Articles
Practical, specific guides for freelance grant writers — the kind of detail you need when you're actually drafting a budget narrative or a logic model, not generic "AI for freelancers" advice.
Freelance Ops Kit publishes at a sustainable pace — one or two well-researched articles a week, not high-volume filler. Articles here are drafted with AI assistance and checked for accuracy before publishing — see About Freelance Ops Kit for the full explanation.
Letter of Inquiry vs. Letter of Intent: Two Different Documents That Share the Same Abbreviation
September 24, 2026 · 7 min read
Why "LOI" means opposite things depending on the funder — a federal courtesy NIH just eliminated in December 2025, and a foundation screening gate that decides whether you can even apply.
Outputs vs. Outcomes vs. SMART Objectives: Fixing the "Vague Goals" Problem in Grant Narratives
September 24, 2026 · 8 min read
Why reviewers flag "vague goals," what actually separates an output from an outcome from a SMART objective, and how the terms connect to a logic model — with a worked example.
Grant Narrative Structure Explained: Problem Statement, Goals, Methods, Evaluation
September 24, 2026 · 8 min read
Why funders read a grant narrative's four sections in the same order — problem statement, goals and objectives, methods, evaluation — and how each one builds on the last, with a full worked example.
The Anatomy of a Grant Budget Narrative: Personnel, Fringe, Indirect Costs, and the Story Behind the Numbers
September 24, 2026 · 9 min read
A line-by-line guide to writing a grant budget narrative — personnel, fringe, travel, equipment, and indirect costs — including the 2024 federal rate changes (de minimis indirect cost rate and the equipment capitalization threshold) that many older templates still get wrong.