How to Hire a Staff Grantwriter

You can advertise your job opening with PSGA here.

NDOA (Northwest Development Officers Association) and CharityChannel also accept job listings. Use word of mouth and local listserves to spread the word as well.

The UW Fundraising Management Certificate Program often has students and former students who are well trained and looking for jobs. Contact them at info@pce.uw.edu.

What to look for:

Grantwriting involves more than writing, so look for the following skills in a candidate:

• Research: They’ll need to know how to identify and research funding sources.
• Cultivation: It’s important to build relationships with funders before asking.
• Collaboration: They’ll have to gather input from program staff, finance staff, board leaders and other non-profits and government agencies to answer grantors’ questions, so teamwork is paramount.
• Writing, editing and formatting proposals: A concise, compelling, readable document makes the best case for your project with funders.
• Stewardship: Grantors expect follow-up reports, invitations, acknowledgement, communication and contact.
• Story-telling: Stories can be powerful assets in cultivation, documentation of need, acknowledgments and reports.

Candidates who possess these abilities may succeed whether they’ve written funded grants before or not.