Why do program staff have to write grant proposals?
Nonprofit program staff are often forced to write grant narratives despite having no technical fundraising vocabulary and zero spare time. This requirement introduces massive skill variability and chaos across proposals, ultimately pulling staff away from their actual work.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Editing and wordsmithing program staff drafts before submission
- 2Holding brainstorming or kickoff meetings to gather details and writing the narrative ourselves
- 3Keeping quiet, following orders, and working within the existing process without pushing for changes
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“One of my new coworkers even told me they have zero time and “a lot goes to grant writing”.”source ↗
“I had something like this when working at an environmental/ restoration focused nonprofit. I didn't have the technical language to accurately describe or functionally talk about the restoration team's work.”source ↗
“I was just at an org where program managers wrote their own grants. Honestly, I don’t think it worked very well. I think there was a ton of variability in skill, and a lack of dedicated time.”source ↗
“I've seen this happen and it drives me nuts. I've never been at an organization that did this that wasn't a mess.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4How to use AI in grant writing without getting flagged
- 4How to do project planning in Office 365 without MS Project
- 4How to get executives to actually read project reports
- 2How to move from nonprofit back-end operations into frontline fundraising
- 2Why does team documentation always go out of date?
- 5How do I get people to actually read project update emails?