A Master Grant Template Application: How it Reduces Your Grant Writing Time
Download MP3Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Grant Writing and Funding Podcast where we help passionate people create stable income with flexible schedules by getting ideal clients with the best grant writing and nonprofit sales strategies in the industry. My name is Holly Rustic, and I went from working fifty plus hours per week as a grant writer inside a nonprofit living paycheck to paycheck, to opening my own freelance grant writing business and only working part time hours earning more than I ever had before. Inside our programs, the Freelance Grant Writer Academy and the Grant Professional Mentorship, I have helped more than 100 changemakers get out of toxic nine-five jobs and replace their full time incomes while working part time as a grant writer from home and around the world, simply by learning how to write grants through our grants writing formula and implementing our unique approach to nonprofit sales. Join these aspiring and seasoned grant writers so you too can secure ideal nonprofit clients with cause areas that you fully believe in, get them massive funding, and be able to set your own schedule and revenue goals. Be sure to join our weekly email newsletter, The Freelance Brand Writer Hubhaven, where you get stress free nuggets on the financial stability components and skills of being a freelance grant writer.
Holly Rustick:Plus, you get updates about the freelance grant writer academy. Just go to grantwritingandfunding.com to subscribe. And now let's get ready for the most bold, empowering, and approachable coaching and conversations you've ever heard. Let's create a higher standard of stability, freedom, and legacy together. Hello.
Holly Rustick:Hello. Hello. It's Holly Rustick here with Grant Writing and Funding, and welcome to another edition of the Grant Writing and Funding podcast show. Alright. We have some great things on the show for you today, and we are gonna be talking about why new and experienced grant writers need a grant template.
Holly Rustick:This is gonna create streamlined systems for your freelance grant writing or even if you're a grant writer right now inside a nonprofit, this is what you need. So I'm gonna tell you why that's important. And before we get started there today, I also have an announcement. I'm super, super excited. On 04/30/2024, from 4PM till 05:30PM Eastern, we have a live free webinar, Replace Your Full Time Income on Flexible Hours by Writing High Quality grants fast.
Holly Rustick:Alright. So if you wanna learn our systems in the freelance grant writer academy and how students are able to write grants very quickly and still keep high quality while also quitting their full time jobs and replacing their income by working flexible hours as a freelance grant writer, you are going to want to register for this webinar. Once again, 04/30/2024 from four to 05:30 p. M. Eastern.
Holly Rustick:To sign up, you can definitely go to the show notes today, grantwritingandfunding.com/3seventeen, or simply go to grantwritingandfunding.com/freelancewebinar. So if you'd like to sign up, you can go either place and we'll get you signed up for that webinar. Now when you sign up for this webinar, you get an additional bonus. So hear me out because this is super important. Only people who are registered for this webinar will be able to get our forty eight hour bonus because we are opening the doors to the Freelance Grant Writer Academy directly after the webinar.
Holly Rustick:So you definitely wanna be in, but only people who attend the webinar will be able to get the bonus if they join within the first forty eight hours. So until May 2, you'll be able to get an amazing bonus. This bonus is so amazing. We did it one time before and I'm bringing it back because of the results that people who joined in that forty eight webinar period, they got so many results. So we have a customized road map, your first 10 k in grant writing sales, and this is on a two and a half hour group call.
Holly Rustick:Only the people that join during the forty eight hour bonus are able to get in on it. But what we're going to do is hear from each one of you, and we're gonna hear where you are at in your grant writing journey. Some of you might be completely new to grants, never written a grant before. That's fine. Some of you already have a freelance grant writing company, but you wanna build more systems.
Holly Rustick:You wanna increase your your workflow. You wanna, you know, have more create more calendar space in your life, and create more income. So we are going to talk to you. We're gonna hear your stories, where you're at in your grant writing journey, and then I am going to give you personal guidance to reach your first 10 k quickly. We're also gonna hear about student journeys to reaching 50 k plus within one year of the program, and you're gonna meet other VIP students that joined in on the forty eight hour bonus.
