Grant Writing Grant Writing Ethics 1

Question 1

A freelance grant writer is offered a fee equal to 15% of any grant funds secured for a nonprofit client. Why is this arrangement considered unethical by professional standards?

Accepted Answer

Percentage-based compensation creates an incentive to overstate project needs and undermines funder trust

Answer

It violates IRS rules on nonprofit contractor payments

Answer

Freelancers are prohibited from working with nonprofits under AFP guidelines

Answer

It is only unethical if the grant exceeds $100,000

Question 2

A grant writer who consults for multiple nonprofits inadvertently shares a funder's private feedback — given to one client after a rejected proposal — with a second client applying to the same funder. Which ethical principle has been violated?

Accepted Answer

Confidentiality

Answer

Stewardship

Answer

Accuracy

Answer

Competence

Question 3

A grant writer is preparing a letter of support from a community partner organization, but the partner director is traveling and cannot sign it before the deadline. The grant writer drafts the letter and submits it with a forged signature, intending to get approval afterward. This action is best described as:

Accepted Answer

Fraud, because submitting falsified documents to a funder constitutes misrepresentation

Answer

An acceptable workaround under time pressure if the partner later ratifies it

Answer

A minor procedural violation that does not affect the grant's merits

Answer

Permissible if the grant writer discloses the situation in the proposal narrative

Question 4

While reviewing a funder's RFP, a grant writer notices an eligibility criterion that is ambiguous and could be interpreted to either include or exclude their organization. What is the most ethical course of action?

Accepted Answer

Contact the program officer to seek clarification before submitting

Answer

Interpret the criterion in the most favorable way possible and proceed without comment

Answer

Submit the application and address the ambiguity only if the funder raises it

Answer

Omit any mention of the criterion in the proposal to avoid drawing attention to it

Question 5

An organization's executive director instructs a grant writer to describe a program as 'evidence-based' in a federal proposal, even though the program model has never been formally evaluated. The grant writer should:

Accepted Answer

Refuse to include the claim and explain to the director that submitting inaccurate information to a federal funder may constitute grant fraud

Answer

Follow the instruction since the executive director bears ultimate responsibility for the proposal

Answer

Use the term but add a footnote clarifying the program is 'emerging'

Answer

Include the claim only if a similar program elsewhere has been studied

Question 6

A grant writer leaves a nonprofit and begins working for a competing organization in the same service area. They want to reuse sections of a proposal they wrote for their former employer to apply to the same foundation. The primary ethical concern with this is:

Accepted Answer

Breach of confidentiality and loyalty, because the former employer's strategies, data, and program details are proprietary

Answer

Copyright infringement, since proposals are always protected intellectual property

Answer

Plagiarism, since the grant writer cannot cite their own prior work

Answer

There is no ethical concern if the grant writer was the sole author of the original proposal