00 Services & rate card
Is your grant a $415 question or a $5,350 one?
The funding notice usually answers that on page 31, under “Application Contents.” We read to page 31 so your board doesn’t have to.
Six folders, each priced per application. Every federal and foundation folder already contains the budget narrative and the compliance review. None of them is billed by the hour, and none of them is paid out of the award.
- Quoted in writing before draft one
- Half at kickoff, half before Submit
- Lead times counted from the portal’s close
- 7 daysProspect Research Memo$415
- 72 hrsCompliance Review$685
- 14 daysPost-Award Report$760
- 10 daysLetter of Inquiry$1,180
- 21 daysFoundation Proposal$2,640
- 45 daysFederal Package$5,350
01 Rate card
One line per folder. The price on the line is the invoice.
Prices are per application. Lead times are counted backward from the day the funder’s portal closes, not from the day you first email us.
| Tab | Folder | Length | Lead time | Price | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01.1 | Federal PackageNOAA, EPA, and friends. Logic model, SF-424 family, two compliance passes. | 25–60 pp | 45 days | $5,350 | Scope it |
| 01.2 | Foundation ProposalCommunity and family foundations. Written to their prompts, in their order. | 8–15 pp | 21 days | $2,640 | Start one |
| 01.3 | Letter of InquiryTwo pages that decide whether you’re invited to write twenty. | 2 pp | 10 days | $1,180 | Draft mine |
| 01.4 | Compliance ReviewYou wrote it. We read it against the notice and return a marked-up PDF. | Your draft | 72 hours | $685 | Send a draft |
| 01.5 | Prospect Research MemoTwelve funders who have recently paid for shoreline, estuary, or watershed work. | 12 funders | 7 days | $415 | Order one |
| 01.6 | Post-Award ReportThe month-eleven report, from your field logs and the receipt shoebox. | Interim or final | 14 days | $760 | Hand us the logs |
02 Open a folder
Every folder has a contents page. Here are all six.
What goes in, what we need from your side, and the day each piece comes back to you.
02.1 Federal · 25–60 pages · 45 days
The Federal Package
$5,350 per application
For notices that want a logic model, a data management plan, and forms whose names are mostly numbers. We start with your SAM.gov status on day one, because a lapsed registration can take two weeks on its own.
Scope a federal packageInside the folder
- One-page fit memo and eligibility check
- Project narrative and logic model
- Data management plan, where the notice asks
- SF-424, SF-424A, and whichever numbered forms apply
- Budget plus a line-by-line budget narrative
- Two compliance passes, a day apart
- Portal submission, confirmation saved to the folder
From your side
- Active SAM.gov registration and UEI
- Latest 990 or audit
- Current board list
- Field data or monitoring logs
- One person who replies within two business days
- Kickoff
- Day 45
- Fit memo
- Day 40
- Full draft
- Day 24
- Submitted
- Day 3, or earlier
02.2 Foundation · 8–15 pages · 21 days
The Foundation Proposal
$2,640 per application
For community and family foundations whose program officers read every page and remember who forgot the board list. We answer their prompts in their order, using their words for things.
Start a foundation proposalInside the folder
- Narrative written to the funder’s own prompts
- Project budget and budget narrative
- Attachments checklist, filled and named
- One compliance pass
- Submission by portal, email, or the post office on Main St
From your side
- Latest 990
- Board list with term dates
- This fiscal year’s organisational budget
- Any past letter from this funder, yes or no
- Kickoff
- Day 21
- Draft
- Day 12
- Submitted
- Day 3
02.3 First contact · 2 pages · 10 days
The Letter of Inquiry
$1,180
Two pages, one table. The point is an invitation to the full proposal, so the letter spends its first paragraph on the funder’s priorities and its second on your shoreline.
Draft my letter of inquiryInside the folder
- Funder fit note
- Two-page letter
- One-table budget summary
- A short plan for round two, if invited
From your side
- The funder’s LOI guidelines
- One paragraph on the project in your own words. Typos are fine.
