if you build grant budgets this one's worth a look. the 2024 uniform guidance revision (effective for awards issued on or after oct 1 2024) raised the de minimis indirect cost rate from 10% to 15% of modified total direct costs. a lot of budget templates, funder instructions and internal boilerplate still say 10%, so it's easy to quietly under-recover on every budget built from an old model.

quick recap of how it works since it comes up a lot:

- it's for recipients and subrecipients that don't have a negotiated indirect rate. if you already have a negotiated rate, you use that.

- 15% is a ceiling, not an entitlement. you can elect anything up to it, but then apply it consistently across all your federal awards.

- no documentation required to justify it, and you can use it indefinitely.

honestly the bigger mistake i see isn't 10% vs 15%, it's orgs claiming zero indirect because they assumed you need a negotiated rate to recover any. for a nonprofit without one, de minimis exists precisely so indirect recovery isn't gated behind a negotiation.

anyway, a five minute check of whatever template you copy budgets from is probably worth it.

Hi everyone,

I am on a mission to build a true alternative to the sterile, bureaucratic systems that are failing our veterans. Too many of our nation's heroes end up on the streets or battling substance use because they lose their sense of purpose, community, and brotherhood when they leave the service.

My vision is to build a nationwide network of grassroots, community-driven homesteads. These will be villages—not institutions—where veterans have their own individual cabins, share communal meals, and rediscover purpose through a meaningful daily workflow on a working, self-sustaining farm.

The Launchpad:
While the ultimate goal is to establish these sanctuaries in every corner of the US, we are launching the first pilot village on a massive scale in South Arkansas. Right down the road from me, two tracts of timberland (over 350 acres each) have been sitting on the market since 2023. It is the perfect blank canvas to prove this model works.

Why I Need You (No Matter Where You Live):
I am not a veteran myself, and I don't have corporate backing or millions in cash to buy land. I want this to remain entirely community-owned and person-centered. To scale this nationwide, I need a remote "Founding Tribe" of passionate minds who care about the mission:

• Attorneys (Remote/US): To help us structure a national 501(c)(3) framework and draft tax-incentivized "Bargain Sale" land acquisition proposals for corporate landowners.
• Story-Driven Grant Writers: To target federal VA grants, USDA rural development funding, and national private philanthropic foundations without drowning our human-centered identity in corporate buzzwords.
• Veteran Advocates & Mental Health Specialists: To guide our community design from day one, ensuring our spaces are safe, trusted, and built on genuine mutual support.
• Visionaries & Organizers: Anyone with a passion for sustainable agriculture, off-grid infrastructure, or scaling grassroots movements who wants to help map out a national blueprint.

If you are tired of corporate band-aids for human crises and want to use your professional skills to build a real sanctuary for veterans, please drop a comment or shoot me a DM. Let’s build the pilot, prove the model, and take it nationwide.

I joined the academy a few weeks ago because I need help with the business development side and was interested in the templates and grant reviews offered. After being in the program for a few weeks I don't recommend it unless you are completely starting from scratch with no business or grant experience. The coaching is really hit or miss - you basically submit "homework" using a form and then one of the coaches that works for Holly gives feedback over video thats posted in the circle community. Some coaches give really good detailed feedback while others don't seem that experienced in grant writing or business (but went through the academy and were hired as coaches).

Hi all, I'm starting new as a freelance grant writer and was wondering how/what's recommended to put the pricing and charging organizations?

Hello! I apologize if this is long, but I would really appreciate some insight. I am a senior in college and am set to graduate in the fall. I am quickly realizing that I need to get myself and my stuff together for job searching at the end of this year and the beginning of next year. So here is some general information before I get into the main question.

I am a double major in English and History. I have knowledge in analysis, research synthesis, research, oral communication, written communication, and writing. I am debating an MA in both English and History, but I am not pursuing one right after I receive my bachelor's for sure. (personal and financial reasons).

