[Strategist name]
[Title and years in the field]
[Background: two or three sentences on where they've worked and what they've helped organizations fund.]
Human-led grant strategy
Funding moves through relationships. Our strategists bring theirs.
A named OpenGrants strategist works your funding plan alongside your team, and brings the working relationships with funders, public agencies, and partner organizations they've built in this field.
Month to month. Cancel any time. Work begins within five business days.
Most funding decisions start with a conversation
A strong application matters. But by the time it's submitted, much of the outcome has often been shaped somewhere else: a call with a program officer about whether the project fits this cycle, a foundation board member who already knows the work, a coalition that came together months before the notice was posted, a letter of support from a partner the reviewers trust.
That part of fundraising happens between people, and it's the part most organizations are missing. They have a list of opportunities. What they don't have is someone who can call the funder, knows which organizations would be stronger applying together, and can get the right people into the same room.
That's what this retainer is. You get a strategist, and you get the network that strategist has built, working on behalf of your organization.
Who you'll work with
[Strategist name]
[Title and years in the field]
[Background: two or three sentences on where they've worked and what they've helped organizations fund.]
Two ways to use OpenGrants
The platform and the retainer do different jobs. On the platform, your team does the work using our data. On the retainer, our people do the work with you.
| Platform $9/month | Strategy retainer $2,500/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Who does the work | Your team, self-serve | A named strategist, alongside your team |
| Opportunities | Every open opportunity, refreshed daily, with fit signals and alerts | Everything on the platform, plus what our strategists hear in conversations with funders and partners |
| Funders | Profiles, award history, and 990 data | Introductions and conversations with people at those funders, where our network reaches |
| Partners | Not included | Co-applicants, subrecipients, and letters of support from our network |
| Deadlines | Tracked and alerted | Tracked, with a person keeping your team on schedule |
| Applications | Stored in your pipeline | Reviewed and strengthened before they go out |
| Support | In-app help | Weekly working session, plus email and Slack with your strategist |
Both run on the same database:
43,000+ open opportunities
139,000+ indexed
12,000+ grant seekers on the platform
Refreshed daily
What the retainer includes
One organization, one named strategist, one monthly price. Everything below is in scope from the first week.
Introductions to funders
Where someone on our team has a real relationship with a funder that fits your work, we make the introduction and prepare you for the conversation. Where we don't, we help you start building that relationship the right way, well ahead of any deadline.
Partners and coalitions
Larger federal, state, and regional awards often go to organizations that apply together. We identify co-applicants, subrecipients, and supporters, make the connections, and help you line up letters of support early instead of the week before submission.
Program officer conversations
We help you get pre-application calls on the calendar, prepare you for them, and join when it helps. You go in knowing the funder's history, past awardees, typical award sizes, and what they've said they're prioritizing.
A funding plan on one page
Within two weeks you get a written plan: the funders worth pursuing this year in priority order, why each one fits, who we know there, who you know there, and what it will take to be competitive. Short enough that your board will read it.
A standing weekly session
A recurring hour with your strategist where decisions get made, drafts get worked through, outreach gets planned, and the next two weeks get set.
Application and narrative review
We read your drafts, tighten the narrative, check budgets and logic models against what the funder asked for, and tell you plainly when something isn't ready to go out.
A pipeline we keep current
Your opportunities tracked in OpenGrants with deadlines, requirements, and owners attached. We maintain it so nobody on your team is rebuilding a spreadsheet every quarter.
Access between sessions
Email and Slack with your strategist. Deadlines and funder callbacks don't wait for the weekly meeting.
Platform seats for your whole team
OpenGrants access for everyone at your organization who touches funding, included at no extra cost.
The first thirty days
Week one
Intake
We go through your programs, budget, past applications, and anything already in flight. We also ask who your board, staff, and current funders know, because those relationships are part of the plan.
Week two
The plan and the relationship map
You get the written funding plan and a map of where the warm paths are: our connections, yours, and the gaps. Then we work through it together until it reflects what your organization can really carry.
Week three
Outreach starts
First introductions and funder conversations requested, partner conversations underway, and your pipeline loaded with deadlines and owners.
Week four
First application moving
Work begins on the highest-priority submission, with funder conversations and review time built in well before the deadline.
After the first month the cadence holds: weekly sessions, ongoing funder and partner outreach, pipeline maintenance, and review on whatever is due next.
Is this the right thing to buy?
A retainer is a real commitment. Here's our honest read on when it pays for itself and when something else serves you better.
A good fit
- Nonprofits and public agencies with programs already running and a funding gap to close
- Organizations that have been applying cold and aren't hearing back
- Groups pursuing larger awards that need partners, co-applicants, or letters of support
- Teams with one capable person carrying grants on top of another full-time job
- Small businesses and research groups pursuing SBIR, STTR, and agency programs
Buy something else if
- You want one application written start to finish — hire a writer from the OpenGrants marketplace
- You're still pre-program with nothing to fund yet — search free until you're ready
- You mainly need search, alerts, and tracking — the $9 plan covers that well
- You want a guaranteed award, or a guaranteed meeting with a specific funder — we won't promise either
- You need a single project handled once, with no ongoing cadence
One flat monthly price
We don't bill by the hour and we don't take a percentage of awards. You pay a flat fee for a strategist's time and relationships, and we keep earning the renewal.
$2,500 per month. Billed monthly. Cancel any time.
- A named strategist assigned to your organization
- Introductions to funders and partners where our network fits your work
- Written funding plan and relationship map in the first two weeks
- Weekly working session, every week
- Draft, budget, and narrative review
- Pipeline built and maintained for you
- Platform seats for your entire team
- Work begins within five business days
Secure checkout through Stripe. Your intake questionnaire and scheduling link arrive by email right after.
Questions people ask before signing
What exactly am I paying for?
A named strategist's time and relationships, working your funding plan with you every week: funder and partner outreach, a written plan, a maintained pipeline, and review on what you submit.
Will you introduce us to funders?
When someone on our team has a genuine relationship with a funder that fits your work, yes. We only make introductions we can stand behind, which is what keeps them worth something to you and to the funder. We can't guarantee a meeting with any specific funder.
Do you write the applications for us?
We shape the narrative, review drafts, and check budgets and logic models, but your team owns the writing. If you want an application written start to finish, we'll point you to a writer in the OpenGrants marketplace.
How is this different from the $9/month platform?
The platform is self-serve: your team uses our data to find, track, and manage opportunities. The retainer adds people. A strategist works alongside your team, brings their network to funder and partner outreach, and stays accountable for the plan week to week.
Can you guarantee we win funding?
No. Anyone who guarantees an award is selling you something other than the truth. What we commit to is the work: the relationships, the plan, and the review.
Is there a contract or minimum term?
No. It's month to month and you can cancel any time.
How quickly do we start?
Within five business days of checkout. Your intake questionnaire and scheduling link arrive by email immediately.
Who do you work with?
Nonprofits, public agencies, small businesses, and research groups with real programs to fund and a team ready to put in the work alongside us.
Tell us what you're working on
If you'd rather talk before you buy, start here. A person on our team reads every submission and replies within one business day, with a straight answer about whether we're the right help, including when we're not.
Prefer to skip the form? Book a 20-minute call.