Holly Rustick:This is amazing. We're gonna tell you exactly where to dive in on the curriculum or where to start in the Slack channel and all of that depending on where you are at in your journey so you can really jump into the academy, into the twelve month group coaching program, and really start you know, don't get overwhelmed, but you'll know exactly where to go, and you'll know how to make your first 10 k. So you're gonna quadruple your investment because it's only $2,500 to join the academy for an entire year. So we're gonna show you how to quadruple your investment quickly. It is amazing.
Holly Rustick:You are gonna wanna join. Only people who register for the webinar are going to be able to get that bonus, but you have to join within forty eight hours of the doors of the academy being open. So until May 2. So once again, do make sure that you go ahead, join the webinar. The Academy oh my gosh, y'all.
Holly Rustick:Can I just say, people in the Academy have already secured collectively over $50,000,000 in grant funding and almost a million dollars in grant writing sales within the last nine months? Nine months y'all. Almost a million dollars in grant writing sales. That means they've gotten clients, people have been here's our clients that we've gotten, all of our revenue that we've secured from our retainer, our packages, almost a million dollars just in nine months. So you are gonna wanna jump in for sure because $2,500 for an investment for an entire year to get the results that this program delivers is like nowhere else.
Holly Rustick:Like, nowhere else. Like, it's amazing. We have unlimited grant reviews. We have so much going on. We show you how to do your pricing and your packaging.
Holly Rustick:We talk you through when you you're doing your sales calls. We have our ethical nonprofit sales strategies. So much. So much in this program. I could just go on and on and on about it.
Holly Rustick:And we will actually be releasing additional podcasts over the next couple of months because we want to also help explain why if it's a good fit for you, the academy if it's a good fit for you, and any questions that you have. We also have a ton of students that we wanna highlight on the podcast as well so you can hear their as well. So, to sign up for the webinar, again, that is happening April 30. Go ahead and go to grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-webinar or just jump to the show notes today, grantwritingandfunding.com/3seventeen. And a quick word from our sponsor, GEMS.
Holly Rustick:That's Grant Easy Management Software. We are so happy to have them on as a sponsor again. Rachel Waterman and her team, amazing people and what they are doing for the industry is so so good. So, if you never wanna miss a grant writing deadline again, you will definitely have to jump over to grantwritingandfunding.com/gems. That's g e m s, and you've got to join a free demo so you can see how gems could support your grant writing journey.
Holly Rustick:This is especially for you if you're working in a nonprofit or you're a freelance grant writer where you have multiple grants and different deadlines and all of the things, right? And you wanna make sure you never miss a grant, deadline again, and you wanna make sure that you have all of your, you know, past grants that you've submitted to those foundations, all of the all of foundations, contact information, all of that all in one place. So do go to grantwritingandfunding.com/gems. Let's get started on today's podcast episode. So a lot of people think grant writing is going to be a skill that is going to take ten thousand hours to master.
Holly Rustick:Right? You've heard that before. Right? It takes ten thousand hours to master a skill. But you don't have ten zero extra hours, let alone an extra ten hours per week to learn a skill, especially grant writing.
Holly Rustick:Well, here's the good news. You don't need a ton of time to learn how to write grants. I know. Grant writing is something that sounds mythical and like you need to go on a, like, like, a retreat to learn, but not with what we talk about. So in the freelance grant writer academy, we have our master grant template.
Holly Rustick:We actually just put together a thirty day master grant application template challenge. So as soon as you join the academy, you can start going through that. So and then get your grant reviewed. Amazing. So you can learn how to write a grant.
Holly Rustick:And why we put this together and why this is so important for you all to know, like, to create a template is where it can start, and it's just going to reduce time. Right? So as you're writing a grant application, here's the thing. A lot of foundations, lot of federal applications, even state applications are asking for a very similar or some of the same things. No.
Holly Rustick:They are not all identical. I will say that. But a lot of them ask for the core things, and that's within our grants formula. We always teach, the core framework of writing a grant, and that is so important. So when you are working with a nonprofit, one of the first things that you can do as a service is create a master grant application template and what this really helps is for the nonprofit to first get very clear on what they want you to apply for, what types of grants, and it also creates buy in from from whoever you're working from within nonprofit, right?
