How to Start a Grant Writing Business

Video Transcript

"Hi. I'm Laura from youngwritersworkshops.com and I'm going to talk about how to start a grant writing business. If you have experience writing grants, perhaps you've worked in-house for an agency or as a person doing development work, you may already have some clients in mind. If you're just starting out as a grant writer, I would recommend that you spend some time working as a volunteer or apprentice to another grant writer, to get started. Once you feel that you have the experience and you can market yourself as a grant writer, you want to think about how you're going to present your business. Come up with a name for it that will really explain what you do and give people confidence in your work. You'll want to have a logo and possibly a website, along with business cards that you can use to market your business. Join organizations, such as the Association of Fund Raising Professionals, or a local organization in your community that provides networking for fund raisers and grant writers. You may also want to join a national organization in a way that will provide some professional development and other resources for you. A volunteer work in your community pro bono grant writing can be a great way to get your business really going. If you write a pro bono grant that's successful, you can use that as part of your marketing as well as, obviously, that gives you some people who have experience with you and may become future clients. So those are some of the ways that you can start a grant writing business."