Best Reviewed Grant Writing Certification Programs

Grant writers will always be in demand. This need follows the fact that many non-profit and government organizations rely on grants to fund their projects and programs. Without the funds, these programs would cease to exist. Additionally, as the grant writing process is time-consuming and difficult, organizations rely on professionals to handle the task.

Whether you’re just getting started or already have experience in the world of grant writing, you should consider furthering your education and training. Like many fields, grant writing is constantly changing due to new laws, preferences, technologies, and processes. Thus, you must stay on top of these changes to remain successful. Courses and programs are updated regularly to follow new trends. Also, they’ll give you the ins and outs of every change.

Why Do You Need Grant Certification?

Due to the covid-19 pandemic, many universities and schools shifted their courses to the internet. While many have gone back to in-person programs, these certification courses remain available online. Thus, finding a grant writing certification is easier than ever. However, it can be difficult to figure out which course works best for you, and which are legitimate. Truly, there are a number of scam courses and colleges on the internet. You may have seen a few in the news or were even put off online classes due to fear of getting scammed.

Nevertheless, there are a number of accredited and quality schools out there. In this article, we’ll examine 8 of the top grant writing certification programs. These programs teach you valuable skills and help improve your chances of securing a lucrative grant writing job.

8 Best Grant Writing Certifications

1) Grant Writer Certificate – Lakewood University

Rating: 10/10

Duration: 16 weeks

Price: $7775

Lakewood University’s Grant Writer certificate course is based on the teachers’ 20 years of experience teaching grant proposal writing and their recent success in securing $5 million in grants. This online program walks you through each step of the grant writing process. From the research stage to the storytelling stage and onto submission, the course covers all vital information for success.

A good grant submission is more than just a great idea and scientific research. The concept must be clear and appealing, with attainable goals, cutting-edge techniques, and a well-organized schedule and budget. Furthermore, your success depends on the ability to effectively fund-raise, forge positive donor relationships, and compose persuasive grant proposals.

Altogether, you’ll learn how to communicate with funding organizations and reviewers in the most effective way. Additionally, you can smoothly transfer your knowledge into an associate degree as you earn college credits through the course.

Time Scheduling

Lakewood’s program is a 16-week asynchronous program, meaning that you can do work when it best fits your schedule. Whether at 2 pm or 3 am, you can log in at any time from anywhere to watch lectures, read your textbook, and submit assignments. As such, this program is an excellent choice for anyone with a busy schedule and who needs to work on their own time.

Further, Lakewood University is an accredited institution. Accreditation ensures quality and value. As such, most employees prefer and even require their employees earn credentials from accredited schools. Sometimes, your skills speak for themselves. However, grant writing is a delicate and important job. A poor grant writer can cost a company thousands in grants and get projects delayed or even canceled. They’ll want assurance their writers are well-educated and prepared.

Thus, if you’re looking to start a career and not just improve your skills, you should seek a certificate course from an accredited university.

For more information, please visit Lakewood University.

2) Grant Writing Certification – Technical Writer HQ

Rating: 9.5/10

Duration: 1 month

Price: $199

Technical Writer HQ’s Grant Writing course is ideal for those who want to improve their grant writing skills but don’t have the time or funds to do so. This training covers all of the basics like research, networking with potential funding sources, and the writing process.

The curriculum includes video lessons and quizzes, exercises, and written assignments to test your knowledge. Students also get thorough feedback on their final capstone project, which allows them to make sure they’re on the right track. Basically, anyone interested in acquiring grant writing skills will find what they need here.

The course is geared towards new writers and those unfamiliar with the industry. However, more experienced writers would also benefit from the exercises to fine-tune their craft

How About the Instructor?

Josh Fechter, the instructor for this course, is a certified grant writer with eight years of experience. He combines his expertise with that of his guest interviewees, who each bring their own knowledge and experience to the table. Altogether, the Technical Writer HQ course serves as a great introduction to the world of grant writing.

