Grant Writer Invoice Template

What This Template Includes

• Funder name and grant program
• Opportunity, RFP or application reference number
• Submission deadline and date actually submitted
• Amount requested (for reference only, not a fee basis)
• Fee basis: hourly rate or flat fee per deliverable
• Grant or prospect research hours and deliverable
• Letter of inquiry or concept paper
• Proposal narrative drafting (sections covered)
• Budget and budget justification preparation
• Revision rounds included and extra rounds billed
• Submission management (portal, attachments, confirmation)
• Post-award reports or renewal applications

How to Create Your Grant Writer Invoice

Recommended Payment Terms

Grant work is billed for the work, on the schedule in your agreement, not on the funding decision. For a single proposal, a common pattern is part of the flat fee when you start and the balance when the application is submitted, because the funder may take months to decide. For ongoing work, a monthly invoice listing each funder and deliverable keeps the client's records simple. Small nonprofits often pay on a board-approved cycle, so agree the due date (net 15 or net 30) and who approves invoices before you start. Put a sentence in the notes such as 'Fees are for services performed and are payable whether or not the grant is awarded', so nobody waits for the funder's letter before paying you.

Need help writing payment terms? Read our guide to invoice payment terms for best practices and templates.

Tax Information

In the US, the IRS says nonprofit organizations are considered to be engaged in a trade or business for information reporting, so a nonprofit that pays you $2,000 or more for services in a year (for payments made after 31 December 2025) files Form 1099-NEC, and will usually ask for your Form W-9 first. Grant writing is a professional service and most states do not tax it, but check your state revenue department; if your service is taxable, a nonprofit client may have its own exemption to show you. Can your fee be paid from the grant? Only if the funder allows it. For federal awards, 2 CFR 200.460 says the costs of preparing proposals normally should be treated as indirect costs, and the GPA code says compensation should not be written into grants unless the funder allows it. InvoiceQuickly applies one tax percentage per invoice and copies saved business and client tax IDs to new invoice PDFs; check the saved IDs and PDF before sending. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Industry context (2026)

The Grant Professionals Association's Code of Ethics sets out the compensation norms most US nonprofits expect from grant writers. Its standards on compensation say members work for a salary, wage or fee (pro bono work is also allowed); may accept performance-based bonuses only in line with their own organization's prevailing practice and not based on a percentage of grant monies; must not accept or pay a finder's fee, commission or percentage compensation based on grants, and should discourage organizations from making such payments; and should not write compensation into grants unless the funder allows it. The code defines a commission as a flat-rate fee or percentage paid for services when a grant is awarded, so a flat fee payable only when a grant is awarded falls within that definition too. For federal awards, 2 CFR 200.460 (Uniform Guidance, current eCFR text) defines proposal costs as the costs of preparing bids, proposals or applications and says they normally should be treated as indirect costs allocated to all current activities. On tax reporting, the IRS 1099-NEC instructions (revised December 2026) say nonprofit organizations are considered to be engaged in a trade or business for reporting, with a $2,000 threshold for tax years beginning after 2025. Sources accessed 28 October 2026; the GPA code was read from grantprofessionals.org.

Worked example

Common mistakes to avoid

Invoicing Tips

• 1Name the funder, the program and the deadline on every line or in the invoice heading, so the client can match the invoice to the right application.
• 2Bill by deliverable (research report, narrative, budget, submission) rather than one 'grant writing' line. Finance teams and boards approve deliverables more easily.
• 3Never bill a percentage of the award or a success fee. State the hourly rate or flat fee instead, as the GPA code expects.
• 4Say how many revision rounds your fee includes, and bill extra rounds by the hour on their own line with the date they were requested.
• 5Record the submission date and the portal confirmation number in the notes, which proves the deliverable was completed on time.
• 6Keep post-award reporting and renewals on separate invoices, because they often fall in a different financial year for the client.

Related Resources

• All invoice templates: industry, country and document-type layouts
• Invoicing for nonprofit organizations: what nonprofits invoice and what InvoiceQuickly covers
• Nonprofit invoicing guide
• How to invoice for nonprofit work: billing nonprofit clients as a freelancer
• Hourly vs fixed-price invoicing
• Independent contractor

Frequently Asked Questions