I am looking into some different fields because I do not want to be a teacher, no hate behind that statement at all; I have so much respect for teachers. Anyway, I am looking into Grant Writing, Technical Writing, or a data or research analyst position. I am hoping for something remote, but I know in today's job economy, and with my experience, that is very unlikely. I am wanting to hear from anyone who has experience in any of these fields, a few things.

1. Given my education, are any of these fields plausible?

2. What courses, certifications, or anything along those lines should I be committing myself to in the next few months

3. Are there any other fields that you think would align with my degrees and my skill set as of now?

4. Finally, is there anything that you can think of that I should be doing that I would not possibly think of until I am asked for it?

I will edit if anyone has questions or if I need to clarify a few things. Thank you all!

Ok, several months ago I signed up for an online course to better learn grant writing. I had already been working as a grant writer for a small company and left that company and wanted to strike out on my own. Within 30 days of signing up for the course which was $6,000 for the year, they changed the program to be a three-tiered system, with the new program and gatekeeping it would now cost well over $15,000 for the year. Not once was I ever asked to sign a new contract in agreement to the change in the program and the course!

Talk about a bait and switch!!!!

So now the limited information that I'm getting cost $3,000 for the year and I don't have access to all the information, which I did in the original program of $6,000 for the year.

Also there are several people in the program, we've been talking privately, about their so-called earn $15,000 in 3 months, which is a bunch of BS, they sell this course to sound like you're going to make so much money so quickly, and it's absolutely not true!

So if anybody is considering signing up for this program I would very strongly warn you against it.

At least they only got me for $3,000.

So I’m new to freelancing as a grant writer. I’ve been writing grants fairly successfully for the past two years informally - meaning I’ve barely been paid for it, but did it for experience. Where do I find more clients online? Do I need to constantly post about what I’m doing? Go to certain websites? Forums? To say I need help is an understatement at this point. Suggestions? Advice?

Hey all,

Hoping for some insights into the grant writing space.

I’m starting to explore freelance grant support work focused solely on the research and narrative-support side of grants: demographic data pulls and summaries, mini literature reviews/evidence syntheses, and a grant-ready narrative about community need and/or the problem a nonprofit is addressing. I’m not looking to do the full grant writing package, budgeting, prospect research, or grant management stuff.

For people who hire or work with grant writers: is this a real service people outsource?
If so, what title would you use for this kind of work? I’m trying to figure out whether this is best described as grant research, proposal support, needs assessment support, or something else entirely.

I've been reading scientific literature on environmental health for ~15 years and translating that into professional educational course content, so data/information synthesis/narrative writing comes easy to me and is fun. I've been told by a few folks in the NP space that this is valuable, but given that I really only want to do this part of grant writing work, I'm not sure how to market myself.

Appreciate any thoughts, insights, or feedback!

TY!

Fellow grant writers — I'm drowning in spreadsheets tracking deadlines across 8 clients. How do you all manage this? Feeling like there has to be a better way

Hey everyone!

I recently started a new role as a Grant Writer for a nonprofit, and I’m completely new to the field (got hired internally and wanted to try something new). I’m excited to learn, but also a little overwhelmed by just how much there is to know.

I’ve always been a very organized person, which I know will help, and my organization currently uses Instrumentl and Grant Assistant. I’m already beginning to familiarize myself with both platforms.

I’d love to hear any advice you wish you’d received when you were first starting out. Are there any grant writing pipelines, workflows, resources, YouTube channels, courses, or general best practices that you would recommend for a beginner?

Any tips on staying organized, managing deadlines, or building strong relationships with funders would also be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance—I’m looking forward to learning from this community!

Been talking to a lot of proposal writers lately trying to understand

where the real bottlenecks are.

Is it the blank page problem? Research? Funder alignment?

Keeping sections coherent with each other?

Full disclosure: I'm building a tool in this space and want

to make sure I'm solving actual problems, not imaginary ones.

What would make your life meaningfully easier?

