I am frequently asked if I will write a grant proposal on a contingency, commission or percentage basis. In plain language, these people are asking me to spend many hours, days, or weeks working on a proposal for which I will get paid only if the grant is awarded. How would you like to go to work each day, put in your full eight (or whatever) hours, and have your boss tell you that you might get a paycheck in two or three months, but only if five conditions are met -- and you only have control over one of those conditions? I suspect that most people would find another job FAST! Who wants to work for free?
That is the case with grants. The grantwriter has control of one thing -- writing a good grant proposal. And this is assuming that the grantwriter receives all the information that he/she needs to prepare a good proposal. The grantwriter has no control over the many other factors that are considered by funding organizations in determining whether or not a particular grant will be awarded.
In addition, many people and organizations think that once they receive a grant, they will be able to use part of the grant money to pay the grantwriter. But this is exceedingly rare. The government won't let you do it, and neither will most non-government funders. So where are these organizations going to get the money to pay the grantwriter who has already done the work? If they didn't have the money to pay the grantwriter then, where will they get it after the grant is awarded? It's almost certain that it won't be from the grant.
I get asked to work "for free" so often that I've included the following on my Frequently Asked Questions page:
We can't pay you now, but when we win the grant/contract, we'll pay you a commission or a percentage of the amount.
This is called "working on a contingency basis," and it's something that I don't do. That is, I get paid at the time that I do the work, whether or not my client wins the grant or contract. The primary reason for this is that a proposal is only one of several factors in an award decision. Many excellent proposals do not get funded despite everyone's hard work and best efforts. And although there seem to be many rumors to the contrary, in actuality there are very few proposal writers who will agree to work on a contingency basis. With Government contracts, you cannot include the cost of proposal preparation in your budget as a direct cost -- it must be part of your company's overhead or it must be paid out of your profits. With regard to grants, most foundations and other grantmaking organizations will not permit you to use grant funds to pay a grantwriter.
Yesterday I came across an excellent article on this very subject. It's written by Goodwin Deacon, Ph.D., founder of the Puget Sound Grantwriters Association. The title of the article is Percentage Fees: The Troll Under the Bridge. In my opinion, this article should be mandatory reading for anyone who is considering asking a grantwriter to "work for free."
Posted by Deborah at August 18, 2004 07:47 AM
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