Executive Directors and Grant Writing Consultants

I am a grant writing consultant. I find that my most successful clients are those in which the executive director takes an active part in the grant procurement process. Many executive directors think that they'll hire a grant writer and his/her job is complete. The grant writer will go out and write successful grants for the organization. Oh, if it were that easy. Executive directors must be involved in the process. I've heard it and read it so many times its become an axiom, but relationships do matter in seeking grants. And I don't mean relationships between the grant writer and the funding source. Rather, I mean relationships between the Executive Director and the funding source. I tell my clients that every grant I write comes from them. I don't send it. I send it to my client to review, modify if necessary, and send out under the organization's letterhead. I strongly urge my clients to call funding sources for which funds are being sought. As I have written on my email address, "Funders don't give to causes, funders give to people with causes."