However, it is important to note that Technical Writer HQ is not accredited. As such, this certification is great for improving industry knowledge and getting started. But it may not be accepted by some employers.

Why take an unaccredited program?

The answer is simple: they’re more accessible. These programs are often cheaper since they’re not subject to the pricy and weighty accreditation process. Basically, they are a great starting point for building new skills. Additionally, if you have related experience or prior education in marketing, business, or English, you won’t need to rely solely on a certificate to get in the door. Rather, these courses provide you with the skills needed to do the job.

3)   Skillshare – Grant Writing Basics for Beginners

Rating: 8.5/10

Duration: varies per class

Price: $159 per month (Skillshare subscription)

Skillshare is an online learning and skill development platform. Their courses have made it easier and more accessible to learn new skills. Currently, they have two experts who have shared their grant writing knowledge and tips.

The Grant Writing Basics for Beginners lecture introduces students to the ABCs of grant writing. In this mini-course, you’ll have access to a 50-minute video in addition to 4 projects to complete on your own time. Teresa Huff leads the class, explaining essential technical writing skills, potential funding sources to consider, and how to prepare a successful grant proposal to donors.

All About the Course Benefit

Students benefit directly from Teresa’s 20 years of grant writing experience. Notably, she has secured millions of dollars in grants for her clients. In addition, the course is both entertaining and practical.

As the title states, Teresa’s course is aimed at beginners. She mentions that anyone with prior experience will find her lectures to be more of a review. Thus, if you’re already active in the industry and looking in improve your skills, you might consider looking for a more advanced program.

After finishing the course, you will receive a digital completion certificate from Skillshare. As with Technical Writing HQ, the program is not accredited.

4) Udemy – Grant Writing for Nonprofits and Freelance Writers

Rating: 4.7/5

Duration: 1h 30m

Price: $18.99 (at a promotional discount, otherwise, $29.99)

The Grant Writing for Nonprofits and Freelance Writers course on Udemy delves into more advanced aspects of grant writing. The techniques covered in this course help writers offer more comprehensive services to their clients. For example, you’ll create your own proposal boilerplate, which helps you to create consistently well-written and quality proposals.

The instructor, Tim Whitney, is a nonprofit and public policy strategist and design practitioner. His methods have proven to be successful, as he recently helped get a $4 million federal grant for the Illinois Division of Mental Health.

Course Benefits

While this course goes more in-depth about specific processes, the content is also accessible to those interested in becoming a grant writer. The program splits up its lectures by content, with each section containing videos and/or other resources to introduce you to each concept. For example, the fourth section focuses on the process of finding funders and grants. Overall, there are a total of 17 lectures in this course.

We would strongly suggest this course to anyone who wants to produce outstanding grant-seeking submissions without breaking the budget or spending weeks or months on a training session. The course material and lifelong access ensure that you have the tools to better your writing process.

If Tim’s course doesn’t fit your needs, there are dozens of other grant writing certificates available on Udemy. Some courses are specialized, such as Federal Grant Writing. Be certain to look at the reviews and course descriptions and find what works best for you.

As with our previous two suggestions, Udemy is not accredited.

5) University of South Carolina

Rating: 9.5/10

Duration: 5 in-person sessions or 10 online sessions

Price: $1,322

The University of South Carolina, or U of SC, offers its own reputable certification program. Students in this course learn about the grant writing process and create their own sample work for review. Additionally, you’ll discover where to find grants for your program, project, or organization.

All About The Program

The program is broken down into four sections: an introduction to grant writing needs-based assessment, program development and evaluation, and the grant writing process. As such, you will learn more about the non-profit world and running an organization.

The classes are available in person or online via Zoom. With either option, you’ll need to attend the scheduled meeting times to receive your certificate. The in-person version runs for a week, with each course lasting 7 hours per day. On the other hand, the online lectures run for 3 hours and occur once per week.

