What is a good success rate?

Some grant writers claim a success rate of  greater than 80%, but the University of Michigan asserts that if you are applying for everything that crosses your table, then the most experienced and highly capable grant writers can expect to achieve an average of 40% success.  Jayme Sokolow from Development Source supports this notion, stating that most qualified and experienced writers will achieve approximately 33%, while a rate of 50% is unusual and impressive.

However, there are several things that freelance grant writers do to strategically improve their success rates, such as:

• Only applying for existing programs for which you have already been successful
• Only applying for expanding programs for which you have already been successful
• Only applying for funding that is not very competitive, with high rates of applicants being funded (e.g. small community grants)
• Not be truthful about their unsuccessful applications

But is doing any of these things a good idea?  If you want a high success rate, then yes.  But if you want to be good at grant writing and successful in the long-term, then NO!

What the experts say………

CHRIS SIMMONS, THE FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF RAINMAKERZ – Win rates are often “made up, fudged, or otherwise artificially inflated.”

JAYME SOKOLOW (PH.D.), FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT SOURCE – “Win rates are rarely audited and impossible to verify,” and “they should be treated with great skepticism.”

LYNN DELEARIE – LLC CONSULTING – If you are applying for a new grant for the first time “then a 30 – 40% grant win rate is laudable”

What to look for in a Grant Writer

There are numerous factors that contribute to the success of a grant application that have nothing to do with the grant writers’ ability.  A funding application’s success depends on both the grant writer’s professional ability and whether the organisation is well-prepared, has history of funded project delivery, has demonstrated financial management aptitude, has strong established networks with community and partners, is well known by the funding body, meets the funding guidelines and eligibility requirements, as well as having an excellent project concept backed by community need.

So when assessing a grant writers success rate be sceptical and open minded. A good and well seasoned writer will have a history of failures from which to learn from, and will understand the greater context in which success is achieved.  They will also be focused on empowering and developing an organisations capacity to achieve long-term, rather than highlighting their own attributes as a grant writer.

Or alternatively, why not jump in and give grant writing a go yourself!