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The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
Have you been stuck when it comes to writing grants? Leone Williams-Rohr shares her secret weapon of Mind Mapping for your Nonprofit grant writing.
Leone is the executive director of a nonprofit, Parents Empowering Parents of Children with Disabilities (PEP) and is CEO of Crafting My Powerful Life.
Leone is the executive director of a nonprofit, Parents Empowering Parents of Children with Disabilities (PEP) and is CEO of Crafting My Powerful Life. She started PEP in 2013 after advocating for her own two children with autism (this lady has 11 kids!). As she went through to become a certified trainer, she came across a course in Mind Mapping and it became the holy grail for her. Now she uses this method of Mind Mapping to outline grants, strategies, fundraisers, and even her own life.
OTHER RESOURCES:
RATE, REVIEW, & FOLLOW THE PODCAST
Favor, please? If you love this podcast, would you please do me a favor and leave a review on iTunes or your podcast listener?
This helps others find the podcast and I read each and every review!
“Every time I listen to Holly’s show, I learn something” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the Grant Writing & Funding podcast to get grant and freelance grant writing proven strategies and conversations in your podcast player every single week.
Thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
Are you struggling to secure foundation grants, facing constant rejections, or unsure where to even begin your search? In this episode, Holly Rustick breaks down how to use GuideStar.org as a powerful and accessible resource to find the best-fit foundations for your nonprofit projects. She walks you through four key elements to look for when researching funders so you can stop wasting time on poor-fit opportunities and start applying to grants that align with your mission.
Holly emphasizes the importance of doing intentional research to stand out in your applications and explains how taking the time upfront can lead to significantly better funding outcomes. If you’re ready to move from frustration to clarity in your grant research process, this episode will show you how.
ABOUT HOLLY RUSTICK
Grant Writing & Funding (GWF) has a Global Movement to Secure $1 Billion in Grant Funding for Good and $30 Million in Grant Writing Businesses by 2030. Holly Rustick, CEO of GWF, is leading the movement; a world-renowned grant writer with 20+ years of experience, bestselling author, and business coach for new and seasoned grant writers to replace their full-time income writing grants part-time from home through her signature programs: the Freelance Grant Writer Academy and the Grant Professional Mentorship.
Rustick is the host of the top grant writing podcast “Grant Writing & Funding” and the author of the Bestselling book, The Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing. With an MA in International Political Economy, past-president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, serving on numerous boards of directors, Holly is also an unapologetic feminist. She lives on the island of Guam with her beautiful daughter, Isabella.
CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST
Website: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
OTHER RESOURCES:
Weekly Newsletter: “Write Grants. Get Paid” - Get thought leadership on grant and freelance grant writing strategies every week in your inbox.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
Freelance Grant Writer Academy: Replace your Full-Time Income Writing Grants Part-Time from Home.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-grant-writer-academy/
Grant Professional Mentorship: Double your Monthly Revenue with an Income Stream Outside of Grant Writing.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/mentorship
RATE, REVIEW, & FOLLOW THE PODCAST
Favor, please? If you love this podcast, would you please do me a favor and leave a review on iTunes or your podcast listener?
This helps others find the podcast and I read each and every review!
“Every time I listen to Holly’s show, I learn something” ← If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the Grant Writing & Funding podcast to get grant and freelance grant writing proven strategies and conversations in your podcast player every single week.
Thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
Do you know the difference between a grant and a contract?
And more importantly—are you leveraging contracts as a funding stream for your nonprofit?
In this episode, we break down the key differences between grants and contracts, and why contracts can be an incredibly powerful (and often overlooked) way to fund your organization—especially when it comes to covering operational costs.
We dive into how contracts work, why they can provide more consistent and flexible funding, and how they fit into a diversified funding strategy.
Plus, you’ll learn the four best places to find city, state, and federal contracts for your nonprofit, along with the pros and cons of each platform—so you can start identifying the right opportunities faster.
If you’re ready to expand beyond grants and explore new ways to bring funding into your nonprofit, this episode will open up a whole new world of possibilities.
ABOUT HOLLY RUSTICK
Grant Writing & Funding (GWF) has a Global Movement to Secure $1 Billion in Grant Funding for Good and $30 Million in Grant Writing Businesses by 2030. Holly Rustick, CEO of GWF, is leading the movement; a world-renowned grant writer with 20+ years of experience, bestselling author, and business coach for new and seasoned grant writers to replace their full-time income writing grants part-time from home through her signature programs: the Freelance Grant Writer Academy and the Grant Professional Mentorship.
Rustick is the host of the top grant writing podcast “Grant Writing & Funding” and the author of the Bestselling book, The Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing. With an MA in International Political Economy, past-president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, serving on numerous boards of directors, Holly is also an unapologetic feminist. She lives on the island of Guam with her beautiful daughter, Isabella.
