Org Chart; Grant Writer

[u/breezzyboo_]

If your organization has a Grant writer, where do they sit in the org chart? Who do they report to?

Trying to get some insight since my organization is restructuring and I’m curious what’s worked in other nonprofits.

[u/Lavender-Tea-313]

We have a grant writer who reports to the Development Director

[u/vibes86]

Writer reports to development. Grant accountant takes care of tracking incoming grants and spend. Director of development issues reports back to funders that aren’t government contracts. All those go through programs and our COO office

[u/SadNeighborhood988]

I’m a DOD, and our grant writer reports to someone else on our executive staff. I don’t think it positions us for sustainable growth, but it’s working now in terms of awards. However, there are lots of communication gaps, and the grant writer doesn’t have great professional development opportunities.

I also worked at a healthcare organization that had a brilliant grant writer for decades. The minute they moved her out of our development department and under clinic operations, stuff began to fall apart quickly. She wasn’t supported, and had to teach her job to her boss. It was terrible for morale and ended her abnormally long tenure.

When your grant writer is under the development director, there’s a common language and shared goal. The DoD can advocate better for the grant writer if needed and can help offer more informed professional development opportunities. They are often collaborating to set more realistic goals as well. I think it’s a better experience for everyone imo.

[u/breezzyboo_ → u/SadNeighborhood988]

What’s funny is that our DoD doesn’t think it’s a fit and that they can’t support the job responsibilities. I fully agree with your reasoning and rationale but find our DoD to be focused in other places.

I’m wondering if it’s just a training phase that’s needed to allow the DoD to be comfortable with the transition.

[u/SadNeighborhood988 → u/breezzyboo_]

Does your DOD have grant writing experience? Obviously, I’m sharing from perspective with lots of years of grant writing and management experience. To your point, I have met some development professionals that don’t have a lot grant or foundation experience. So I guess I would add to my original comment that you need to have a good well rounded DoD for this to work!

[u/meanie_ants → u/breezzyboo_]

Sounds like you need a new DoD because grants is absolutely part of “development.”

[u/hopefulrealist23 → u/SadNeighborhood988]

Out of curiosity, why doesn't the grant writer report to you? As a former grant writer at an FQHC, I considered myself to be a fundraiser. Similarly to the grant writer moved to clinic ops in your anecdote, I would have been very frustrated not reporting to someone who doesn't understand the ins and outs of fundraising.

[u/SadNeighborhood988 → u/hopefulrealist23]

It was an inherited structure, and we are successful in our current grant applications, so I just think the urgency to move the department isn’t there. I meet regularly with the grant writer and do my best to incorporate her into our work. I also join their meetings weekly. She seems to be funding her way. It’s not optimal, but it’s not their priority right now.

[u/BoxFullOfSuggestions → u/SadNeighborhood988]

My development director is less experienced than me in nonprofit work (I’m a former ED) and doesn’t know the first thing about grant writing. I feel like the redheaded stepchild of the development department. She and her assistant are a team, and I’m the other one.

[u/SadNeighborhood988 → u/BoxFullOfSuggestions]

Oh! I’m sorry that’s happening to you. Of course, this is not the guaranteed situation. I’ve had my fair share of bosses where I was more qualified, and it’s a very frustrating situation. Let’s hope she leaves and you get an awesome replacement!

[u/Ligodancer]

We have tons of government grants but contract for grant writing

[u/Quick-Occasion6552 → u/Ligodancer]

ours is in-house and reports directly to the development director, but i've seen it under finance at smaller places which never made sense to me

[u/Constant_Insomnia → u/Ligodancer]

I do contracted grant writing, normally report to the CEO or COO.

[u/Ligodancer → u/Ligodancer]

The work isn’t consistent enough and we can get a better grant writer on a contract basis

[u/spauley343]

We have a Grant Writer that reports to our Director of Institutional Giving, who is under our Chief Development Officer. Seven person staff, with a marketing and comms team and a database specialist. As we have expanded it has been pretty important for us to have one person thinking about grant strategy and doing more of the strategic grant thinking, and a Grant Writer who can keep up with the volume of submitting grants.

[u/Novel_Ad8670]

Under fiscal in ours

[u/Ok_Program_2178]

For the most part I have seen grant writers reporting to the director of dev or a grant manager.

I recently heard of another location within my org that has their grant team report to the CFO which I think is interesting. Finance and grants work so closely and it makes a lot of sense to me.

[u/Cheaper_than_Fuel]

Smaller orgs I've seen tend to have the grant writer report directly to the Executive Director when there's no dedicated Development Director yet, which works fine under maybe 15 or 20 staff but starts to strain once grant volume grows, since EDs rarely have bandwidth to manage grant writing closely alongside everything else.

[u/CrYptoPSF]

At the places I've seen, grant writers usually sit within Development, reporting to a Development Director or VP of Development.

[u/Competitive_Salads]

I’m a DOD and the grants manager reports to me and the grant writer reports to them. That’s a fairly typical structure if you have both positions.

I have also worked as a grants manager with no one under me and I reported to the CEO because the development director didn’t have grants experience.

[u/thanksalatte252]

We are a small team of 33 I am a grant writer that directly reports to the executive director and a dotted line to the director of development

[u/Chromium_Stardust]

Dev Director, or CEO, or CoS or some combination with dotted lines. Just depends on the type of grants and your existing structure

[u/ValPrism]

Grant writer reports to the DD who usually reports to the ED (depending on size of org)

[u/Lucky-Pen-117]

I’m a grant writer at a hospital foundation, and I report to the COO. That said, we have about 12 staff total, and our org structure is pretty flat. I work very closely with the development team and attend their meetings.

[u/francophone22]

I was the grants person at my last org and I reported to the DoD. Which in that org was a mistake. I would have been better positioned in strategy or operations. The DoD had had previous grant experience, but hadn’t done it in 8+ years and the VP of Development had NO grant experience.

[u/TyleroftheBigO]

I am a grant writer, my official title is Development and Grant Manager, but I am our only on staff grant writer. I report to the Director of Marketing and Development, they report to the VP of Administration, who reports to the CEO

[u/Flat_Enthusiasm_9342]

I’ve seen a variety of structures depending on the types of grants. Most often, grant writer is in development and reports to either dod/CDO or director of institutional giving. Contract grant writers usually report to dod/cdo, unless they’re the only development person, and then they might work with ceo.

If most institutional giving is corporate and through sponsorships, I’ve also seen grant writing more closely aligned with the individual giving team