Holly Rustick:And here's what I mean by this is a lot of times you can be working with a nonprofit, even a grant writer in a nonprofit and you're like, okay, they just kind of throw a grant at you. Here, this looks like one that we could apply for. This looks interesting and you're like, okay, I guess so and then they might throw you another that's completely different. And they're like, why don't you create a program for this one? Because it sounds kinda like we align with it.
Holly Rustick:So now you're creating, like, these new problems and these new programs that don't even exist, and they may may not even fill the gap that the nonprofit currently has. But you're spending so much time in that and that's a kind of a chasing the money scenario, but it happens often. Right? So we wanna make sure that we mitigate that, especially as a freelance grant writer. You don't wanna be writing a bunch of grants where you have to create entirely new programs with every grant.
Holly Rustick:That is ridiculous and it doesn't really serve the purpose of the nonprofit in all ways either. Right? It can actually backfire in the nonprofit because if they get that grant, it might be so outside of their scope of work, the regular scope of work that it takes so much energy to focus on this this program that might not align to their mission completely. Now, they have to hire new staff maybe for that. Now, they have to do all of these things for that grant and now, they're taken outside of their scope of work.
Holly Rustick:They're taken away from their mission, etcetera. And that is the typical way that I see grant writers, freelance grant writers, nonprofits operating is they do not create a master grant template, and because of that, then they're just chasing the grants. They're chasing the grants. They're always having to develop entirely new programs. It is so much work and it's often outside of the scope of work.
Holly Rustick:So what we recommend and what we see that is working especially in our program, right? Like people are actually getting clients just because they're selling the master grant application template. They're just selling that and, you know, to do one of those for a nonprofit, and it is amazing. So what we recommend is you actually create a template first. You actually start doing the research and finding out is this program idea and really getting clear with a nonprofit, asking specific questions with a nonprofit.
Holly Rustick:What type of program is really gonna meet the needs today? What are you currently doing that needs to be funded? What are you currently doing that needs to be expanded? How is that fixing a gap? What type of research can you show that has been beneficial?
Holly Rustick:Like do you have any case studies from the clients that you serve or what you serve? So we can also show that as in our statement of need. These are all very important. When you really drill down and start asking these types of questions, then you can also develop a projected budget that makes sense. You can start asking questions.
Holly Rustick:Well, how much money? What would be beneficial? Okay. We were gonna hire these people. Who would they be?
Holly Rustick:Or what are the current staff that you have now that need to get funded and what do they do? Right? So you can actually start creating something that makes sense. It aligns with the mission of the nonprofit. It's right up their alley for what they actually need funding for, and you create an entire template.
Holly Rustick:So what we encourage you to include in your template is that research. Right? A problem Something that actually says, this is a specific problem. And then we also say, hey, you need to include a goal and include some objectives for this program that you want to get funded. Right?
Holly Rustick:Include some objectives, Include just, you know, just put it together as a draft. Here's really what we want to accomplish. Include any staff that you need to hire. If you need to, you can also start creating some job applications for them. Right?
Holly Rustick:You can start, like, really getting clear on what we actually want to fund. And, of course, I'd love for you all to create a work action plan that shows, okay, from this month and this month, this is what we would be creating. This is what we'd be hiring. This is what we'd be procuring, etcetera. So you can really create then a template.
Holly Rustick:And within this template, these are the same things that a lot of grant applications are gonna be asking you. Everyone wants to know the need. So if you've already spent the time doing the research, finding sources, finding citations, digging through reports, getting testimonials, all of the things that you can include in this research to really show the need, that it's gonna save you a ton of time. And yes, every single grant you might ask for a little bit different monies for this program, this overall big program that you're going to do a template for. But here's the thing, now you don't have to keep recreating all the research to showcase the problem a lot of time.
Holly Rustick:That can also be blanketed because you're covering these different areas. So, by creating this template, all of a sudden, you're reducing your time for future applications. So, you want to at least have a structure and what this helps again with is getting that nonprofit clear on what their actual priorities are. Yes, some nonprofits may have multiple programs that they want you to create grants for and that. You can actually include those in one master grant application and glue different objectives and different goals and then do one overall budget.
