Grant Writing –Unethical grant writers fleecing non profit organisations

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Red Tape Busters are a group of specialists who specialise in tender writing, grant writing, job applications and resumes, government and private sector lobbying, and business and strategic planning for individuals, businesses, and non-profit organisations all over Australia.

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Red Tape Busters specialise in being your one stop shop in dealing with Government and in busting through Government and bureaucratic red tape. At Red Tape Busters we work for our clients in breaking through the red tape maze and get amazing results. Redtape Busters therefore we can offer clients quality services across a number of service portfolios.

Grant Writing –Unethical grant writers fleecing non profit organisations ď ˝

Grant writing is not an easy skill to learn and quality grant writers need to be fairly compensated for their skill and efforts however some grant writing organisations are simply ripping off unsuspecting non profit organisations with some agreements to work on a commission only basis.

Such offers really are attractive at times to non profit organisations struggling with cash flow issues. Not having to pay unless the grant writer is successful really seems like a non brainer but wait in many instances the non profit organisation will purely be being fleeced. One such organisation based on the Sunshine Coast is currently touting for business with promises that you don’t pay anything until they return more than $5000 to the organisation and once they return more than the stated $5000 then the organisation owes the grant writer the first $5000. Seems like a great offer – at worst break even – and if you are successful in receiving more than $5000 and you get to keep the extras.

However the sad reality is that the grant writer involved will select a relatively easy funding program to target which might take a few hours at best to prepare. So let’s say the submission took even 10 hours to prepare, the grant writer in this instance would be getting $500 an hour – yes $500 an hour to prepare that submission. In all seriousness – a $5000 grant might take two or three hours to prepare at most, so in this instance this grant writer is being renumerated at around $2000 per hour.

The Prime Minister of Australia doesn’t even earn anything like this.

Further to add further to what I see is a totally unethical proposal, grant funding in almost every case CAN NOT be used to pay a grant writer. This is something again that the unsuspecting organisation might not realise. If an organisation is successful in winning funding from a grant submission this funding MUST be spent on the items and project outlined in the grant submission. Funding programs will not allow funds to be siphoned off for items not identified in the funding submission and given the costs involved in writing the submission are generally identified as operational costs then the organisation involved has to find that $5000 from their operating budget! So in essence now the commission based arrangement is really not the fantastic offer it once appeared. Most organisations simply don’t have a spare $5000 lying around and paying $5000 from the operational budget can cripple many unsuspecting organisations.

As I said quality grant writers deserve to be paid a reasonable rate for delivering quality services. At Red Tape Busters we would charge an organisation maybe $330 to win them a $5000 grant – a big big difference. So in summary non profit organisations need to really carefully evaluate grant writers and the proposals being offered.

Remember if an offer seems too good to be true – it generally is! Our grant writer Queensland and grant writer Brisbane can make sure that we give you real value for money.

Contact us at Red Tape Busters - http://www.redtapebusters.com/ should you require more information about this article or if you require specialist grant or tender writing experience to help your organisation or business win grant funding or achieve successes with tenders.

We are specialists in providing the following services:•Lobbying; •Tender Writing; •Grant Writing; •Resumes/Job Applications; •Organisational/Business Development.

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