For grant writers
No one can promise a funder will say yes. Your proposal can promise a strong application on time.
Grant writing clients are often small charities, nonprofits, researchers and social enterprises with tight budgets and a funding deadline in a few weeks. They ask for one application, then three. The budget figures and impact data you need arrive the night before the portal closes. And sometimes they'd prefer to pay only if the grant is won — something many in the profession avoid, and which some funders don't allow to be paid from grant money.
ApeiroCraft sends the engagement as a link with the applications in scope, the research included, what the client must supply and by when, the submission responsibilities and a clear statement that fees are for the work rather than the outcome. You see when it's opened and reopened — useful when a board needs to approve spend — it's signed in the browser, and the fee is invoiced from the accepted proposal.
Where grant writing engagements get squeezed.
Inputs that arrive too late
Budgets, outcomes data and letters of support arrive hours before the deadline. The application suffers, and the writer carries the stress and the blame.
One application becomes three
Repurposing an application for another funder sounds quick. Each funder has different questions, word limits and priorities.
Success-fee expectations
A client asks to pay a percentage of the award instead of a fee. Many grant professionals' ethics codes, including the Grant Professionals Association's, rule out commission-based pay — and the proposal is where to say how you're paid.
Intro call to submission.
Applications in scope
List each funder and application, its deadline, word limits and attachments, so additional applications are clearly new work.
See when the board's looking
Opens and re-opens are recorded on the link. Reopens around a board or trustee meeting mean it's being discussed.
Inputs and deadlines, signed
The signature records name, email, IP address and a UTC timestamp and can't be altered — the client's input deadlines are on record.
Fee invoiced on your terms
Convert the accepted proposal into the first invoice in one click — a deposit or the full fee — and send it with your payment link.
What a grant writing proposal has to include.
A grant writer's proposal manages deadlines that belong to someone else. These sections make that workable.
Applications and funders
If it's left vague
One application becomes several for the same fee.
With ApeiroCraft
Name each funder, application and deadline in scope.
Research
If it's left vague
The client expects a full funder search as well.
With ApeiroCraft
Say whether prospect research is included, and how many funders it covers.
Client inputs
If it's left vague
Budgets and data arrive the night before.
With ApeiroCraft
List what the client supplies — budget, outcomes data, letters — and the date for each.
Fee basis and outcome
If it's left vague
Payment is expected only if the grant is awarded.
With ApeiroCraft
State that fees are for the work and aren't contingent on the funding decision.
Submission and review
If it's left vague
Unclear who presses submit or signs the declaration.
With ApeiroCraft
Say who submits through the portal, that the client reviews and approves the final text, and who makes the declarations.
- Invoices in the currency you set, with an editable tax-rate field.
- Kanban tasks per funder deadline.
- Free plan: 3 proposals and 3 invoices sent a month.
Common questions.
How do grant writers usually price?
Common models are a fixed fee per application (varying by complexity), an hourly or day rate, and a monthly retainer for organisations with a steady pipeline of applications. Prospect research is often priced separately. Commission or percentage-of-award pricing is discouraged by many professional ethics codes. ApeiroCraft holds the model; it doesn't suggest fees.
What does a grant writing proposal look like?
Two applications to named funders with their deadlines; a short prospect review; a timetable where the client supplies the budget and outcomes data two weeks before each deadline and letters of support one week before; two rounds of review by the client; the client submits through the funder portal and signs the declarations; a fixed fee per application, not contingent on the outcome; a deposit and the balance on submission. The director reopens it before a trustee meeting, signs, and you invoice the deposit.
When is ApeiroCraft not the right fit for a grant writer?
It isn't a funder database or a grants-management system, and it doesn't track deadlines on a calendar or log hours. If you bill purely by tracked time, you'll need a time tracker. ApeiroCraft fits fixed-fee and retainer engagements.
Can nonprofits sign electronically?
ApeiroCraft records the signer's name, email, IP address and a UTC timestamp, and the signed document can't change. If the organisation needs a particular officer to sign, name them in the proposal.
Which template is closest?
The copywriting template — deliverables, an approval structure and revision limits — adapts well. Add funder deadlines and client inputs.
Put the input deadlines in writing.
Write your scope and fee basis once, and send it to every organisation you work with.
Start freeStill deciding? Talk to the founder
Keep reading
Free template
Copywriting proposal template
Reframe the sale away from price-per-word — and end the revision spiral in writing.
Solution
ApeiroCraft for consultants
Scope, phases, and value-anchored fees in a document that gets signed, not edited.
Solution
Proposal tracking, explained
Timestamped opens on the proposal itself — not an email pixel, not a guess.