Truly, with the time spent with your instructor, you’ll receive thorough and high quality training with an expert.

When you’re ready, you’ll get a high-level set of credentials that declare you a certified grant writer to the rest of the world. As with Lakewood University, this certificate is far more universally recognizable than those from Skillshare or Udemy.

6) ed2go – Advanced Grant Proposal Writing

Rating: 9.8/10

Duration: 6 weeks

Price: $159

The ed2go Advanced Grant Proposal Writing certification is regarded as one of the most comprehensive courses available in this field.

This training is appropriate for grant writers who know the basics and want to improve their craft. As a matter of fact, ed2go requires that you minimally take their Introductory course if you have no prior experience.

The course takes an in-depth approach when explaining the grant proposal writing process. After completing the course, you will be able to prepare grant proposals for all types of organizations with a considerably greater success rate. The curriculum begins with research practices and continues through to proposal submission, with everything explained in great detail.

Meet The Amazing Instructor

Dr. Beverly Browning, who has 40 years of expertise, runs the course. She has helped her clients bring in over $500 million in grants. Truly, her knowledge and experience work to create a fantastic 12-lesson course.

Individuals can learn at their own pace or through a boot camp learning format in this course. The self-paced version is ideal for those who are currently employed and are unable to attend regular lessons. You’ll have access to the course and its materials for three months while you study. On the other hand, the instructor-led version takes 6 weeks to complete. With this option, you’ll receive access to 2 lessons for 2 weeks at a time.

Notably, their certification courses are not accredited. Nonetheless, this course contains high-quality and affordable content.

7) University of Georgia

Rating: 8/10

Duration: 24 hours

Price: $899

University of Georgia’s Grant Writing course helps lay a solid foundation for preparing detailed and successful grant applications. Accessible for beginners yet comprehensive enough for experienced grant writers, the course’s content is appropriate for everyone.

This program focuses firmly on the grant writing process itself. As a result, you’ll receive an in-depth look at the ins and outs of writing the proposal. For example, the curriculum includes topics such as components of a proposal, letters of intent and inquiry, and evaluation methods.

As with U of SC, you can take an in-person or online version of this course. In both versions, you will spend 24 hours studying the craft. Whether on-campus or in a virtual classroom, you’ll complete work with small groups before moving to your own independent work. Notably, experienced grant writers can bring the grants they’re actively working on to class. Thus, you can get feedback and assistance on a real proposal while earning your certificate.

Similar to Lakewood University, you can earn college credit for taking this course. If you complete your program with a passing grade, you’ll receive 2.4 continuing education credits with the university.

8) San Diego State University – Professional Certificate in Grant Writing

Duration: 10 weeks
Price: $898

For San Diego State University’s Professional Certificate in Grant Writing, students must complete two courses:

• Introduction to Grants and Research Funding
• Writing a Grant Proposal

Each course costs $449. If you so choose, you can take just one course for the experience and knowledge. However, both are required to earn a professional certificate. Each course includes 25 hours of course time, but you will spend additional time completing the required research and homework.

These introductory courses are designed to help new grant writers get started. Basically, the program teaches the ABCs of grant writing.

Furthermore, these courses focus on the nonprofit sector. They are not appropriate for people wanting to build a portfolio as research writers. Thus, those who are looking to write research grants should consider a more advanced course, unless they wish to improve their general writing skills.

Final Thoughts

Grant writing can have a significant impact on people’s lives. Often, non-profits and groups utilize grants to create new programs or complete projects in their communities. Truly, they need to prove that their idea will improve their community in some way. Thus, not only is grant writing a highly rewarding job but an important one for all communities.

Professional grant writers must have the skills and experience to earn these grants. Conversely, a poor grant writer can damage an organization’s reputation and see their programs delayed or even canceled.

To better your craft and your community, consider seeking a certification. Whether you’re just getting started or have been writing grants for years, new skills and techniques can improve your success rate. Affordable certificates and training are now available online and across the country. Sign up today.