Author: Robin Hertlein

What type of organizations do we work with?  All of them!  As long as it is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, Hertlein Grant Writing has the capacity to support needs both large and small.

Locally, we do a lot of work on Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound/Salish Sea where we have our headquarters.  Current local clients include a food bank (Gifts From the Heart), a hospital (WhidbeyHealth Foundation), youth programs (Big Brothers Big Sisters), and even arts and museums (South Whidbey Historical Society).

In the region, our clients range from SPARC early intervention in Skagit County, to Byrd Barr Place in the heart of Seattle, to Kitsap Community Services on the peninsula, to Yakima Union Gospel Mission on the east side.  We also work with a number of state-wide agencies such as Washington Healthcare Alliance Association and Special Olympics Washington.

National work is usually done through sub-contracts, and recent clients have included Neuman University in Pennsylvania, Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County, SUNY Oswego in New York, and Maui Economic Opportunity in Hawaii.

Our grantwriters have a heart for international work.  We currently are supporting AidAfrica’s work in Uganda, and Impact Latin America.  Other recent work has supported the Global Child Nutrition Foundation, NuDay Syria, and World Concern.

2022 turned out to be our second-highest year ever for the total amount of grant funding brought in for our clients – over $10 million!  Hertlein Grant Writing is excited to be entering our 20^th year of operations.

In 2022 we raised a total of $10,399,170 for 49 nonprofit agencies through 218 successful grants.

Our measures of productivity also increased last year.  For every hour billed to our clients, they received an average of $3,080.  That means for every $1.00 they spent on grant writing, they received back $42.71.  Grant writing has one of the best Rates of Return of any fundraising activity!

When Robin started Hertlein Grant Writing in 2004, she was the lone grant writer in the firm.  Now, close to 20 years later, a strong team of 4 grant writers support each other in a team format.  Grant applications drafted by grant writers are always reviewed by Robin, ensuring that at least two professionals have input into applications.  This approach has led to success over the years, with more than $65 million raised for clients in Washington State and around the country.

The team approach is especially strong in the sub-contract work that Robin does for McAllister & Quinn, a federal grant consulting and government relations firm located in Washington, DC.  Robin has worked for McAllister & Quinn for more than 10 years, and always in a strong team format.  There are at least five members of any M&Q grant team – the applicant (usually a university or large regional nonprofit), the M&Q team leader, a contract grant writer, contract grant reviewer, and contract editor.  Robin has provided the grant writer or grant reviewer expertise for more than 75 federal grants under McAllister & Quinn contracts.  The latest win that Robin assisted with, one of the largest, was $4.2 million in federal funding over three years for the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County.  McAllister & Quinn has helped secure over $1 billion in funding for their clients through competitive grants.

We often get asked about our “grant success rate,” which is a hard question to answer. A recent article in a fundraising publication explained some of the reasons:

While many nonprofits are interested in past grant writer success rates as a measure of potential future performance, this metric provides little in the way of proof of a grant writer’s work product, skill as a grant writer, or likelihood of writing successful grant proposals. Grant writer success rates depend on a myriad of other factors, including organizational grant readiness, quality and timeliness of the documents requested by the grant writer, and a host of other factors, some of which have little to do with the grant writer’s skill.

One statistic that Hertlein Grant Writing does have available is the productivity of our work for our clients. We currently measure two data points:

Productivity: On average, for every one hour spent it grant writing, our clients receive $2,246 in grant funds.

Return on Investment: For every $1.00 clients spend with Hertlein Grant Writing, they receive on average $34.42 back in revenue.

Last year, Hertlein Grant Writing raised close to $3.5 million for 43 agencies.  We brought in a few more grants than the year before, and have exceeded $3 million per year for 7 years in a row now.  We haven’t finished analyzing 2021 financials, but in 2020 we found that for every hour billed, our clients received $1,676; the 5-year average was even higher, at $2,569.

New clients that joined us this year include:

• Aloha Council, Boy Scouts of America (Honolulu, HI)
• Colorado Christian University (Lakewood, CO)
• Empower Next Generations (Bellingham)
• Helping Hands Project Organization (Everett)
• Marysville Food Bank (Marysville)
• Millennia Ministries (Everett)
• North Snohomish County Outreach (Arlington)
• Special Olympics Washington (Seattle)
• State University of New York: SUNY Oswego (Oswego, NY)
• Joseph’s University (Philadelphia, PA)
• Vine Maple Place (Maple Valley)
• Washington CASA Association (Sammamish)

In 2021, 43 agencies won awards; through 240 successful grants; for a total of $3,467,609.