Selling to Nonprofits When Budgets Are Tight: What Actually Works
One of Holly Rustick's students lost $100,000 in contracts in one week.
It was early 2025. Federal grant funding was being cut. Nonprofits were reviewing every line item - and contractor relationships were not exempt. The student was a federal grant writer, and her contracts disappeared almost overnight.
If you've been consulting in the nonprofit sector over the past two years, you've felt some version of this. Clients that felt like sure things going quiet. Questions in sales calls that didn't used to come up. A general sense that the approach that worked in 2022 isn't producing the same results.
Holly Rustick has been writing grants for more than 20 years. She's been through five US administrations, the 2008 recession, COVID, and 2025. She runs Grant Writing & Funding and has helped her students collectively win over $225 million in grants. In this Fracture episode, she shares what the data from her programs actually shows - and what consultants need to do differently right now.
The short answer: Nonprofits are still buying consulting services. The form has changed - they're asking harder questions, looking more carefully at ROI, and trimming scope. The consultants getting work in this market are the ones who repositioned their services, prepared for specific objections before the sales call, and learned to lead with curiosity rather than a pitch.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Apple
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify
▶️ Watch on YouTube
What the 2025 Data Actually Shows About Nonprofit Consulting
The headline number was hard. Grant funding in Holly's student programs dropped from roughly $138 million won in 2024 to around $66-67 million in 2025. Federal cuts hit organisations hard, and consultants with federal-grant-focused portfolios felt it first.
But here's what the data also shows: her students' business revenue went up. "We actually had more people in our programs win more money - around $4.1 million in their businesses this year compared to last year."
Nonprofits didn't stop buying. They changed how they're buying.
"There was a lot of streamlining. Nonprofits were looking at their bottom line across the board - who they're hiring as staff, who their consultants are. Is it really making an ROI right now?"
That last question is the one that matters. Organisations that cut a consultant relationship in 2025 often did it because they couldn't articulate the return. The consultants who kept and grew their client base made the return visible - and adjusted their services to deliver it more directly.
Why "Grant Strategist" Beats "Grant Writer" in a Tight Market
Holly has been making this argument for years. In 2025, it stopped being optional.
The difference is not just a title. A grant writer writes grants. A grant strategist looks at the organisation's full funding picture, decides which opportunities to pursue, builds the pipeline, and brings in other funding sources when grants fall short.
When foundation grants are competitive and federal grants are being cut, an organisation needs someone who can answer "what do we do?" - not just "how do we word this proposal?"
"Don't be calling yourself a grant writer. Call yourself a grant strategist." And the repositioning opens doors that a narrow service definition doesn't. Corporate sponsorships. Strategic planning. Diversified funding analysis. These became core offerings for Holly's students in 2025 - not add-ons.
The lesson applies beyond grant writing. Any nonprofit consultant whose positioning is tied too tightly to a specific type of deliverable - rather than to the results she produces - is more exposed when the market tightens.
The Minimum Valuable Product Framework
One of the most useful frameworks Holly developed in 2025 is the Minimum Valuable Product (MVP). Not the minimum viable product of startup culture - the minimum product that actually gets the client the result they need.
"Cut the fluff. What are the main things and how can you streamline your services to deliver those?"
In practice, this sometimes meant reducing the scope and cost of consulting packages. Not as a concession, but as a strategy. A smaller scope delivered with full focus gets results. A large scope with too many moving parts often doesn't - especially when the client is watching every dollar.
The MVP approach also helps handle a specific objection: "Can we afford this right now?" If you've already built a version of your service that's stripped to what matters, you have a credible answer.
"We need results. We don't need fluff right now." - Holly Rustick
How to Handle Sales Objections Before They Come Up
The most common mistake Holly sees in sales calls: consultants walk in ready to pitch and not ready to listen.
Before every sales call, she recommends writing down every objection you think might come up - then writing how you'd respond to each one. For grant writers specifically: "Do you work on commission? What's your grant success rate? How long will this take?" These questions have better answers than most consultants have prepared.