CONNECT WITH HOLLY RUSTICK
Website: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
RESOURCES:
Weekly Newsletter: “Write Grants. Get Paid” - Get thought leadership on grant and freelance grant writing strategies every week in your inbox.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
Freelance Grant Writer Academy: Replace your Full-Time Income Writing Grants Part-Time from Home.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-grant-writer-academy/
Grant Professional Mentorship: Double your Monthly Revenue with an Income Stream Outside of Grant Writing.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/mentorship
RATE, REVIEW, & FOLLOW THE PODCAST
Favor, please? If you love this podcast, would you please do me a favor and leave a review on iTunes or your podcast listener?
This helps others find the podcast and I read each and every review!
“Every time I listen to Holly’s show, I learn something” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the Grant Writing & Funding podcast to get grant and freelance grant writing proven strategies and conversations in your podcast player every single week.
Thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
Have you been seeing a flood of emails asking you to “opt in” or confirm your subscription?
That’s not a coincidence—it’s because of GDPR.
In this episode, we break down what GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) actually is, why it doesn’t just affect organizations in the EU, and what it means for nonprofits and grant writing consultants around the world. Even if you’re not based in Europe, GDPR has global implications. If your organization collects or uses data from EU citizens, you are required to comply. That’s why this regulation has created such a massive shift in how organizations handle data privacy.
We dive into what this means in practical terms—how nonprofits and consultants need to think about data collection, email lists, and privacy policies moving forward. You’ll also get actionable tips on how to become GDPR compliant, along with access to free downloadable templates and resources to help you implement these changes with confidence.
If you’ve been confused about GDPR or unsure how it impacts your work, this episode will give you clarity—and the tools to take action.
Be sure to give it a listen!
ABOUT HOLLY RUSTICK
Grant Writing & Funding (GWF) has a Global Movement to Secure $1 Billion in Grant Funding for Good and $30 Million in Grant Writing Businesses by 2030. Holly Rustick, CEO of GWF, is leading the movement; a world-renowned grant writer with 20+ years of experience, bestselling author, and business coach for new and seasoned grant writers to replace their full-time income writing grants part-time from home through her signature programs: the Freelance Grant Writer Academy and the Grant Professional Mentorship.
Rustick is the host of the top grant writing podcast “Grant Writing & Funding” and the author of the Bestselling book, The Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing. With an MA in International Political Economy, past-president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, serving on numerous boards of directors, Holly is also an unapologetic feminist. She lives on the island of Guam with her beautiful daughter, Isabella.
CONNECT WITH HOLLY RUSTICK
Website: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
RESOURCES:
Weekly Newsletter: “Write Grants. Get Paid” - Get thought leadership on grant and freelance grant writing strategies every week in your inbox.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
Freelance Grant Writer Academy: Replace your Full-Time Income Writing Grants Part-Time from Home.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-grant-writer-academy/
Grant Professional Mentorship: Double your Monthly Revenue with an Income Stream Outside of Grant Writing.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/mentorship
RATE, REVIEW, & FOLLOW THE PODCAST
Favor, please? If you love this podcast, would you please do me a favor and leave a review on iTunes or your podcast listener?
This helps others find the podcast and I read each and every review!
“Every time I listen to Holly’s show, I learn something” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the Grant Writing & Funding podcast to get grant and freelance grant writing proven strategies and conversations in your podcast player every single week.
Thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
Ready for a crash course in federal grants?
If you’ve ever opened up Grants.gov and immediately felt overwhelmed—you’re not alone.
And if you’ve been searching for grant writing tips that actually help you move toward an awarded grant, this episode is exactly what you need.
In this episode, we break down how to navigate federal grant announcements in a way that’s clear and manageable. You’ll learn how to review opportunities on Grants.gov without getting lost in the details—and how to identify the key information you actually need to move forward.
We also cover essential grant writing tips to help you strengthen your proposals, align with funder priorities, and increase your chances of success.
If federal grants have felt confusing or intimidating, this episode will give you the clarity and confidence to get started.
ABOUT HOLLY RUSTICK
Grant Writing & Funding (GWF) has a Global Movement to Secure $1 Billion in Grant Funding for Good and $30 Million in Grant Writing Businesses by 2030. Holly Rustick, CEO of GWF, is leading the movement; a world-renowned grant writer with 20+ years of experience, bestselling author, and business coach for new and seasoned grant writers to replace their full-time income writing grants part-time from home through her signature programs: the Freelance Grant Writer Academy and the Grant Professional Mentorship.
Rustick is the host of the top grant writing podcast “Grant Writing & Funding” and the author of the Bestselling book, The Beginner’s Guide to Grant Writing. With an MA in International Political Economy, past-president of the Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce, serving on numerous boards of directors, Holly is also an unapologetic feminist. She lives on the island of Guam with her beautiful daughter, Isabella.
