Do Clients Ask If You Are A Certified Grant Writer Or If You Have A Grant Writing Certification?

I've had a grant writing business since 2006. I'm addressing this topic to set the record straight and assist you in making a well-informed decision. Below are the transcriptions from a video talk I did on this matter. 

• The Key Question Of Those Hiring Grant Writers And What They Want To Know
• What Prospective Clients Want To Know About A Grant Writer?
• Ways To Leverage Your Grant Writing Certification For Maximum Success
• Two-Fold Purpose Of Your Grant Writing Certification

Hey guys, Rodney Walker here and today I wanted to address the question that comes to me quite often, and that is the question of Rodney:

• Do prospective grant clients want to know if I'm a certified grant writer?
• Are they going to ask me, are you indeed a certified grant writer?
• Do you have a grant writing certification?

I want to address that question in this video because this is a question that many of my students want to know because they're thinking about getting this skill and then they're thinking about doing this as a professional.

And some of them are actually thinking about doing this as their business. And they want to know the answer to it. And I want to make sure that you know the honest truth about this matter. 

The Key Question Of Those Hiring Grant Writers And What They Want To Know

Now, I've been doing online professional grant writing for a number of years now. I started way back in 2002, actually doing grant writing the first time and I fell flat on my face by doing it the complete wrong way. And I eventually got some training and eventually learned what I needed to do to become a professional online grant writer and started writing grants and then started doing it as a business.

So I know the answer to these questions and I want to share with you because it's important. Now, do they ask you, hey, "do you have a grant writing certification?"

The answer to this is... can you guess?

What do you think?

The answer is, in all of my experience, I've never had anybody asked me if I was a certified grant writer, okay? That's the truth of the matter. None of them have ever asked me if I was certified. What they wanted to know, though, that is very important and you should know this is they want to know about my experience.

• They want to know more importantly about my knowledge.
• They want to know about my success.
• They want to know, have you gotten any results, okay?

So think about it.

At the end of the day, what do they want?

Do they want you to have a certificate?

Or do they want to know that the person that they're working with is going to be able to get them funded?

What Prospective Clients Want To Know About A Grant Writer?

And that answer is pretty simple, my friend. 

What they really want to know at the end of the day is that you are going to be able to write an effective grant proposal that puts them in the best position to possibly get funded. 

So that's the real deal.

The certification can help you to increase your knowledge, to make sure that you are proficient in addressing the important areas. 

But most of them are not going to be asking you if you have a certification. 

Ways To Leverage Your Grant Writing Certification For Maximum Success

Now, with that being said, there are ways that you can leverage your certification, and even though they don't ask you about it, that you can set it before them to ease and calm their nerves, that they may have about making sure that they get somebody that is really proficient so you can strategically use your certification and you can strategically lay it before them and let them know and you can place it on your website to let people know.

And you can place it on your tag line, in your email correspondence to let them know that they are dealing with someone who is actually certified. 

But equally important or even more important are your results.

I hope this helps you as you are going through your process of determining what's going to be important for you.

And remember, at the end of the day, this is not about the organizations. This is about the way you present yourself to your prospective clients. And it also has a lot to do with your confidence that you bring to the table. Now, let me say this.

Two-Fold Purpose Of Your Grant Writing Certification

The certification may serve two purposes.

It may serve a purpose for the organization to ease and calm their nerves.

But it also may bring you the needed assurance that you need to feel confident in going forward.

And if that's the case, then it may serve a dual purpose.

I hope this helps you as you continue on your journey to becoming a grant writer. This is a fascinating field. This is a field where you get a chance to take words and take relationships and turn those into money for worthy causes. And you can help a number of people. 

So I want to encourage you to be brave and all you're doing is to be bold and to be brilliant and to remember to take charge. All the best.

Rodney Walker is today’s leading expert in Grant Development Systems™ and President of Grant Central USA - Grant Writers Association. Learn more about his online grant writing courses today.