In the last three months, I willingly walked away from tens of thousands of dollars in predictable monthly retainers.
I fired three clients. That was 20% of my clients.
On paper, keeping them was the easy choice. The invoices were being paid. The checks were clearing. My calendar was booked.
If I wanted to, I could have put my head down, churned out words, hit “submit” on their portals, and collected my fees. If they got audited, disqualified, or caught in a lie later, that was technically their problem, right?
Wrong.
When you put your name and strategic weight behind an organization, you are not a detached typewriter. You are an architect of public and philanthropic trust. And when an organization has rot beneath the floorboards, staying on their payroll doesn’t make you a team player.
It makes you complicit.
This email is longer than usual, but hang in there with me.
Here is the unvarnished reality of why I fired them and what every grant professional needs to watch out for.
Related: What sets you apart from other grant writers?
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Client 1: The “We’ll Figure It Out Later” Chaser
The Scenario: They wanted to apply for every grant that had a dollar sign attached to it. When I pointed out that we lacked the staffing, historical data, and infrastructure for a specialized RFP, the response was a casual wave of the hand: “We can do it. Just embellish the program descriptions a bit. Once we get the funding, we’ll make it work.”
Why I Left: Grants are not seed capital for fictional programs. Promising a funder that you have a fully staffed, evidence-based intervention when you actually have a half-baked idea scribbled on a napkin isn’t “scrappy fundraising.” It’s fraud.
If an executive director is comfortable lying to win a grant, they will be comfortable lying about how the money was spent. When the deliverable collapses six months into the award, the grant writer is always the one left holding the bag.
Client 2: The Ghost Program and the “Facilitator’s Fee”
The Scenario: Their digital footprint was immaculate. Glossy photos, inspiring mission statements, and a website listing half a dozen community initiatives.
Then we got to work.
As I dug into the intake for program rosters, sign-in sheets, and pre/post-survey data, the answers got evasive. Finally, in a casual meeting, the quiet truth slipped out: they didn’t actually run most of those programs. The website was aspirational.
To make matters worse, leadership asked me to slip an inflated “facilitator’s fee” into the project budgets to route grant dollars to an unspecified internal party.
Why I Left: The second a client asks you to build kickbacks, ghost line items, or unearned “facilitator” overhead into a budget, your only job is to pack your files and terminate the contract. Your professional reputation takes decades to build and precisely one federal or foundation audit to destroy.
Client 3: The Chronic Deficit Treated Like a Badge of Honor
The Scenario: This organization was running an unsustainable operational deficit month after month. Staff were burning out, cash reserves were nonexistent, and leadership was in a state of constant panic.
When I asked about their financial stabilization plan, or what board-level giving and individual donor campaigns were doing to balance the ship, the executive director flatly told me they had zero plans to fix it over the next few years because they were “just in a tight spot.”
Translation: “We want grants to be our permanent bailout engine.”
Why I Left: Grants cannot solve a broken operational model. Funders invest in sustainability, capacity, and outcomes. They do not exist to plug structural leaks for leadership teams that refuse to govern. Submitting proposals for an organization on the brink of fiscal collapse without an honest plan for recovery is a disservice to the funder and a guaranteed recipe for post-award disaster.
Walking away hurts your revenue in the short term. But within two weeks, I signed two more clients that are better aligned and more than make up the lost revenue.
Here is how I am revising my client vetting process:
1.Review the Past 3 Years of 990s and Audits Before Agreeing to Anything
If an organization hesitates to share a clean balance sheet, tax forms, and operating budgets during discovery, pause immediately.
2.Run the “Show Me the Data” Diagnostic
“Can you send me your program attendance logs and evaluation reports from the past six months?” If they hesitate, offer excuses, or say “We’ll build that once you start,” the program only exists in their head. Do not write grants for invisible work.
3.Listen to How They Talk About Funders
Pay attention to their vocabulary during your intial call:
Red flag: “They have millions; they owe this to our community.” Red flag: “Let’s just tell them what they want to hear.” Red flag: “Can we guarantee this will fund our payroll?”
Ethical leaders view funders as institutional partners. Unethical leaders view funders as transactions to be manipulated.
- Test Their Willingness to Hear “No”
On the discovery call, find one grant they want to chase and explain why they shouldn’t:
“Looking at your current capacity, pursuing this federal opportunity right now would be irresponsible and carry a low win rate. I recommend passing on it.”
Watch how they react. If they respect your strategic pushback, they value your expertise. If they demand that you apply anyway because they “just want to take a shot,” they view you as a disposable vendor.
The Bottom Line:
Saying no to bad money is the single hardest part of consulting and independent grant work.
When your pipeline has an open slot, it takes courage to look at an ethical compromise and walk away.
But your integrity is the only equity you truly own in this sector.
Work with leaders who respect the truth. Work with organizations that actually deliver on the ground.
And remember: firing a bad client or walking away from a bad employer doesn’t create a loss. It creates space for an ethical partner who is actually worth winning for.
Until next time,
Write Epic Grants