CONNECT WITH HOLLY RUSTICK
Website: https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
RESOURCES:
Weekly Newsletter: “Write Grants. Get Paid” - Get thought leadership on grant and freelance grant writing strategies every week in your inbox.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/
Freelance Grant Writer Academy: Replace your Full-Time Income Writing Grants Part-Time from Home.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/freelance-grant-writer-academy/
Grant Professional Mentorship: Double your Monthly Revenue with an Income Stream Outside of Grant Writing.
https://grantwritingandfunding.com/mentorship
RATE, REVIEW, & FOLLOW THE PODCAST
Favor, please? If you love this podcast, would you please do me a favor and leave a review on iTunes or your podcast listener?
This helps others find the podcast and I read each and every review!
“Every time I listen to Holly’s show, I learn something” <– If that sounds like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show!
Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the Grant Writing & Funding podcast to get grant and freelance grant writing proven strategies and conversations in your podcast player every single week.
Thanks for listening!
Warmly,
Holly Rustick
Leading the $1 Billion for Good Movement: By 2030, aspiring and seasoned grant writers inside the Freelance Grant Writer Academy & Grant Professional Mentorship will 1) WIN $1 Billion in Grants, and 2) MAKE $30 Million in their Grant Writing Businesses. We are on our way already.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
We made it. Grants.gov. For those of you who have been following this podcast series on How to Find Grants, you are probably ready to dive in and start finding grants. We ain’t quite ready, yet, though. Believe you, me, it’s all about getting SET up and understanding the layout of the grant world before you dive in and get overwhelmed.
You may have been using Grants.gov for years, but have only ever used it to search or apply for grants. Or you may be new to Grants.gov and have never visited the website. Either way, you are in for a real treat.
Next week we are going to go over what to look for specifically in the grants search on Grants.gov (oh, yeah, we will nerd out), but today I am going to explain the functions offered on the website and give you my favorite tools.
This is great information for you grant writers or for those who aspire to be grant writers. The reason I am breaking down Grants.gov is that it is a mammoth website for federal grants, and being such, it is very busy. As of May 2018, the website is in need of an update. It has that very busy mid-2000s website feel, with an overload of information outlined in different ways, which can lead to paralysis. Like, seriously. I have been going there for years but tend to stick to looking for grants and applying for grants. So I decided to dive in and find out the full capacity of the website, so all of us grant writers might actually use it.
The main menu has nine headers or tabs. These headers/tabs include:
The drop-downs under any of these headers contain a bunch of info. So let’s break it down in layman’s terms.
Tab #1 Home
Okay, it just brings you back to the Home Page. That’s it. Easy. But what you might find useful on the Grants.gov Homepage is that they now have a free app. This is good for any alerts on upcoming grants or those that you started to apply to.
For those of you who prefer using your smartphone rather than a desktop, this app is very useful and user-friendly. The app itemizes searches a little bit more where there is a separate tab for eligibility at the bottom of the search rather than integrating it into the page like the desktop version. Pretty cool. You can just go to your app store on your phone and search for Grants.gov, and it will pop up.
Tab #2: Learn Grants
Grants.gov has a ‘grants learning center’ on its website and includes a community blog, articles, and a Twitter account (@grantsdotgov). The community blog offers ongoing updated information about – you guessed it – grants. The article sidebar tab is where it gets a little confusing. Once you are on the community learning page, you can click on the side to access different topics, which will then bring you to a slew of articles that may include links to PDFs, hyperlinks to relevant blogs, and so forth. The topics include the following:
There is a slew of information available, but I wouldn’t recommend sitting down in one day and reading through it all. It’s a lot of information. But there are some great resources located here that might give you the answers you need. I like that they have a Twitter account, but since I’m not on Twitter, I can’t vouch for any of their social media posts.
Pros: A lot of grant and grant-related information; on social media
Cons: It is very busy
Tab #3 Search Grants
Most of you will be using Grants.gov to search and apply for federal grants. Honestly, the other stuff is awesome, but in reality, it’s supplemental fluff. The ‘Search’ performance is great and is akin to searching on Google. For example, if you have two or more words and want the search to show up all of those words you put them in quotations. So if you are looking for youth conservation projects, you would put “youth conservation” in quotations. This helps narrow the search.
You can also narrow the search more by selecting one or more of the following:
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
The Freelance Grant Writer Academy is OPEN for the last time in 2026!
You’re ready to quit your toxic job, retire with meaningful, part-time work, or work from home so you can pick up the kids. But how do you replace your paycheck?
Our 12-month group coaching program helps aspiring and seasoned grant writers replace your full-time income, on flexible hours, writing grants from home. You will build grant writing, marketing, and sales skills to find clients and create recurring income on flexible hours.
Get weekly coaching, unlimited grant and business reviews, business and grant training, hundreds of templates,Grant Writer & Consultant Certification, a community, and listed on our Grant Hire for Hire Directory.
Our students have earned over $12.6 million in freelance business revenue. You don’t have to figure this out alone.
Join the Academy for $3,500 or 8 monthly payments of $475. Doors close October 23rd at 11:59 PM Eastern.
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