How to Choose a Grant Writer Who Actually Wins Money

There is a category of grant writer who will write you a beautiful proposal that articulates your mission clearly, submits on time, and never gets funded. They are not bad writers. They are the wrong hire. Winning grant writers do something different, and it is spottable if you know what to look for.

Ask for their win rate — and the denominator

"I've raised over $10 million" tells you nothing without knowing how many proposals it took. A strong grant writer working on well-fitted opportunities lands 40–60% of applications. Anything lower probably means they're chasing poorly fitted funders. Anything much higher and they may be applying only where you'd win without them.

Ask what they'll say no to

The best grant writers will refuse to submit to funders where you don't fit. A writer who's happy to spray applications at every open RFP is telling you they get paid by the proposal, not the outcome. You want the one who says, "That funder has never funded an organization your size. Let's skip it."

Ask how they build relationships with program officers

Foundation grants are relationship businesses dressed up as writing businesses. A seasoned grant writer will describe how they'd reach out to a program officer before writing a word, what questions they'd ask, and how that shapes the proposal. If their answer is "I read the guidelines and write to them," keep interviewing.

Ask them to critique your last proposal

Give them a proposal you submitted that didn't get funded. A strong writer will tell you in ten minutes what was weak: fuzzy outcomes, missing evaluation plan, no theory of change, mismatched budget. If they only offer sentence-level edits, they're a copywriter, not a grant strategist.

Ask about their research process

Prospect research is 60% of grant success. A serious writer uses Foundation Directory Online, Instrumentl, Candid, or their own database, and can talk fluently about how they narrow the universe of 100,000+ funders to the 20 who might actually fund you. If they rely on Google, that's your answer.

Understand the fee structure

Ethical grant writers charge hourly ($75–$200), per-proposal ($1,500–$10,000), or on a monthly retainer ($2,000–$8,000). They do not charge a percentage of funds raised — that violates the AFP Code of Ethical Standards and every credible funder's rules. If a writer offers contingency pricing, that's disqualifying, not attractive.

Set expectations honestly

Even a great grant writer needs 3–6 months to produce meaningful results. Research, cultivation, and submission cycles take time. If someone promises fast wins, they're either lucky or misleading you. Budget for a year before you decide if the hire is working.

The one question that decides it

Ask: "If I hire you, what happens in the first 30 days before you write anything?" A weak writer will start drafting. A strong writer will spend that month interviewing your staff, understanding your outcomes data, mapping your funder landscape, and killing proposals that shouldn't be written. Hire the second one.