Grant Writing IS Fundraising

Here’s what I know from decades in this field: grant writers have been conditioned to see themselves as separate from the fundraising team. Back office. Siloed. Tapping away on their ancient keyboards while major gift officers get the glory. (If a little rant or two is something you’d like to hear on this critical topic check out the latest episode of the Fundraising HayDay Podcast.)

That mindset doesn’t just hurt you as a grant professional. It hurts the entire organization. When grant writers are excluded from fundraising strategy meetings, donor stewardship conversations, and revenue planning, everyone loses.

Grant writers bring serious superpowers to the whole development team: prospect research, strategic thinking, program knowledge, writing, and relationship-building. These are fundraising skills.

For example, family foundations or donor advised funds may require cultivation and a formal proposal or summary document at the very least. These funding sources sit right at the intersection of relationship-building and formal grant process. A major gift officer may know four people on a foundation board but struggle with creating requested program summaries on the fly.

Meanwhile, as a grant pro, you may have been trying to get a meeting with the director or program officer for years that a major gift officer could facilitate with a quick text to a relative of a member of that foundation’s board.  When they’re not talking, everyone loses — most importantly, the people your organization exists to serve.

Grant writing and fundraising are two sides of the same coin. The sooner we stop pretending otherwise, the more effective we’ll all be. If you’re an executive director whose grant writer isn’t in your development meetings, set up that meeting this week. If you’re a grant pro, development director, board member or volunteer, do your best to build bridges, not silos starting today. I promise you won’t regret it.