Freelance grant writers: price every project from the real hours, not a guess. Free, no signup.
Typical freelance grant writing rates run roughly $25-50/hr for beginners, $50-100/hr intermediate, $100-200/hr for experienced writers. These are editable starting points for your market, not industry standards.
Presets fill the hours below with typical starting points. Change anything to match your real workflow.
Set your bar first: the minimum dollars per hour you will work for, with New ($35), Proven ($75), and Expert ($150) presets as editable starting points, not industry standards. The tool shows typical ranges ($25 to $50 for beginners, up to $100 to $200 for experienced writers) as context only. Pick the project preset: LOI only, Foundation proposal, Federal grant, or Renewal and report. Each fills the real hour buckets: discovery and intake, funder research, drafting, budget and attachments, revision rounds times hours per round, and follow-up and reporting. Add out-of-pocket costs if any. The numbers card shows the hour-by-hour breakdown and the recommended project fee: total hours at your rate, rounded up to the nearest $25. The reality check card compares what you would have quoted against the math: PRICED RIGHT, CLOSE BUT LEAKING, or UNDERPRICED BY a dollar amount, with your quote's effective dollars per hour. There is also a success-fee toggle for clients who ask for a percentage of the award: it shows the tool's ethics warning, which says percentage-based compensation is considered unethical under the Association of Fundraising Professionals code of ethics, and that many grantmakers prohibit it. Quote a flat or hourly fee instead.
Example only, not typical pricing. Load the Foundation proposal preset at the Proven $75 rate: 3 discovery, 4 funder research, 14 drafting, 3 budget and attachments, 2 revision rounds at 2 hours each (4 hours), and 1.5 follow-up: 29.5 real hours. The recommended fee is 29.5 times $75, or $2,212.50, rounded up to $2,225. A gut quote of $1,500 pays $1,500 over 29.5 hours, or $50.85 per hour: UNDERPRICED BY $725. The silent killer is the unpaid front and back end: discovery, research, revisions, and follow-up are 12.5 of the 29.5 hours, and a flat guess almost never counts them.
**Why does the tool round fees to $25?**
Client-facing quotes are cleaner at $25 increments, and rounding up protects your rate. The breakdown still shows the unrounded math behind the number.
**What is the success-fee ethics warning?**
If a client asks for a percentage of the award, the toggle shows the tool's warning: its text says percentage-based compensation is considered unethical under the AFP code of ethics, and many grantmakers prohibit it. Quote a flat or hourly fee instead.
**What are the silent-killer hours on a grant project?**
Discovery, funder research, revisions, and follow-up: the work around the drafting. On the Foundation preset they are 12.5 of the 29.5 hours, which is why flat-fee guesses land short.
**What does CLOSE, BUT LEAKING mean?**
Your quote pays within 85 percent of your rate but below it. The verdict shows the recommended fee that closes the gap.
**Are the rate presets official rates?**
No. The note shows typical ranges as context only, and every rate is an editable starting point. The footer says estimates are for planning only, not tax or legal advice.