I am proud to work with clients to develop plans that work with your budget.

An initial deposit is required. It depends on the scope of work and term of the contract, but for most standard six-month contracts, I determine this amount by dividing the total amount of the contract by the number of months and charge the equivalent of one month’s fees as an initial deposit. This amount is credited to your final month’s invoice.

Credit cards and Paypal will soon be accepted as payment (with a nominal processing fee).

NOTE: Particularly when it comes to grant writing services, there’s a lot of confusion about how consultants get paid. People often ask me if I can be paid a percentage of the successful grants. They short answer is no. Here’s why.

First, when it comes to grants, no funder in the world is going to approve a budget that includes a commission for grant writing services, so the only way you could include it would be to hide it in another line item. Really? It’s called fraud people, and it’s a very bad idea!

Second, grants are declined for all sorts of reasons, many of which are completely unrelated to the quality of the writing. They may even be unrelated to the quality of the program. Remember, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 80 percent of grants that are submitted are not funded.

So how is a small/start-up nonprofit or an organization in dire financial straits supposed to pay a grant writer? They answer is, if you don’t have the money to pay the grant writer then you’re not at a place where your grants will be competitive to a funder and you shouldn’t be writing grants anyway.

That’s the time when we need to talk about creative and LOW-COST fundraising strategies. Over time, you’ll get yourself to the place where you are ready to submit competitive grants, and you’ll be able to pay the grant writer!