Building a Grant Writing Portfolio: What to Include and How to Present It

Why a Grant Writing Portfolio Is Essential

In the grant writing profession, your portfolio is the single most powerful tool for demonstrating competence to potential employers and clients. Unlike many fields where a resume and interview are sufficient, grant writing demands tangible evidence that you can produce high-quality work under pressure. A well-constructed portfolio shows not just that you understand grant writing theory but that you can translate that understanding into funded proposals.

Whether you are applying for a staff position at a nonprofit, pitching your services to a consulting client, or competing for a contract with a government agency, the quality of your portfolio will often determine whether you advance past the initial screening. This guide walks you through exactly what to include, how to handle the confidentiality challenges unique to this field, and how to present your work in a way that builds immediate credibility.

What to Include in Your Portfolio

A strong grant writing portfolio demonstrates range, skill, and results. Aim to include six to ten pieces that collectively showcase the breadth of your capabilities. The ideal portfolio includes the following components:

• Complete proposal narratives: Include two to three full proposals or substantial sections that demonstrate your ability to frame problems, design programs, articulate objectives, and build compelling arguments. Federal proposals carry particular weight because they demonstrate your ability to navigate complex requirements.
• Need statements and literature reviews: Stand-alone need statements that showcase your research skills and data integration abilities are valuable, especially if they demonstrate the three-tier data strategy of national, state, and local evidence.
• Budget narratives and justifications: Include at least one detailed budget with its accompanying justification to demonstrate your financial literacy and attention to compliance requirements.
• Logic models and evaluation plans: These demonstrate your ability to think systematically about program design and measurement, skills that separate advanced grant writers from beginners.
• Letters of support or memoranda of understanding: If you have drafted these collaborative documents, include them to show your stakeholder engagement abilities.
• Successful outcomes: Any documentation of funded proposals, including award letters or notification emails with sensitive information redacted, adds significant credibility.

Understanding how reviewers evaluate proposals is critical when selecting your best samples. Our guide on grant narrative strategy and reviewer psychology explains the criteria that make proposals stand out.

Handling Confidentiality

One of the biggest challenges in building a grant writing portfolio is that much of your work contains confidential information about organizations, their finances, and the communities they serve. You cannot simply share proposals verbatim without permission. Here are strategies for navigating this challenge:

• Request permission: Always ask your employer or client for written permission before including any work in your portfolio. Many organizations are willing to grant permission, especially if you offer to redact sensitive details.
• Redact identifying information: Remove organization names, specific budget figures, partner names, and any data that could identify individuals or communities. Replace them with generic placeholders while preserving the writing quality and structural integrity.
• Create sample proposals: Write original proposals for fictional organizations addressing real community needs. This is particularly valuable for newer grant writers who may not have a deep library of professional work to draw from.
• Use publicly available proposals: Some funded federal proposals are available through Freedom of Information Act requests. While you cannot claim these as your own, they can serve as references for the quality level you aspire to.

Presentation Formats

How you present your portfolio matters almost as much as what it contains. Consider maintaining your portfolio in multiple formats to accommodate different contexts:

• Digital portfolio: A clean, professional website or PDF that potential clients can access on their own time. Include brief introductions for each sample explaining the context, your role, and the outcome.
• Interview-ready binder: A physical or tablet-based presentation organized with tabs and annotations for in-person interviews where you can walk through your work.
• Quick-reference summary: A one-page document listing your major proposals with funding amounts, funders, and success rates for situations where a full portfolio review is not feasible.

For each sample, include a brief case study header that covers the funder, the funding amount requested, the program area, your specific role in the proposal development process, and the outcome. This context transforms a writing sample into a story of professional accomplishment.

Building Your Portfolio from Scratch

If you are new to grant writing and do not yet have professional samples, you still have options for building a credible portfolio. Volunteer to write grants for small nonprofits in your community. Many grassroots organizations desperately need grant writing help and will gladly let you use the work in your portfolio. You can also complete coursework that produces portfolio-quality deliverables, or respond to actual Requests for Proposals as practice exercises even if you do not submit them.

The key is to produce work that reflects the standards and expectations of professional grant writing, regardless of the context in which it was created. As you develop your career path, your portfolio will evolve from practice samples to funded proposals. Explore our overview of grant writing career paths for guidance on building your professional trajectory.

Learn more about grant writing strategies at Subthesis.

Start Building Your Professional Portfolio Today

A strong portfolio is built on strong skills, and strong skills come from structured, expert-led training. The Complete Grant Architect course provides hands-on assignments that produce portfolio-ready deliverables, from need statements to complete proposals, giving you both the knowledge and the tangible work products you need to launch your career. Enroll now and start building a portfolio that opens doors.