Services

What I do

There are advantages and disadvantages to working with an independent consultant for grant writing, program evaluation, and related services. If you determine that an individual contractor will meet your project needs, you should select one or more individual contractors whose availability, background, and expertise feel like a good fit for your team and project. For evaluation services, in particular, a good place to start looking is the American Evaluation Association.

I'll explain what I do and provide some general information on rates, and you can consider whether I might be a good fit for your project.

Grant writing 

The advantage of in-house grant writing is that it brings to bear your internal team's perspectives and institutional knowledge. This is to say, your own people best understand your current work and goals and expectations for the proposed project, which means you save time by not having to explain your "story" or what you want to do.

However, internal grant writers may either not have the expertise, time, or resources to meet detailed grant proposal guidelines or simply be too close to your work to see the forest for the trees. An external grant writer essentially should function as both a storyteller who's able to explain your project vision in language that's simple, clear, and goal-oriented; and as a project manager who manages deadlines, distributes responsibilities for components that can only be met by your team, and ensures that all the detailed requirements of the potential funder are met.

An external grant writer also tends to be more nimble in devoting time to your grant proposal without the interruptions that come with your organization's day-to-day work.

Rates

If we decide to work together on a grant, I'll work with you to determine an appropriate hourly or flat rate, depending on the timeline and scope of work. In general, when billed by the consulting hour, extremely rough estimates for professional services like grant writing and evaluation average around $70. 

Grant writing typically is a multi-stage process starting (sometimes) with a letter of intent, preliminary proposal, final proposal, responses to reviewers, and if funded, formative and summative reporting. As a grant writer, I can be involved in just one stage, or multiple stages. Thus, consulting contracts for grant writing tend to be more circumscribed than those for evaluation, outlining a specific scope of work and deadlines for each stage on an emergent basis.  

Reduced rates are offered to organizations in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, K–12 schools and districts, and organizations that rely solely on grants or philanthropic support to fund basic operations and overhead costs.

Program evaluation

Some grants and funding agreements require external program evaluation. If this is not your circumstance, however, your first priority should be to determine your goals for evaluation and whether you have the internal time and expertise to meet them.

In general, the advantages and disadvantages to internal and external evaluation are similar to those with grant writing. This guide is a good place to start as you make a decision. This article further addresses the merits and drawbacks of using an independent consultant vs. larger evaluation firm.

Rates

When you're in the process of proposing a grant project on which I'll be the external evaluator—and you're developing the grant proposal internally—I offer my program evaluation services (i.e., developing an evaluation plan, logic models, formative and summative evaluation questions; proposing data sources, collection and analysis methods; developing the evaluation budget) pro bono or for a nominal fee, depending on the time investment. (You can't pay me if you haven't gotten the funding!)

If we collaborate on a funded project (or plan one), we'll determine an hourly or flat rate, depending on your expectations and project needs. Organizations generally allocate 5–10% of the overall program budget for external evaluation over the life of a grant or project, and assume an extremely rough estimate of $70 per consulting hour. That said, I realize that the evaluation plan often is the last component to be developed for a grant proposal! The evaluation budget always can be tailored to meet a project's needs by balancing the scope of evaluation with budget limitations and the evaluator's expected time commitment.

In general, as a program evaluator, I contract either for the duration of the evaluation project or on an annual basis.

Reduced rates are offered to organizations in the Northeast Kingdom, K–12 schools and districts, and organizations with innovative programs that rely solely on grants or philanthropic support to fund basic operations and overhead costs.

Other services

In addition to grant writing and evaluation services, I also collaborate with clients to:

• develop plans for internal grant writing, research, or evaluation

• develop logic models and formative and summative measures (e.g., surveys, interview and focus group protocols) that can be used internally to conduct project activities or evaluate your team's processes or project outcomes

• conduct surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc. with project participants or staff

• analyze data collected via external or internal means to evaluate program progress or outcomes and communicate it to your team for your own evaluation or report writing

• write and edit formative and summative grant reports according to detailed funder requirements

• edit dissertations, white papers, conference proposals, or professional article submissions

• develop and deliver professional learning programs around grant writing, evaluation, or general learning theory principles

Rates

Rates, contracts, and timelines for the above services vary greatly by type and scope of work, but in general, as with other professional services, $70 per hour tends to be a very rough ballpark with which to start planning.

As with grant writing and evaluation, I always offer reduced rates to organizations in the Northeast Kingdom, K–12 schools and districts, and progressive programs that rely on external support to fund their operating costs.

For more information

To learn more about any of the services outlined on this page, email me at aliciabeth.consulting@gmail.com.