Many nonprofits, no matter their size, are unable to offer the depth of professional development needed or desired for grant writers.
Luckily, nonprofit leaders can find a wealth of information from top grant writing blogs available online for free. The best grant writing blogs provide an excellent way to supplement continuing education.
We dove deep into the world of blogs for nonprofits to organize this tightly-curated list of the best blogs to learn grant writing from scratch, grant writing for consultancies, and everything in between!
How We Selected These Grant Writing Blogs
This thoughtfully curated list was selected based on a specific list of criteria to make sure we are offering the top grant writing blogs for you.
1. Diversity of Ideas
The best grant writing blogs present a wide array of topics to support nonprofit leaders and grant writers.
Many of these top grant writing blogs introduce the new and next topics in nonprofit fundraising and help grant writers find, write, and maintain grant funding as a dependable stream of revenue.
Nonprofit professionals must balance knowledge of so many things, from grant prospecting to grant writing to program development. These blogs provide a helpful supplement to the continuous nature of nonprofit on-the-job learning.
The different blogs on this list can help you learn grant writing from scratch or even about the future of philanthropy. We chose these top blogs because they cover a wide range of grant writing topics to help readers navigate the entire grants lifecycle.
2. Diversity of Voices
The best nonprofit blogs about grant writing feature important voices from different corners of the philanthropy community.
All of us have unique experiences that we carry with us to our nonprofit work. We champion blogs that challenge our thinking and invite us to approach our work in exciting new ways.
This list contains an array of blogs from current nonprofit grant writing experts to front-line nonprofit service providers. All of these blogs contain a compelling point of view that adds to the philanthropy conversation.
3. Helpful Additional Resources
Everyone learns differently. So while this article focuses on the best grant writing blogs, the additional resources available from these blogs is also an essential ranking criteria.
The blogs featured here include things like helpful online and in-person workshops, free and downloadable e-books, and other related nonprofit services. If you enjoy a particular blogger’s approach, many offer customized coaching and other professional services.
Many of these top grant writing blogs also feature a useful search tool or other practical archive features. This helps busy nonprofit professionals quickly and reliably find the educational tools they are looking for. A disorganized website is an ineffective website!
All of these blogs are free. With the additional resources available, these grant writing blogs become no-cost, educational powerhouses for beginning and experienced grant writers alike.
4. Consistency
This list includes grant writing blogs with an extensive library of posts and regular, consistent history of posting. Blogs on this list have at least a year of history posting useful content and upload a new blog at least monthly.
Consistency is important to lend legitimacy to the blog’s content. Someone who posts consistently displays a true passion for nonprofit grant writing. This helps generate trust in the content being shared.
We know you can’t subscribe to all of the grant writing blogs available online. By prioritizing the websites which post regularly, we are sharing the best grant writing blogs with an extensive library of content.
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Instrumentl provides an effective grant prospecting tool to help you streamline your grant prospecting, proposal tracking, and grants management all in one place. In addition to this robust software, Instrumentl offers an extensive library of grant writing blogs that deliver practical, actionable, and detailed advice for beginning grant writers.
This top blog serves as the gold standard for long-form articles on grant writing. Explore a vast assortment of topics like:
Instrumentl’s library of nonprofit blog posts is a comprehensive resource for the beginning grant writer.
This blog provides information on the entire grants lifecycle, from explaining what a grant is and how to apply to learning how to manage grants and report back to funders. Instrumentl’s blog provides support for fundraisers in general, with ultimate guides and helpful lists of best practices.
Written by nonprofit professionals, you can trust the information released by Instrumentl and can easily search its huge library of resources. You can check back regularly for the latest content—blog posts are uploaded weekly.
While Instrumentl’s blog is a fantastic resource for beginners, grant writers of all levels and focus areas can benefit from these posts. Articles covering things like analyzing volunteer metrics and best practices for grants management hone the skills of more advanced grant writers.
For even more learning, Instrumentl offers regular free grant writing virtual workshops and many of the blog posts feature ebooks. Explore Instrumentl’s website for free printable planning calendars, playbooks, and other strategic tools to support your fundraising growth.
After achieving her Ph.D in rhetoric, Grant Writing Made Easy’s founder Dr. Krista Kurlinkus brought her organizational leadership expertise to the world of grant writing. The result is this top grant writing blog, focusing on raising up small nonprofits and beginner grant writers.
Grant Writing Made Easy serves as an easy-to-read blog about basic nonprofit topics and some slightly more advanced ideas. The most appealing blogs featured on this website deliver practical, actionable advice for beginning grant writers.
While Dr. Kurlinkus is undeniably an academic, her writing style and blog topics are super approachable. Dr. Kurlinkus holds practical experience as a development director, so her blogs are relatable as well as educational.
Dr. Kurlinkus updates this blog at least weekly. If you are looking to build the basic infrastructure of grant writing, this blog will assist.
For example, the blog How to Respond to Grant Rejections sheds important light on an aspect of grant writing many beginners may not consider. Posts about surviving a recession and developing a grant tracking pipeline are both important topics that Dr. Kurlinkus covers for new grant writers.
