Hire a grant writer, or buy the output?
A full-time grant writer produces a limited number of federal applications a year — at a fully-loaded cost most small organizations can't carry. See how much of that output one NexGrant seat replaces, and what it would cost you to staff the same result.
Public-sector benefits load is 38.5% of total pay (BLS ECEC) — government is the most expensive place to hire a grant writer.
We'll pick the plan whose yearly allowance covers this.
Peer-reviewed average is 116 hrs (von Hippel, PLOS ONE 2015). The credible band is 60–150.
Staff hours, back on the mission
At 15 applications a year, dropping each from 116 hours to about one frees roughly 1,725 staff hours — close to a full FTE-year returned to program delivery.
No recruiting, no turnover
A grant writer takes months to hire and can walk with the institutional knowledge. A plan turns on today and the org profile stays put.
Complete, filed applications
Not a draft. The full narrative, forms, and compliance check — filed end-to-end to Grants.gov, at software price.
Fully-loaded labor uses BLS ECEC (Mar 2026) benefit loads — 38.5% of total compensation for state/local government, 30.1% for private/nonprofit — grossed up from a $65,000 base salary (GPA 2023 median for grant writers). One FTE produces about 13 federal applications a year at the modeled hours and 70% application-utilization. Hours per application: von Hippel & von Hippel, PLOS ONE 2015 (n=195, federal), mean 116. Figures are for evaluation, not a quote.
See what you qualify for.
Start a free trial to see the grants your organization matches with — plus a sample application that shows exactly how NexGrant writes. No cost to look.