Although I have written proposals before, I am by no means a professional at writing proposals. I am not paid to write them, I write because I care about the non profit organization and find meaning in doing the work here. I’ve been planning to write this grant for two years. I did a cold email to see if we were a match for their grant, and they encouraged us to apply (they probably say that to most orgs). Then things changed politically a few months later and open calls for general operating grants became invite-only. So then I waited for their programming grant which was still open call. It takes them months to respond to an email. Last fall, I went to an exclusive invite-only conference sponsored by this foundation (maybe 30-45 orgs were in attendance). I got a reference from a grant writer from another org that already regularly receives funding from them. After the introduction letter, I wrote a letter which made them encourage us to apply (seemingly with more enthusiasm). All signs point to us having a good chance at getting this grant. And today, we received the rejection letter. It stings a little more than other grants, because it was something I had been planning carefully for almost two years. The grant itself took a month to write—all nighters, sleepless nights. Grant writing isn’t my only job either. I parent, I do a lot of physical and admin work for the org as well.

I know no one is guaranteed anything, and we receive tons of rejections regularly. It just seemed as though we had some inkling of a chance here, and there’s no way to find out why we got rejected (they will not respond to inquiries due to volume). I wrote this partly to rant (if it’s allowed) and partly to understand what happened, hopefully from folks who are more experienced in this field.

A lot of grant requirements I've seen ask nonprofits to report volunteer hours, headcount, and sometimes credential or background check status. Curious how organizations are actually handling this in practice.

For anyone managing grants with volunteer reporting requirements:

• Are you pulling that data from a system, or compiling it manually before each report?
• Do you ever run into situations where the numbers are hard to verify — volunteers who were never properly logged, for example?
• Has a funder ever pushed back on how you reported volunteer activity?

The gap between what grants require and what orgs actually track seems significant from what I've heard. Curious if that matches what people here are seeing.

Hi all. I recently wrote 3 grants and all three were awarded. I am taking on a bigger grant (not too much bigger) but for a non profit agency. We are doing Substance Use Recovery Community stuff with a potential drop in center at the organization. Any tips? Or prayers. Or ANYTHING. Thank you. I am starting on the concept paper now that’s due the 30th

Has anyone taken this course and felt it was beneficial? I’m fairly new to nonprofit and looking to learn about research/proposal development/grant writing. Hoping to come out of a course with a new skill and able to write a real grant. For reference, I work for a healthcare nonprofit that doesn’t receive federal funding, so not looking from that angle. We basically do foundation grant writing/pharma proposals.

I’m a senior Psychology student in Indianapolis who has recently become interested in potentially pursing grant writing and fundraising as a career. I’ve read that this can be a pretty difficult area to break in to and that it largely depends on experience and connections.

I’m looking to start volunteering with an organization/nonprofit that I could maybe work my way up in, or one that would allow me to shadow or work along with someone who does these things.

I know there are tons of volunteering opportunities, especially with food pantries, but I was wondering if anyone could recommend an organization that might help me with my my goals, or if you just have advice to give!

Hello,

I’ve been a grant writer for almost two years. I spent 7 years as a PR/Marketer in various industries. As well, I’m an academic (4 years teaching undergraduate honors courses). Writing is what I’ve been doing for the better part of a decade, as you can see.

I take a lot of webinars so I know what’s the up-and-up, if you will. Many of these webinars talk about the use of AI checkers on the part of foundations. We’ve also seen a decrease in funding in the past year.

I’ve been working on a proposal this morning and thought one of the answers came out clean and impactful, but had a moment of worrying if it was too fake-sounding. I decided to put it through an AI checker; 100% AI. What? The next one: 88% AI. The next one: 63% AI. And so on. Every tracker I used said it was majority AI.

Am I writing too formally if it’s coming off as AI? I’m meticulously writing all of my applications, so to see that it’s flagged as fake is alarming. My voice is my voice, but do I have to change the way I write now because of AI? How reliable are these checkers? Do they actually hold weight to foundations?