Holly Rustick:So then when you are applying for grants, you can just pull different pieces from your master grant application. That's entirely fine. But we want to keep the nonprofit focused. We want them to understand this is what the priority is, this is what the funding is, let's get a little granular here. Let's really go down, do some research.
Holly Rustick:Let's really find out why this is a need, how this is going to fill a gap, this program that you want to have funded, etcetera. And sometimes you can even just do a master grant application template for general operating expenses as well. So you can do a program one and a general ops one. This is fantastic. So when you are applying for grants, you can go back into your template.
Holly Rustick:You can extrapolate things that you need. You can augment that, very easily, and even people are using AI now after they create a template. So creating that template needs to be human based, but after you have all that, then you can say, alright, AI. How would you answer these questions? And it would pull the information from your template that you've created.
Holly Rustick:There are so many different ways, that you can really leverage a master grant application. Additional things from that is creating a two page letter of inquiry. You can do that after you have a master grant application. You can create an abstract. You can also turn the master grant application into website copy, social media copy, and so much more.
Holly Rustick:And what this does then is it creates a product for the nonprofit. So now they're they get away from asking you, oh, help me wait raise 5,000,000 to, what I'm going to do is create a master grant application for you so we can use this. We can get clear on what you actually need funding for. We can get everything organized and together, all of the information that we're going to need in the future. And then we're gonna pull from this as we write grants.
Holly Rustick:And that changes the conversation so much from I need $5,000,000 to, oh, you're setting up a sustainable funding structure for my nonprofit. See how that changes the conversation? It changes the expectations that are often very unrealistic. And then you can provide a product that you deliver in addition to all of the grants. This is phenomenal.
Holly Rustick:And a lot of freelance grant writers too, especially if they're working with startup nonprofits, they like to create these and then hand them over because maybe that nonprofit isn't in a place where they can actually pay for their grant writing services, but they will pay them to create a template because then they can use this as they have interns or volunteers to then apply for grants using this amazing product, the master grant application template. And as I mentioned, inside the freelance grant writer academy, we now have our thirty day master grant application template challenge where we take you all the way from doing the research, all the way to how you can turn it into website copy, how you can turn it into a presentation even, how you can do so much all within thirty days, and we review your master grant application. So you're creating one for your nonprofit or you're creating one for a client before you send it over, we will review it and give you feedback. This is going to help you streamline your grant applications. It's going to help you streamline your time so you can work those flexible hours and it's gonna increase your confidence because you're gonna be writing these essential business plans all the time with your clients.
Holly Rustick:You can do this as a one off like some of our clients like to do, our students in the academy like to do, or many of our students actually like to do this as a part of their retainer services. In month one, we're gonna onboard. We're gonna ask all these questions. We're gonna write our master grant application for you. And then month two, we're gonna start doing the grant research.
Holly Rustick:We're gonna start applying for grants for until month 12. Right? So it's part of the process. So even if you've never written a grant before, inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy, we train you how to write a master grant application in thirty days. There is nothing like this in the industry that combines grant or the teaching you how to do grant writing and securing nonprofit clients.
Holly Rustick:And if you already know how to write grants, you may not know how to set up a grant writing structure or system with creating an actual template that helps you in the next level so you can reduce your hours and work more flexible times but still charge the same amount. Yes. So if you wanna know more about how we do a master grant application template, you're definitely gonna wanna sign for that webinar again happening on April 30. We'll talk more about this, and you also know when the doors are open to the freelance grant writer academy. We are super, super excited to be opening the doors to the public May 2 and open the doors to people who have registered for the webinar on April 30.
Holly Rustick:Alright. For more information about a grant writing template, jump over to grantwritingandfunding.com/31seven. I hope you enjoyed our podcast episode today. Please make sure you subscribe to our podcast, Grant Writing and Funding. And if you love the podcast, please do me a favor and leave a review.
Holly Rustick:We love reading our reviews every single week. Enjoy your grant writing journey. I'll see you inside the webinar on April 30. Alright, I'll see you next week.