Alex Dunn’s blog Millionaire Grant Lady provides an essential voice for beginning grant writers. As the name implies, Dunn is an active and successful grant writer. She rakes in hundreds of thousands of dollars each year and takes her readers along on her journey.
In addition to sharing her own successes, Dunn answers important, foundational questions for beginning grant writers. Blogs like Your Mission Can’t Count on Individual Donations, You Need Foundation Grants deliver straightforward advice that helps to establish a solid foundation for those new to grant writing.
The post Are Your Grant Proposals Persuasive?not only offers practical tips for grant writing but also explains the six elements of persuasion. Dunn also offers “crystal ball” posts for insights on trends in the philanthropy community.
This blog is impressive for its consistency and high-level content. The fact that it is written by someone who is still active in the grant writing industry—and not a retired nonprofit executive or consultant—is also valuable. Dunn’s blog gives you an unbeatable peek into the life of a successful grant writer and serves as an aspirational journey for the beginner.
Grant Writers Seminars and Workshops (GWSW) arrived in 1994 to establish a place for academics and data scientists to share information. Russell and Morrison’s incredible library of resources provides comprehensive workshops, how-to books, and other practical tools for government and academic grants.
Russell and Morrison walk the walk—their 30-year academic career has been nearly continuously supported by their ability to successfully write grants for their work.
The audience for this blog is decidedly narrow. GWSW serves as an authority voice on winning academic and government grants. So if you are a professional writing advanced federal grants for the National Institutes of Health or US Department of Agriculture (or if that’s your goal!), this is the blog for you.
Data-driven grant writing consultants and agencies can benefit from the wisdom within the GWSW blog. This blog dives deep into the minutiae of writing high level grants, with posts like Data show vs data shows – which is correct?.
The GWSW site also offers workbooks, seminars, and workshops to dive even more deeply into this niche world of government and academic grants and they employ a tagging system to direct readers to related content.
Listen up! ProposalPRO’s blog Fund the Change provides a peek inside the complex but transformative world of federal and government grants.
Judie Eisenberg founded ProposalPRO to offer her more than 25 years of philanthropy expertise. Eisenberg has won more than $500 million in federal dollars in her nonprofit career.
Eisenberg publishes blogs monthly, making Fund the Change an easy blog to add to a reading list. This blog is a great choice for grant writing consultants and agencies because it serves as a great resource for common types of grants that they often cover for nonprofits.
More advanced grant writing blogs on this site take a deep dive into individual legislation that matters to nonprofits. Stay on top of the latest updates within this complex form of grant writing with Eisenberg’s blog.
Instrumentl maintains one of the most extensive online resources answering the most in-demand questions for executive directors and nonprofit leaders.
For example, board development is one of the most essential aspects of an executive director’s job. Instrumentl’s blog 11 Nonprofit Board Member Responsibilities helps leaders effectively establish or tweak their board of directors.
If you are founding a new nonprofit, the blog How to Write Successful Nonprofit Bylaws can help you get started. Bylaws are an essential requirement for nonprofits before they can begin to apply for grants. This blog provides useful background on what bylaws are and helpful tips to write your own set of legal standards for your nonprofit.
Instrumentl’s blog is easy to navigate to find the high-quality information you are looking for. The blog provides insight and best practices for nonprofit development and management, essential topics for executive directors and nonprofit leaders to master.Â
The Just Write Grants blog provides a comprehensive one-stop shop for executive directors and other nonprofit leaders.
This blog contains a wonderful overview of some of the most in-demand topics in philanthropy. If you are looking for one blog for your entire lead staff or executive committee to read together, this would be a good choice.
Grants 4 Good provides a wide array of resources on many grant writing topics. Nonprofit employees at all stages of their career will benefit from the blogs on Grants 4 Good.
Grants 4 Good spends time offering content that focuses on self care for grant writers and nonprofit professionals. Blogs about feeling overwhelmed, pacing yourself, practicing gratitude receive equal space with professional development articles.
One of the biggest benefits of the Grants 4 Good blog is its multimedia approach to learning.
No other grant writing blog on this list embeds as many different ways to engage with their content. Whether you learn best by reading a blog, listening to a podcast, or watching a video, this top grant writing blog serves every need.
If you’re looking for a blog for nonprofits that perfectly balances practical grant writing advice with cheeky pop culture references, Think and Ink is for you. Run by a nonprofit consultant and federal grant reviewer with nearly two decades of experience, this blog shows you can be professional with personality.
Think and Ink offers several additional resources to help nonprofits learn and grow. Join the Get Grants Better Facebook group to connect with like-minded grant writers.
If you like learning via video, Think and Ink offers many of their lessons on their YouTube channel as well. Be sure to download the free e-guide and logic model template offered by this top grant writing blog as well.
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Wrapping Up: Best Grant Writing Blogs of 2024
The best grant writing blogs feature an abundance of information to help you at every stage of your grant writing career. You don’t need to have a huge line item for professional development to make big strides in your grant writing success.
Subscribe to a few of these top grant writing blogs to take your consultancy, executive director job, or first grant writing project to a new level. Discover a few blogs for nonprofits that fit your needs and explore the incredible e-books and other exclusive content from these trustworthy sources.
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