This isn't Baseball: Why Grant Writers Don't Have Batting Averages

Along the same vein as my previous post about how to tell if a grant writer is legit, I would like to address why you can't judge a grant writer by their ratio of written to funded proposals. Search the web a bit and you can find all kinds of preposterous claims from grant writers touting certain success rates and self-described experts claiming any grant writer worth their salt ought to maintain some arbitrary (made up) ratio. All of this is bogus.

In reality, there are way too many variables that effect a grant writer's success rate for it to be a reliable measure of their effectiveness. Here are a few examples:

• If a grant writer only writes three grants per year and they are all to funding sources with an established funding relationship with the organization, the grant writer could easily tout a 100% success rate - but they haven't actually done anything all that impressive.
• Grant writers are often pressured by clients or their employer, if they aren't independent consultants, to write grants for which the organization is not eligible. This is more common among direct-hire grant writers; consultants are more likely to decline a project that they know is not likely to be funded.
• Perfectly great proposals sometimes aren't funded. A funding principle called "geographic distribution" is often to blame for this. An agency may have funded a disproportionate number of grants in the southeast in their last competition and place a priority on funding projects in the mid-west and northeast in the current cycle. Unfortunately geographic distribution priorities often aren't published in the RFP. (This can be avoided to some extent if you take the time to do your homework.)
• Focusing too much time and energy on maintaining a target success rate on the part of the grant writer can be very detrimental to the organization needing funds. A grant writer who is put in the position of needing to meet target ratios will only pursue the surest funding possibilities. Going out on a limb to pursue new funding sources or seeking funds to support diverse projects can have a dramatic impact on an organization's revenue, but isn't likely to happen if the grant writer can't take chances.

The list above could go on and on. The factors described are by no means a cop out; they are simply realities in the grant writing world. While batting averages are irrelevant and there is no one-size-fits-all way to evaluate grant writers, a few general principles can be applied to choosing the right grant writer for your organization.

• Knowledge - Choose someone who is clearly knowledgeable about the world of grant funding.
• Expertise - Find a legitimate grant writer who has written funded proposals.
• Familiarity - A talented grant writer can formulate a winning proposal for any type of project without having first-hand knowledge or experience in a particular field, but a grant writer who really wants your business will do their homework and have a good general idea of your organization's goals and principles before they start on the first proposal.
• Clarity - Setting clear expectations goes both ways. The grant writer should be able to tell you exactly what you are getting for your money (i.e. X number of proposals, an estimate of the number of billable hours your project will require, etc). And, the client or hiring organization should be able to tell the grant writer exactly what resources will be at their disposal (i.e. key points of contact, funding priorities, existing funders, etc).

For more on Choosing the Right Grant Writer, watch for an upcoming post that will elaborate on these four general principles.