What are reasonable salary & benefits for a full-time staff writer?

[Absolutwrite]

I am considering joining a nonprofit as a full-time writer; the brief job description I was given indicates that I would write grants, thank you letters, newsletter copy, direct mail promotions, flyers and brochures; graphics would be a key skill as well and I'd likely be creating a lot of PowerPoint presentations.

Where could I go to find out about a reasonable salary/benefits? I've looked at the salary resources at idealist.org, but few of the positions line up with the above responsibilities.

[Tish Davidson]

My guess is that salaries and benefits are all over the place and depend on the size and financial stability of the organization, your level of experience, the kind of writing you will be doing, and the benefits. If I were you, I'd prioritize a list of the benefits you absolutely need - health insurance, 401K matched savings, amount of paid vacation and sicke days, flexible hours, life insurance, etc. Then I would look at the amount I reasonably needed to live on. This is going to vary with your location and lifestyle expectations. Finally consider other factors such as length of commute, office atmosphere, amount of travele for work that is required, etc.

If the job does not meet at least your minimum dollar needs and a couple of benefits high on your priority list, then you probably won't be happy there no matter how much you believe in the cause or enjoy the atmosphere.

Sometimes grant writers are paid a percentage of the grants they write that get funded. This is like working on commission and can be very dicey for new grant writers.

[Absolutwrite]

Hi Tish,

Thanks--that's good advice.

I've read lots of information that suggests grant writing on commission is a great no-no, so I will veer away from that.

I think you're right that I need to figure out my needs and try to find a balance if necessary between my needs and the employer's needs.

[Featurewriter]

You might also want to check out salary.com (http://www.salary.com/). It breaks down jobs by category, skill level, type of organization, and region to show salary ranges.

You'll need to be patient with the site, as there are several ways in which it tries to get you to buy something. But getting to the free information is simple ... just follow the links and click away from the, uh, "offers."

[Absolutwrite]

Thanks, Featurewriter. I found the rates for the different levels of technical writers and grant proposal writers in the area--I guess it's estimation at this point to combine the different figures for a job with combined tasks.