Nonprofits: Should You Hire a Professional Writer for Your Fundraising?

 by: Lisa J. Lehr

If you’re a nonprofit—especially one with a small budget—you may be wondering if you can justify the expense of hiring a professional writer for your grant proposals and fundraising letters. The answer is…

Yes.

And I’m going to tell you why…and how.

Unless a staff member or volunteer in your organization is an accomplished writer, it’s not the best use of your limited resources (read: time and money) for you (or him or her) to be trying to wear a hat that doesn’t fit. Grant proposals and fundraising letters are highly specialized forms of writing that require special skill.

There are two main types of funding for nonprofits—donations from individuals and groups, and grants from foundations.

First, work on developing a donor base by appealing to those in your community and the wider world who share a passion for your organization’s cause.

A professional writer with a marketing background is the ideal person for this job. After all, a really effective fundraising letter is nothing more than a persuasive sales tool—one that sells a financial and often deeply personal investment in your cause. Strive to find a writer who has a marketing background and a passion for your mission, whether it be animals, children, education, the environment—whatever your worthy cause.

Then, explore grants available to your organization. Your staff member or volunteer can begin by identifying those foundations that fund your type of organization. The next step is to prepare well-written, technically correct proposals enabling you to be considered; this is where you can benefit from an independent grant writer.

Many nonprofits hire a full-time grant writer, an investment that is usually profitable, and therefore easily justifiable. A full-time grant writer has not only the writing skill but the ability to work under deadline pressure, the time, and the inclination—because that’s what a grant writer does.

Again, look for a writer who is passionate about your cause.

How will you pay the grant writer?   (continued...)

Nonprofits: Should You Hire a Professional Writer for Your Fundraising?
  Page 2

About The Author Lisa J. Lehr is a freelance writer with a specialty in business and marketing communications. She holds a biology degree and has worked in a variety of fields, including the pharmaceutical industry and teaching. She is also a graduate of American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI), America’s leading course on copywriting. Contact Lisa J. Lehr Copywriting www.ljlcopywriting.com, Lisa@ljlcopywriting.com for help with your business writing needs. This article © Lisa J. Lehr 2005.

Additional Government Grants Resources

Fostering International Research on Women in Public Service
The Bureau of African Affairs has recently established the Women in Public Service Project wherein it aims to build a generation of women leaders who will be willing to invest in their countries and communities, offer leadership services to the government, and work towards the potential of changing the way global solutions are developed.

---

Program for Investment in Micro-Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance
The Program for Investment in Micro-Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance Program is designed to decrease the number of disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs by helping them enhance their management capabilities, by way of providing them with technical assistance and training in the areas concerning activities that are associated with starting, expanding and growing their businesses.

---

United States Department of Housing and Urban Development: Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program
The Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant Program aims to improve regional planning efforts that integrate housing, transportation, economic development, and environmental infrastructure investment decisions, in order to increase the country's capacity to incorporate livability, sustainability and social equity into land use plans and zoning.

---

Behavioral Interventions to Address Multiple Chronic Health Conditions in Primary Care Program
The National Institutes of Health has recently established the Behavioral Interventions to Address Multiple Chronic Health Conditions in Primary Care Program wherein it intends to utilize common conceptual models in creating independent interventions that will contribute to the modification of health behaviors and the improvement of health outcomes in patients diagnosed with co-morbid chronic diseases and health conditions.

---

Cancer Education Grants Program
The National Cancer Institute has developed the Cancer Education Grants Program wherein it seeks to financially support innovative educational efforts that would contribute to the reduction of cancer incidences, morbidity and mortality rates; as well as the improvement of the quality of life of surviving cancer patients.

---

Direct Housing Natural Disaster Loans and Grants
The primary goal of the Direct Housing Natural Disaster Loans and Grants program is to provide loans or grants to homeowners whose homes are situated in counties that are named by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as being qualified to receive federal assistance under an emergency declaration that is made by the President of the United States.

---

All Children Reading Competition Program
The USAID and AusAID has constituted the development of the All Children Reading Competition Program, wherein they seek to discover life-changing innovations that will potentially improve the reading skills and low literacy levels among primary grade children.

---