Hiring a grant editor could mean the difference between landing grant funds and facing disappointment. Editors can look over a response right before you submit it, ensuring that you’ve followed the grantor’s instructions and expressed yourself clearly. The right editor can even provide coaching and training, so your next grant response will be stronger than ever.
What Do Grant Editors Look For?
A grant editor’s job is to spot mundane problems (like typographical errors), technical (like using the wrong font), and critical (like not answering questions). An editor’s job is to look at the entire document and provide feedback to help you improve.
When I edit these projects, I start by examining the grant instructions. I’m looking for things like:
Section word counts
Font specifications
Required tables
Footnotes
Pagination
Some of these rules don’t apply to online applications, of course. But almost every grant has very specific instructions about length and required sections. I ensure I understand those rules and that the document I’m reviewing follows them.
Next, I look for impact. I try to determine if the response has emotional heft that’s backed by data. If something is missing, I can either suggest it or add it myself. But I never let it go unnoticed.
Only then do I look at the mechanics of the writing. Things like spelling errors, missing punctuation, run-on sentences, and misplaced verbs are the focus.
When I’m done with my work, the potential response is littered with questions and comments. If it’s helpful, I walk through those notes with my clients. But otherwise, they’re free to accept or reject my ideas and submit their grant application.
Six Ways Grant Editors Can Help You
Grant writers have difficult jobs that involve several moving parts. An editor can ensure that all that hard work doesn’t go to waste. The following six benefits should prompt anyone working in fundraising to ask for an editor’s help.
1. Check for Impact
We write grant applications to get money. However, most grants come with plenty of competition. A winning response is filled with powerful language that begs for financial support. That application is also tailored very specifically to the grantor’s goals and approach.
Many grant writers have source documents ready to go, so they can write up a response very quickly. Instead of recreating the wheel with every grant, they lean on the tried-and-true documents they’ve used in the past. However, these source documents can become stale with time, and if you have used them often, you may not even notice the problem until the grant rejection appears. An editor can look at your responses with fresh eyes.
2. Ensure You Meet Formatting Rules
Digital applications come with guardrails like automatic word counters and a mandatory font. It’s harder to break the rules when applying for these grants, but it’s not impossible. An editor can walk through the application and ensure you didn’t miss anything.
Traditional applications are very, very easy to get wrong. If you pick an incorrect font, forget a critical attachment, or don’t include a mandatory element (like a table of contents), the grant could be rejected out of hand. Think of an editor as your safety net, ensuring that all your required elements are present.
3. Tighten Your Writing
Grant instruction documents can be dense, technical, and dry. After reading them repeatedly, that tone can appear in your application. Soon, your sentences lengthen, and your writing loses impact. An editor can excise unneeded words, clean up sentence structure, and ensure you’re speaking authoritatively.
4. Spot Typographical and Logic Errors
An eagle-eyed grant reviewer can spot (and deduct points for) tiny problems like missing punctuation, run-on sentences, and misspellings. Each one indicates that you didn’t take the grant process seriously and might not be a good steward of the grantor’s funds. An editor can find and fix these problems for you.
5. Provide Coaching and Guidance
A good editor will help you become a better writer. As you review the edits, you’ll spot your writing weaknesses, and you might avoid them the next time you sit down to write. An editor may also help you understand what makes your organization truly special and worthy of funding, and those insights could help you become more competitive during the next grant season.
How to Find the Right Editor
A grant editor should be—first and foremost—a good editor. Some of the best grant writers I know are not wonderful editors, and they tend to let some technical details slide. An editor is a true professional that can catch problems both large and small.
Great editors also have lived grant experience. They’ve worked on grant applications and/or RFPs multiple times and know what works and what does not. These people are ready to help you become a more talented and successful fundraiser, and they can become your long-term writing partners.
If you’re searching for a grant editor, I’d love to help! Contact me to get started.
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