Some of the most common objections are actually the wrong questions. "What's your grant success rate?" sounds like a data question, but it's usually a trust question. The client wants to know: can you help us get funded? If you know that, you can redirect the conversation instead of fumbling with a metric that doesn't mean what they think it means.
Curiosity is Holly's answer to the deeper problem. "If you could cultivate any quality or skill set, curiosity in life is the most valuable thing you can develop."
She tells a story from that morning: meeting with her son's school principal, walking in ready for a fight, and deciding at the last minute to just ask questions. "Strategy: we're just gonna ask questions. We're gonna let them do the talking." They got everything they wanted. The same principle applies in sales.
Going into a sales call with questions - about the organisation's programs, their past experiences with consultants, their goals - means you learn what they actually need, not what you assumed. That changes how you present your services entirely.
One more thing: if you find yourself having a great conversation, watch the energy. Holly calls out the "love bombing" phenomenon - where a prospect is so enthusiastic that you gloss over the practical questions. "When you feel really good on a call, you ignore information that's sort of negative and you overfocus on things that confirm your existing beliefs." That's when you get the most blindsided.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Apple
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify
▶️ Watch on YouTube
Frequently Asked Questions
Are nonprofits still hiring consultants in 2025 and 2026?
Yes. Holly Rustick's data shows that while grants won by her students dropped significantly in 2025, business revenue in her programs actually went up. Nonprofits are still buying consulting services - they're asking harder questions and looking more carefully at ROI, but they're still making decisions and signing contracts.
How do I reposition my consulting services when clients are cutting budgets?
Focus on outcomes rather than deliverables. Instead of selling "I'll write two grants per month," sell the strategy that drives funding results. Expand your service offering to include adjacent areas - strategic planning, corporate sponsorships, funder relations - so you're not dependent on one category of work. Simplify your packages so clients can see exactly what they're getting.
What is the Minimum Valuable Product framework for nonprofit consultants?
It asks: what is the minimum scope of work that actually gets the client the result they need? Rather than offering a full suite of services, strip your offering down to the core deliverables that drive results. This can mean smaller contracts, but it also means fewer wasted hours and a clearer ROI conversation with clients who are watching their budgets carefully.
How should I handle the "grant success rate" question in a sales call?
Treat it as a trust question, not a data question. A grant success rate is easily manipulated (winning one $100 grant = 100% success rate). Rather than defending the metric, redirect: "When you ask about my success rate, you're really asking whether I can help you get funded. Let me tell you about the results I've gotten for organisations like yours." Prepare your redirect before the call.
Why should I bring the decision maker into my sales call?
Your contact is not necessarily a strong advocate for your services. When they relay your value to a board member or executive director, things get lost or filtered through their own uncertainty. You are the best advocate for your work. Invite the decision maker directly: "I'd love to answer any questions they might have - can we set up time to include them?" It speeds up the decision and removes awkwardness from your contact.
What is a credit-based retainer system for grant consultants?
Instead of locking clients into a fixed number of grants per month - which doesn't make sense seasonally - you offer a range of credits that can be applied flexibly. A federal grant might be three credits, a foundation grant one credit, a strategic plan three credits. The client has a credit budget for the contract period and allocates it based on what comes up. Nonprofits are responding well to this approach in the current environment.
How do I stay competitive as a nonprofit consultant in a tight funding environment?
Know your offer deeply. Prepare for objections before every call. Lead with curiosity - ask about their programs, their challenges, their past experiences with consultants. Focus on the transformation your clients experience, not the features of your service. And bring the decision maker into the conversation earlier than feels comfortable.
The consultants growing right now didn't get lucky. They did the work: they learned their offer, prepared for the hard questions, got good at listening, and focused on results their clients could point to. That's the whole game.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Apple
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify
▶️ Watch on YouTube