Nonprofit consultants and grant writers avoid trouble … - grant writers for nonprofits

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Nonprofit consultants and grant writers avoid trouble with 10 easy contract clauses. (part 1)
By Michele S. Perlstein, JD, MPH
Michele is a lawyer with a healthcare background and a writer with extensive experience in the
operations and funding of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations and charitable institutions. She loves
working with nonprofits in particular because she is "passionate about working with meaningful
organizations that are making a real impact in the communities they serve." Look for more about
Michele and her business at MSP Write for You.
Anyone who works as a consultant, freelancer or independent contractor to a nonprofit, or nonprofits
who hire these types of workers, understands that having a good contract to spell out the agreement
between that consultant and the client is essential. It's a great way to clarify your relationship from the
start and have a document to refer to if anything unexpectedly occurs.
But what should you include that protects you and your client? There are the necessary components of
any contract which must be included in any agreement, such as:
The description of the services you will provide
The term
Your fee
There are also standard boilerplate clauses that one can find in any contract, such as:
How to provide notice of intent to terminate the agreement
Severability
Governing law.
The question is, are there terms that are specific to a contract for a particular kind of work, in this case
for freelance grant writing work?
I posed this question in an online discussion group of grant professionals of which I am a member to
get their take on this issue. The conclusion we all reached was a resounding yes!
To protect yourself as a freelancer or independent contractor performing grant writing work for a client,
there are a number of items that you should include in your agreement. (And know that these same
apply to just about any consulting and freelancing to nonprofits.)
p. 1, ? 2018 HuggDotNet, LLC and Michele Perlstein
Of course, there is a balance to consider here. On the one hand, nobody wants to present a client with a
twenty page contract that's overly complicated and too long to read. But you also do not want
something that is so short it leaves out essential terms that could protect you in the case of a dispute.
That is why I've compiled the list below of the top 10 terms to include in an independent contractor
agreement for grant writing services. As an added bonus, know that most of these are consistent with
the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) "Code of Ethical Standards." You can find these
and other guidelines for anyone involved in fundraising and philanthropy here:
http://www.afpnet.org/Ethics/EnforcementDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=3261 .
1. Client responsibility for necessary documents/materials, etc. in a timely manner. The client, (that is
the nonprofit organization or business that is contracting with the consultant), should be responsible for
providing any documents, data, materials, and review, including log in codes for electronic
submissions, that are necessary not only to complete the grant application, but also to submit it. This is
especially important for electronic submissions. The client should be responsible for getting any
necessary information to the consultant in a timely manner.
At least two of the grant writers in the discussion group had horror stories about this situation. One
told of how she once was not able to submit the grant proposal for a particular client on time because
she was waiting for necessary information from the client. Another grant writer described a situation in
which he got the information at the last minute but then could not log on to the site to submit the
proposal because at that point there was high traffic on the site and they could not get access.
Consultants should make it clear that if something like this should happen, they are not at fault.
2. Consultant is an independent contractor. Any arrangement between a freelance consultant with a
client is as an independent contractor, meaning that the consultant is not an employee of the client.
Making it clear that you are a contractor (getting a 1099 at year's end), and not an employee (getting a
W-2 at year's end), can impact your taxes. Most clients will welcome you making the distinction. If
you have questions about the differences, see here: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/understanding-
employee-vs-contractor-designation.
3. The Consultant has no control over any funds awarded. Given that you are a contractor, it is a good
idea to specify that the contractor will not have control or take custody of any money awarded and that
the client will maintain full control of the contribution at all times. This ensures that there is no
improper handling of the money. A grant award is essentially a contract between the fundor giving the
money, and the organization receiving it to use that money in the manner specified in the grant
proposal. If the grant writer is not an employee of the organization that was awarded the money, then
they should not have access to it. (See AFP Code nos. 12 and 14). Similar reasoning also applies to
term number 4 below.
4. Consultant will not receive any compensation based upon a percentage of the contribution awarded.
Most grant writers, even those new to the practice, understand that getting a contingency fee for grant
writing services based on a percentage of grant money awarded is a big NO NO, but I am still surprised
that I see this suggested from time to time. It is considered unethical for the reason stated in number 3
above.
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Yet all diligent grant writers I know put in a lot of time and effort into their grant proposals and they
should be compensated accordingly for their work. Since there is no guarantee that any grant will be
awarded no matter how compelling and well written the proposal is (see number 5 below), it is not fair
to the grant writer to make their compensation for their grant writing work contingent upon an award of
money. (See AFP Code, nos. 21 and 24).
5. No guarantee of outcome. Another good way to protect your interests as Independent
Contractor/Consultant is to specify in writing that there is no guarantee that any grant proposal will be
awarded. There are many factors that go into a grant award which are out of the grant writer's control.
All one can do as the writer is to guarantee a well written proposal. After that, it is out of the
consultant's hands and though pretty much any nonprofit professional knows this, it doesn't hurt to state
this explicitly in the agreement.
That's five! See part two next week at Nonprofit.Courses!
About your author:
Get more on contracts from grant writer and attorney Michele S. Perlstein, J.D., MPH. She'll talk about
the right contract for you, and give you bonus samples specifically for nonprofit consultants,
freelancers and grantwriters, at http://nonprofit.courses.
Michele S. Perlstein, JD, MPH, is a lawyer with a healthcare background and a writer with extensive
experience in the operations and funding of nonprofit and tax-exempt organizations and charitable
institutions. She has spent her entire adult life working with nonprofit organizations and other
charitable institutions in one way or another, including grant writing and grant review work. As an
attorney, Michele's legal practice focused in the field of Health Care Law where many of her clients
were hospitals and other tax-exempt organizations and charitable institutions. In addition, Michele has
a passion for writing that she has practiced throughout her life and is a self-described grammar geek.
Michele loves working with nonprofits in particular because she is "passionate about working with
meaningful organizations that are making a real impact in the communities they serve."
Licensed to practice Law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York
Member of the Grant Professionals Association
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelesperlstein/
mshoueka@gmail.com
To get more on contracts from grant writer and attorney Michele S. Perlstein, J.D., MPH. see her talk
about the right contract for you, at http://nonprofit.courses.
p. 3, ? 2018 HuggDotNet, LLC and Michele Perlstein


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