History shows that grants have been one big experiment in the US. Grants were first given for education (pretty neat). But how did we get to the level of grants we see today and what does a grant writer do? To answer that, let’s explore the history of grant writing. 🤓
Curious about what it takes to write a grant? You can check out the 7 steps to writing a winning grant here in this video: https://youtu.be/5uKYkdi_q7U
🔸🔸🔸HISTORY BREAKDOWN 🔸🔸🔸
We’re talking about US History, but you can explore the history of philanthropy all over the globe with the link below. ⬇️
👉 The ancient Romans provided funding for educational and cultural projects.
👉 In the 1800s, the US federal government began to “cede land” for public schools.
👉 In 1862, Congress passed the Morrill Act to give land and money to establish colleges in every state.
👉 In 1887, the Hatch Act gave each state funding to establish agricultural experiment stations, marking the beginning of financial reporting.
👉After WWI, grants marked the feeble beginnings of welfare programs (fighting STIs, vocational rehab, and maternal/child health).
👉 During the Great Depression, grants were for highways and by the end of the Depression, funding went for emergency employment.
👉 After WWII, grant funding went to educate and train defense workers returning home and programs for housing community veterans.
👉 In 1968, President Johnson launched The Great Society with many programs we still have today (medicare/medicaid, Head Start, National Endowment for Humanities).
👉 In the 1980s, corporations join in philanthropy as the beginning of cause-related marketing.
👉 In 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett start the Giving Pledge to give 99% of their earnings to philanthropy (240 signatures have joined the pledge).
🔸🔸🔸GRANT WRITING TODAY 🔸🔸🔸
💡 Who’s eligible for grant funding?
✨ Nonprofit organizations
✨ Public agencies
✨ Your own creative work (artists)
✨ For-profit entities
✨ Colleges and Universities
✨ Quasi public entities (a port district)
💡 How are grants typically awarded?
Each grant has a set of requirements you submit by a deadline. Then you wait (sometimes up to nine months) for the results. If awarded, you move into signing contracts, and reporting–something the organization manages or you as the grant writer are contracted to manage.
💡 What skills are required for grant writing?
✨ Project management
✨ Communication
✨ Creativity
✨ Critical Thinking
Skills can always be acquired. Take a 3mins quiz to see if grant writing would be a good career for you: (link coming soon)
💡 Do you have to go back to college for grant writing training?
No way! But you should absolutely get training. You don’t have to ride the struggle bus alone. Growing your confidence in this field is gaining experience, what we teach in the Global Grant Writers Collective. You earn while you learn!
💡 What are the career opportunities available?
✨One, you are a grant writer in-house. You have a job writing grants for an organization.
✨Two, you start side hustling to test out and see if you like grant writing. If you do, then you scale your side hustle into path number three.
✨Three, a full-time consulting business where you quit your job. You freelance. You can work remotely, and you have a highly flexible schedule.
You don’t have to have all the answers right now. You can earn to learn and decide if grant writing is for you.
💡 What’s the earning potential?
✨Owners of consulting firms have an average take home salary of $100k.
✨ In-house grant writers are making up to $150k+. At minimum, with inflation, you should be looking at a salary of $75k.
🔸🔸🔸What’s next? 🔸🔸🔸
Explore the 🗝️ Organic Networking Framework video which is how you land paid gigs with no prior experience then drop into our free training on how to get into the field: https://www.learngrantwriting.org/webinar-videos/discover-grant-writing
Resources and links:
🔸 A side-by-side comparison of grant writing programs: https://tinyurl.com/4fpntwt5
🔸 https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/great-society
🔸 https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c4900/c4900.pdf
🔸 https://www.historyofgiving.org/
🔸 Jessica Stacks https://youtu.be/mdkLFcGpzio
🔸Jackie White https://youtu.be/rDup-QBINDY
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:00 History of grants in the US
06:17 Who is eligible for grant funding?
07:07 How are grants awarded?
08:16 What skills do you need to be a grant writer?
09:29 What education do you need to be a grant writer?
10:41 What career opportunities are available in grant writing?
11:29 What is the earning potential as a grant writer?
12:41 How retired teacher Jessica made $100k freelance consulting
13:53 In-house grant writer Suzanne of the YMCA won $300K in funding
14:14 Jackie as an ex-Olympic athlete side hustles for schedule flexibility to travel
14:44 How do you land a gig when you have no prior experience as a grant writer?
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