In-house vs. outsourced grant writing: compare the work and cost

Which arrangement addresses your actual constraint?

There is no universal number of annual proposals at which staffing becomes the right answer. A five-page renewal and a multi-part federal application are not interchangeable units of work. Count the tasks and their timing.

For an external route, the following examples are alphabetical and based on Published service descriptions. Their present capacity and your terms require confirmation.

Sources: Connor service/pricing page, DH Leonard services and engagement FAQ, and Seliger fees, checked October 3, 2026. The cost guide owns published fee comparisons; this page helps decide how to staff the work.

First, make an annual workload inventory

List what actually happens before and after an application. Include opportunity screening, funder research, program interviews, drafting, budget coordination, document assembly, revisions, portal work, reporting, renewals and calendar administration.

For each task, estimate the effort from your past work when possible. Record low and high estimates when experience is limited. Do not use a proposal count as a proxy for all that work, and do not count the same budget review twice under different headings.

Grant workload worksheet

Planning period: ____________________
Programs and funding types covered: ____________________
Estimate based on: recorded hours / reviewed task estimates / preliminary assumptions: ____________________

Total non-overlapping grant-role hours: ____________________
Separate program, finance and authorized-approval hours: ____________________
Other duties available for an internal role: ____________________
Tasks requiring expertise not currently present: ____________________
Work you would stop rather than staff: ____________________

For each row, total hours = number of items × hours per item. Sum the low estimates together and the high estimates together. Unknown workload stays unknown; it should not appear as zero. Describe whether an estimate includes revisions, meetings and administration before comparing it with another estimate.

Next, estimate usable staff capacity

Paid working time is not all available for grant production. Subtract leave and holidays, general meetings, training, organization administration and other assigned duties from the paid hours for the period. Keep those categories non-overlapping.

Usable grant capacity = paid hours − leave/holidays − non-grant duties − other unavailable time.

Capacity needed = estimated grant-role hours ÷ usable hours available for one comparable role.

This is a planning fraction, not a worker-classification decision or a command to create a particular position. If estimated capacity is 0.3 of a full role, you still need to investigate peaks, specialist work and coverage. If it exceeds 1.0, a single employee's schedule does not cover the estimate without a different allocation or more capacity.

An employee is not automatically available whenever needed. An external firm is not automatically able to absorb every peak. Map deadlines month by month and ask how the arrangement handles simultaneous applications, a staff absence and an unexpected funder request.

Compare the total commitment for equivalent work

Use the same planning period, task list and assumptions. Separate a first-year cost from an ongoing annual cost. Separate new cash spending from the estimated economic value of existing staff time.

Staffing cost worksheet

Loaded employee cost means salary plus the employer costs you are actually including. Choose either itemized benefits/payroll amounts or a supported percentage assumption; do not add both for the same costs. For internal time, use an appropriate hourly cost and explain the basis. Existing salaried time has an opportunity cost even when using it does not create a new payroll payment.

For an external engagement, use a real quote and all applicable minimums. A monthly rate does not establish the total contract commitment. Extra specialist work is added only when it is outside the chosen arrangement's scope. Unknown fees or hours prevent a complete total; they do not become a free service.

For a hybrid, count the retained internal capacity and the external assignment once each. If a consultant reviews a staff draft, make clear that the staff hours cover drafting and the consultant fee covers review—not two complete writing assignments unless you intentionally commission both.

Worked example: occasional proposals do not fill a full role

This hypothetical comparison uses invented planning figures to demonstrate the method. It is not a salary benchmark, provider quote or estimate of your workload.

An organization estimates the following grant-role work for one year:

It separately estimates 120 hours of program, finance and approval inputs under either model. Those hours are not part of the 390-hour writer workload and do not disappear when writing is outsourced.

For a hypothetical employee, assume 2,080 paid hours minus 240 hours of leave/holidays, 300 hours of general meetings/training and 240 hours of other duties. That leaves 1,300 usable hours. The identified grant work uses 390 ÷ 1,300 = 30% of that capacity. The organization would need other useful duties, a part-time arrangement or a reason to buy spare capacity before hiring a full-time grants-only role.

Here is the first-year cost comparison using explicit assumptions:

The assumed benefit rate, salaries, hours and quoted prices are illustrative. Some cost lines represent existing staff time rather than new cash payments. The actual organization would separately identify which amounts require incremental cash.

The full employee commitment is not a $26,880 purchase simply because 30% of $89,600 in salary/benefit cost equals $26,880. That is an allocation of labor cost; the organization still commits to the role and needs productive uses for the rest of its capacity. Conversely, if an existing suitable employee genuinely has unused protected time, a new full salary is not the incremental cost of allocating that time to grants.

The external example is attractive on the stated assumptions, but it remains incomplete if those quotes exclude work in the inventory or no qualified provider can meet the schedule. Price arithmetic cannot resolve a missing scope or unavailable expertise.

What should stay inside the organization?

Keep a named owner for program facts, budgets, commitments, relationship history, priorities and approvals, even when substantial work is outsourced. That person does not need to write every proposal. They need authority to coordinate information and decide what the organization is willing and able to promise.

An internal writer can still benefit from a specialist or independent reviewer. An external writer can become familiar with your organization through repeated work, but familiarity requires organized records and information flow. Plan handover so that calendar history, editable files, budgets, reports and source material remain accessible when a person leaves or an engagement ends.

Measure whether the arrangement performs the agreed work: completed screened research, accurate drafts, on-time handovers, usable records, appropriate issue escalation and manageable organization effort. Track funding results separately with context; do not make a staffing decision from one award or denial.

Check classification before calling a staff-like role a contractor

The agreement's name does not determine whether an individual is an independent contractor. The IRS's federal tax guidance considers behavioral control, financial control and the relationship as a whole. Remote work does not by itself make someone a contractor. Applicable employment-law and state tests may differ; have the actual arrangement checked when the organization expects employee-like control or continuing duties.

This worksheet compares operating choices and costs. It does not classify a worker or calculate payroll obligations.

Make a bounded decision, then test the assumptions

Record the tasks, period, cost, peak capacity and internal owner behind your choice. If work is uncertain, a bounded initial assignment can reveal the effort required before you make a larger continuing commitment. Agree in advance on what it should produce and which assumptions you will review.

If you need outside help, send providers the task inventory and ask for the exact workload they can accept, service boundaries, minimum term, payment schedule and a handover plan. If you hire internally, define the protected grant time, other duties, required capabilities and supervisor. A hybrid needs both sets of decisions.

Our chosen model and reason: ____________________
Assumption most likely to change the decision: ____________________
Evidence we will collect during the first period: ____________________
Person responsible and review date: ____________________

Turn the workload into a project brief

Compare external grant help