Grant Writing & Funding

Join host Holly Rustick on the Grant Writing and Funding Podcast as she delves into the essential topic of setting boundaries as a freelance grant writer. Learn how to professionally handle client requests that fall outside the scope of work while maintaining good relationships and avoiding burnout. Holly shares practical advice, including key phrases and strategies, to ensure that freelance grant...

Welcome to the Grant Writing & Funding Podcast. In this episode, Holly Rustick explores the importance of money mindset in the nonprofit and freelance grant writing sectors. She shares her personal experiences growing up in poverty and how it influenced her career and pricing strategies YOU'LL LEARN -How to reframe your worth as a grant writer -The difference between charging for time vs. tran...

Want to land invite-only grants and corporate sponsorships? Hear how Surge for Water built trust-based relationships that unlocked over $1M in funding. Founder Shilpa Alva shares actionable strategies for grant writers and nonprofit leaders to move from cold outreach to long-term funder partnerships, boost corporate support, and secure sustainable funding for water access, menstrual health, and co...

In this episode, Holly Rustick interviews Marivi V. Bryant, founder of Home Agency, discussing the critical role of marketing and storytelling for nonprofits. They explore how effective branding and a polished online presence can enhance a nonprofit's credibility and attract funding.  Marivi emphasizes the importance of utilizing social media, creating engaging content, and leveraging available re...

Veronica Kulon, CEO of VK Empowerment Solutions, shares her journey from starting a business to becoming an advocate for her clients after joining the Freelance Grant Writer Academy.  She had been full-time with her business (and working part-time at a job) but she still wasn’t tapping into her financial goals. It wasn’t until she joined the Academy, and got some mindset coaching, that she was the...

This is a POP-UP Bonus Podcast, meaning it WILL disappear soon! It's a replay from our Student Panel, "First $100K in the Academy" and Open House "Is the Academy for Me?"

Dr. Eve McGee shares her inspiring journey from the social work sector to more than doubling her revenue and impact as a freelance grant writer.  She went from a draining job to starting her own grant writing business.  The first year in her own business, with no support was isolating and hard, though.  So she joined the Freelance Grant Writer Academy. Within 9 months, she went from earning $1,050...

You may be wondering if grant writing is a shiny object this year. I'm here to say NO. Grant writing is needed. The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is also NOT a shiny object as it's a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and Community program to help aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. Doors close to the Academy on Friday,...

You may be curious if 2025 is a good time to be a grant writer. YES! Nonprofits need you NOW more than ever and are streamlining their budgets to hire freelance grant writers vs. staff grant writers.  The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and Community program to help aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writin...

You may be wondering if you can get grant writing clients if you don't have a network, email list, or social media following. YES. Our Academy students get clients without websites, email lists, or on social media.  The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and Community program to help aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexibl...

You may be wondering how long it takes to learn grant writing and to get a paying client in the Freelance Grant Writer Academy. You can do it within 90 days.  The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and Community program to help aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. Doors close to the Aca...

You may be interested in joining the Freelance Grant Writer Academy, but aren't sure if it's for you since you already have a freelance grant writing business. If you don't have recurring income, filled out your client pipeline, or are still confused about your offers, marketing, or sales... then yes. The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and Community progra...

You may be wanting to join the Freelance Grant Writer Academy, but are wondering HOW to pay for it. Find out with these 8 ways. The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is  a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and Community program to help aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. Doors close to the Academy on Friday, Oct. 24th at 1...

You may be wanting to join the Freelance Grant Writer Academy, but have no grant writing experience. That is FINE. Changemakers who have never seen a grant before all the way to seasoned 20+year grant writers get value inside the Academy. You learn grant writing and business acumen in our #1 in the Industry program. The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is a 12-Month Group Coaching, Curriculum, and C...

If you got caught in getting laid off in Academics, Health, or Research in 2025 have you considered being a freelance grant writer? This is what Caitlin did and it paid off. In this episode, Holly Rustick chats with Caitlin Doran, a student in the Academy and the brains behind Katydid Communications. Caitlin opens up about her leap from getting laid off from a large academic medical center to the...

Welcome to this episode of Grant Writing & Funding with your host Holly Rustick and special guest Rachel Werner, CEO of RBW Strategy Consulting and principal of My Fed Trainer. In this insightful conversation, Holly and Rachel break down the complexities around the 2025 government shutdown and its direct impact on federal grants, nonprofits, and grant writers. #grantwriting #grantwriter #gover...

A lot of grant writers feel like they are in an impossible situation when asked about their ‘grant writing success rate’. As if the only measurement of your success as a grant writer is based on the grants you have won. Some places on the internet state that there are ‘good’ percentage win rates for grant writers.  Honestly, ‘grant writer success rates’ are crap.   If you are working with start-up...

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 lit...

You may be thinking about learning how to write grants and you think it will take too much time OR you may be a freelance grant writer and be stuck in client work. What I have seen after working with more than 500 freelance grant writers in the last two years (and literally thousands over the last 10 years), is that many of you are overworking yourselves. Why are you doing this? Well, let me know...

You don’t just write grants. You are a grant strategist.  You just aren’t positioning yourself as one. We are seeing that Academy students who are leaning into positioning themselves as a Grant Strategist vs. Grant Writer are doing BETTER this year in booking out their businesses. What a Grant Strategist Does in 2025-2026 Stays on top of changes in grants (at least in your cause area: i.e., DOE gr...

Changemakers in the Academy have made $3,470,242 (and growing every day) in their grant writing businesses so far in 2025. 🔥 They’ve also secured more than $48 million in funding for their clients. 🤑 How are they doing it? They are utilizing our Grant and Funding frameworks built on 20+ years of experience. One mantra that I have always had is, “Don’t be 100% reliant on grant funding.” I might b...

Join Holly to hear how you can earn an extra $10,000 in 90 days writing grants from home. She will give you case studies on what freelance grant writer students (inside the Academy and Mentorship) are doing to secure grants and clients in 2025, why nonprofits have money in 2025 to hire you as a freelance grant writer, and 3 steps to make extra money writing grants (even if you are new to grants)....

Today on Grant Writing & Funding , Holly Rustick sits down with Dr. Annise Mabry bestselling author, and multi-stream revenue builder. We dive into how she’s secured $2.7M+ in grants while in the Academy , landed multi-million-dollar rural infrastructure wins , balanced a nonprofit with a grant services business, priced her services with confidence . Tune in today to listen to this podcast. To...

In this episode, Holly Rustick dives into a nuanced topic that many freelance grant writers grapple with: Should you, as a freelancer, submit grants directly on behalf of your clients, or should your clients always be the ones submitting? Holly unpacks the different approaches, shares best practices, and explores the implications for liability, client capacity-building, and business strategy.  Tun...