What Do You Get When You Pay For a Professional Grant Writer?

Hello and wishing you a very happy 2023!

Welcome back to Sunflower’s monthly newsletter and a brand-new year. We are excited to be here with you and see what 2023 has in store for all of us!

Sometimes I am asked why grant writing can cost so much money, and what you are left with if your grant is, unfortunately, not successfully funded.

These are good questions.

First, let’s address why grant writing can sometimes seem expensive.

You are hiring our expertise because we write so many grants, we know things like best practices and have established relationships with Foundations, and it is something we can take off your plate to help free up your valuable time.

Grant writing is not just grant writing. It’s really grant production, which is a process that involves initial research to find the right Foundations, specific grant research, writing, editing, submitting the grant, and connecting with the Foundation before and after the grant is submitted. Also, grant writing is a highly skilled service and getting the perfect research and words to all come together into a great product takes some time.

At Sunflower, we do an exceptional job of getting to know our clients so that we feel like staff members, instead of just hired contractors, to write a grant that feels like it is speaking directly to the thing you are most passionate about.

We are efficient though too, and if there are ways that we can reuse materials we have created for you previously, or research that has already been accomplished, we always capitalize on that. So, the more grants you do with us, the more your time spent per grant goes down.

Second, if you don’t get your grant funded, you can still use the document that your grant writer has created for several other things such as:

• Future funding requests – either for grants, loan requests, creation of business plans and more
• Excerpts of the document on your website or other social media sources

SPECIAL DAYS THAT YOU MIGHT NEED A GRANT FOR IN JANUARY

January 9 – Law Enforcement Appreciation Day (grants for police, military, firefighters)

January 11 – Human Trafficking Awareness (grants to help stop human trafficking – there are many great nonprofit organizations that focus on this important issue)

January 16 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day (grants for nonprofit organizations focused on issues for African Americans)

January 18 – Museum Selfie Day (grants for arts and other cultural organizations)

FACT

Unlike loans, grants do not have to be repaid and they do not require the owners to surrender any equity in their business. Anyone who has ever watched Shark Tank knows how important this is!

TIP

Skip the $100 words. You need to impress the people who are reading your applications with your programming and projects and not fancy language. Speak plainly, and efficiently. Picture that you are writing and explaining your need for funding to a high school student, in a way that they would be able to easily understand and get excited about.

TRICK

Research your potential funder and previous grant recipients to make sure your organization is a good fit BEFORE you start writing a grant application. Checking previous 990s is a great place to start. 990s will tell you when and where a Foundation has donated in the past and this is public information for every nonprofit.

NEW FEATURE!! SPECIAL MONTHLY OFFER!!

In the month of January, if you secure grant writing services with Sunflower and mention the code SUNJAN15, we will give you a 15% discount on our research fee!

GRANT OPPORTUNITY

2023 Omaha Neighborhood Grants

The Omaha Neighborhood Grants program supports community leaders doing impactful work in their own neighborhoods; it’s about supporting residents who are making a difference right where they live and empowering neighbors to work together.

Successful proposals will clearly address the primary goal of this program—to develop leadership skills of neighborhood residents which may include consensus-building, communications, project planning, fundraising, teamwork, and more.

The average grant award is $2,500.

The application period is January 1 – March 1, 2023.

This grant would be great for any neighborhoods in Omaha working towards doing community building and improvements in their area through security, art, accessibility, and more!

Keep following along and engaging with our social media accounts! We have some festive posts planned for January!