Spark the Fire
Grant Writing Blog
Skills, ideas, and sometimes contrarian views for grant writers and freelance consultants who want to get better at the work, not just get through it. Centering purpose, not hustle.
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Something Funny About This Budget: When Program Names Replace Cost Categories
Have you ever started working with a new client or a new employer, asked for an organizational budget, and had it come back with program names for the list of expenses? Not rent, utilities, staff, postage, just the names of programs.
The Proposal Move That Brought In an Extra $5,000
That check taught me something I have been teaching ever since: your ask is not a fixed point. It is a starting position. The proposals that get funded well, whether the award lands above or below the request, are the ones that tell the funder in advance how the work flexes.
Your Budget Equals the Grant Maximum. Here's Why That's a Red Flag.
That alone is a yellow flag. What made it red was the inside of the budget. Personnel rounded to the nearest thousand. A line for "office equipment" with no detail. Marketing costs that looked suspiciously like whatever number was needed to close the gap to the ceiling.
The organization had built the budget to fit the grant. And every experienced reviewer can tell when that's what happened.
Grant Writing for Pass-Through Entities: The Mindset Shift That Makes It Click
I've worked with a lot of students and clients over the years who find themselves writing grants for organizations that don't run programs themselves — they fund other people who do. And almost universally, the first thing I hear is some version of: "I don't even know where to start. Do I describe what our organization does, or what the groups we fund do?"
Can You Include In-Kind in Your Grant Budget? Here's What I Tell My Clients
One of the questions I get from clients — and from grant writers helping their clients — is some version of this: "We have a lot of in-kind support. Can we include it in our budget?"
The short answer is almost always yes. But the longer answer, which is the one that actually helps your organization, involves understanding which budget you're talking about, how in-kind is valued and documented, and what funders are actually looking for when they set those minimum budget thresholds.
Let me walk you through what I've seen in 25+ years of this work, including some examples that still stick with me.