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Oct 9
9m 37s

Get Clients as a Grant Writer 5-Part Ser...

HOLLY RUSTICK
About this episode

A concept that I have been talking about this year is doing the MVP. Now you may have heard the term MVP before, with the acronym standing for Minimum Viable Product. 


But my MVP concept stands for Minimum VALUE Product.


You want to deliver something more than just a ‘viable’ product, hence the word ‘VALUE’.


What I have seen after working with more than 300 freelance grant writers in 2025 (and literally more than 1,000 over the last 10 years) is that many of you are all adding fluff to your contracts thinking it will help sell, BUT IT ONLY MAKES YOU OVERPRICED.


This is an important note, especially in 2025 when streamlining is the word for every organization.


In 2025 and 2026, nonprofits and organizations want:

  • grant funding 
  • to know the ways to get them to that funding
  • to be updated on what is going on in the grant funding world.

You need to do the work that will DRIVE forward the MOST VALUE for your client, without fluff

  1. Figure out what is the minimum you can do to GET VALUABLE Results. 
  2. Cut out the fluff from your contracts. 
  3. Price appropriately.
  4. Stop delivering more than what you are getting paid to do.

Now, I am not saying to take out what is important, but I am asking you to examine what needs to get done now and to what depth.


Overpitching right now doesn’t make sense. And it probably makes you overpriced.

  • If you can get results by writing 15 grants, stop pitching to write 35 grants.
  • If that full-on Nonprofit Wellness Audit can be cut down to a DIY (vs. Done-For-You), then do it.
  • If finding 25 grant funding prospects vs. 50 grant funding prospects makes sense, do it.
  • If weekly meetings can be cut to monthly, do it.
  • If live meetings can be turned into loom wrap-up videos you send over, do it.

Cut the work down for you so you can do the MINIMUM VALUE PRODUCT for your clients right now.

To find out more about how hundreds of freelance grant writers determine their Minimum Value Product, join the Freelance Grant Writer Academy: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-grant-writer-academy/

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