How to Use OpenGrants

Grant Writer, Narrative-based application, VAPG, REAP, SARE

Liz Hirst avatar
Written by Liz Hirst
Updated over a week ago

opengrants.io is a grant search engine for grant experts and grant seekers. It is a great place to find an experienced grant writer that can assist you in completing your grant application. To begin researching your options, sign up for free on their site! Here’s the video walkthrough, and written steps below to help you along the way:

  • Click “Sign Up” in the top-right corner

  • Enter your account information, and verify your email address

  • From your Dashboard, select “Hire Experts” on the left-hand side

  • Select “Post a Project” - you’ll have to post a description of your grant application before you can consider your grant writer options. The process is very simple:

    1. If you haven’t already, you’ll first be prompted to enter your Organization's Attributes

      1. Select the Type of Organization that best fits

      2. Write your Organization Name - if you’re posting as an Individual/Sole Proprietor, write your own name

    2. After you’ve set up your organization, you’ll begin inserting your Project Details

      1. Title ex. Value-Added Producer Grant Application for Small Cattle Ranch

      2. Project Description ex. “I own and operate Nick’s Cattle, a grass-fed cattle ranch, and I’d like to apply to the USDA’s Value-Added Producer Program funds that support our storage capacity and online marketing…” Continue adding details that outline the scope of the project, including timelines and expected hours of work.

      3. Project Goal ex. “Drafting and editing the narrative portions of my grant application.” This should be a specific, task-oriented description of your job post.

      4. Focus Area(s) - select as many that apply, such as Construction, Food Production, Energy, Agriculture, Environment/Natural Resources, etc.

      5. Services Required - select as many that apply, such as Business Plan Writing, Grant Writing, Copy Editing, Research, etc.

      6. Select your Start Date - This is up to you! It’s helpful to get started as soon as you can, but you may want to wait until the official grant announcement has been released, including that year’s grant application materials. For example, VAPG 2023 deadline will likely be in the late spring/early summer, and application materials won’t be released until late winter/early spring.

      7. Project Budget - This refers to how much you will pay for grant writing services, not the amount of funding requested in your application. It is also up to you! Hourly rates for grant writers tend to be $40-$100. The number of hours can vary greatly, but an entire application may take 80-100 hours.

    3. Select Next and Review your job post, then select Finish

    4. Now that your post is live, you’ll begin receiving offers. We recommend waiting a couple of weeks, depending on your timeline and the application deadline, to let job proposals build up and give you options in cost and quality. You can see your options by selecting “review proposals” under My Projects

    5. Hire a Grant Writer - you can select “Hire me!” for proposals you feel confident in, or “Reject” and wait for more proposals. To officially accept the proposal and prompt your grant writer to begin, you must enter payment information through OpenGrants

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