Grant Proposal Writing Services

Once a contract is signed and an initial deposit is paid, a qualified DGC consultant will meet with designated nonprofit organization staff to develop a comprehensive grant calendar and timeline. Most clients work with DGC to submit one to three grant proposals per month. However, the specific number of grants and complexity varies by organization. Larger federal grants take additional time and resources than most private foundation applications, so your consultant will develop a tailored grant calendar for your specific organization. A DGC grant calendar takes three to six hours to create. Services at DGC are quoted by the hour or by the project. Please click here to see how and why we work on a fixed quote and never on a contingency or percentage of any project. Nonprofit leadership will sign a DGC Consulting Agreement, and the initial deposit will be received and applied before starting on the product.

DGC has extensive experience writing, editing, and receiving numerous federal, state, county, and private foundation proposals. For a complete list of agencies and foundations that DGC has experience being awarded and working with for numerous grant applications, please download the PDF here. Our process is as follows: Once a Grant Consulting Contract is signed and the initial deposit paid, we will set up an initial virtual or in-person meeting with nonprofit leadership. At this meeting, DGC usually reviews the funding calendar or the specific request for proposal (RFP) that the nonprofit client would like to apply to, or if the agreement is for multiple grants, a timeline is established at this meeting to ensure that the DGC team will have all required materials to submit the grant on time. Materials may include but are not limited to the nonprofit's recent financial statements, the last three years of audited financial statements, vision and mission statements, 501(c)(3) determination letter, board member list, most recent 990, Bylaws, and organizational chart. 

DGC has a comprehensive grant writing checklist that will be emailed to all clients and can be completed via a simple Google form to share all needed documents with DGC. Once all documents are received via the form or email, DGC will draft the proposal, send a draft to the client for approval, and once approved, submit the grant and all required documents. Once the grant is submitted, the DGC team will update the custom grant tracking database so the client can stay informed on the grant review and award timeline for each proposal. This custom database is a significant asset when developing funding calendars and planning operating budgets for the next fiscal or calendar year. 

Often, once grants are awarded, consultants are out of the picture and do not follow up with program staff to ensure that grants are being drawn down and that the grant goals and objectives are being delivered to the client or community. DGC is different because we are a full-service grant writing and reporting firm. We provide all clients access to all grants and grant reports created and submitted via Google Drive. 

DGC also creates a comprehensive grant database that can be viewed and shared and is easy to update. This database sets DGC apart and helps our clients and the DGC team stay on top of all grant deadlines and reports. The database also provides nonprofits with unparalleled grant insight. An example is if the team has applied to a grant multiple times, and after speaking with the funder and requesting feedback on the grant application, the DGC team and nonprofit have a better understanding of the donor's ultimate goals. The team will document this information in the database. Therefore, the next time an RFP is released, the resources needed to develop the grant application will not be allocated to this donor, and the team can look for other funders that will provide better alignment and resources for the nonprofit. 

At DGC, we work with you and your team to find funders that support and align with your mission. We also love working with nonprofit Information Technology (IT) teams and nonprofit program and development staff to show everyone the power and functionality of this easy-to-use yet robust database that we will customize specifically for your nonprofit. 

In addition, DGC will work with nonprofit staff to create a grant summary for all awarded grants and will conduct regular check-ins with nonprofit program staff to ensure that all grants are meeting all required grant metrics and are on target to reach all grant goals and objectives. Similar to the grant submission process, DGC will work with program staff to obtain all needed data for grant reporting and will submit a draft grant report to the nonprofit client and then, once approved, submit the final report to the funder. 

The team at DGC has worked with numerous Boards to conduct strategic planning and to develop annual strategic plan documents with community buy-in and participation, focus groups, and community co-designing sessions. DGC will provide a Consulting Agreement with a fixed or hourly rate for the project. Next, the DGC team will work with your nonprofit team to schedule an initial meeting. From this meeting, the team will develop a PowerPoint presentation with resources and information already available. After this presentation, DGC will present a menu of services that can be implemented to create or revise the organization's strategic plan. Strategic Planning is often conducted annually at the nonprofit Board Retreat or similar venue. The DGC team can be onsite to walk the Board through interactive strategic planning activities. The team also has experience setting up focus groups and working with research firms to test and validate nonprofit services, capital campaign communications strategies, and earned media marketing campaigns. In addition, the team can conduct online surveys and onsite co-designing sessions with Board members or nonprofit clients to further develop and finalize a comprehensive strategic plan. Each strategic plan is specific to the organization and is customized to your nonprofit unique needs, clients, and community. Please get in touch with us for more information on this service.