- Draft
- Day 6
- Final
- Day 4
- Sent
- Day 3
02.4 Read-only · your draft · 72 hours
Compliance Review
$685
You wrote it; we don’t rewrite it. We read it against the funding notice line by line and mark everything a portal or a reviewer would bounce — down to the attachment file names.
Send us your draftInside the folder
- Font, margins, spacing, and page caps checked
- Budget totals cross-checked across every form
- Required sections matched to the notice’s list
- Attachment names matched to the portal’s rules
- Marked-up PDF with numbered comments
From your side
- Your draft
- The full funding notice, appendices included
- The budget spreadsheet
- Back
- Within 72 hours
- Then
- One 20-minute call on the comments
02.5 Before you apply · 12 funders · 7 days
Prospect Research Memo
$415
Twelve funders whose recent giving includes shoreline, estuary, or watershed work on Long Island — or in whatever region you work in. Each gets a deadline, an ask range, and one sentence on fit.
Order a memoInside the folder
- Twelve funders, researched from recent giving
- Deadline and typical ask range for each
- One sentence on fit, no adjectives
- Three marked “apply this year”
From your side
- Mission statement
- Annual budget size
- The project you most want funded
- Back
- Day 7
- Format
- One spreadsheet, one-page summary
02.6 Month eleven · interim or final · 14 days
Post-Award Report
$760
The report the program officer emails about in month eleven. We write it from your field logs against the objectives you promised, so next cycle’s proposal starts with a funder who already trusts the numbers.
Hand us the logsInside the folder
- Narrative measured against the original objectives
- Outcomes pulled from your field logs
- Financial summary matched to the award budget
- The funder’s report template, filled
From your side
- Field logs and monitoring data
- Receipts. The shoebox is fine.
- The original funded proposal
- Draft
- Day 10
- Final
- Day 14
03 Count backward
Start at the day the portal closes. Walk left.
Day 0 is the funder’s deadline. Day 3 is ours. The bars below are when each folder is open on the desk.
- On the desk
- We press Submit
- The portal closes
The research memo runs before any of this — seven days, ideally a season ahead. Inside the lead time? A rush adds $640, if the calendar has room. If it doesn’t, you hear that the same day you ask.
04 Bolt-ons
Smaller pieces, priced the same way.
-
Resubmission rewrite
$1,940Declined last cycle? We rebuild from the reviewer summary statements, criterion by criterion, and tell you which comments were worth answering.
Ask about a resubmission -
Second round, after an LOI
From $1,870Quoted once the invitation arrives. The research from your letter of inquiry carries over, so it costs less than a cold Foundation Proposal.
Send us the invitation -
Standalone logic model
$490Inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes — one page, in the format the agency’s notice shows on its own example.
Order a logic model -
Data management plan
$355Where the water-quality readings live, who can see them, and for how many years. Written to the agency’s required headings.
Order a data plan -
Letters of support
$95 eachDrafted on your partners’ behalf for them to edit, print on their letterhead, and sign themselves.
Add letters to a package
- A percentage of the award. No commission, no contingency.
- A promise that you’ll be funded.
- A fee for your UEI or SAM.gov registration. Both are free.
- Signing a support letter for a partner who hasn’t read it.
- Pressing Submit on deadline day.
- Deposit
- Half at kickoff
- Balance
- Before submission, never after
- Quote
- In writing, before the first draft
05 The call
Have four things open when we call.
Twenty minutes, no charge. With these in front of you, we can name the folder and the price before we hang up.
- 05.1
The whole funding notice
The full PDF, not the one-page summary. The font size rule is usually in an appendix near the back.
- 05.2
Your most recent 990 or audit
Funders check that your budget size and your ask live in the same neighbourhood.
- 05.3
The board list, with terms
The single page that cost a Northport shoreline group a full foundation cycle. We ask for it first now.
- 05.4
Two numbers
The dollar amount you plan to ask for, and the date the portal closes. Everything else on the rate card follows from those.
By appointment — book a call
(631) 988-1482Or write to info@kelpwoodledger.com with the funder, the deadline, and the amount. Replies within two business days, from the same desk at 18 Conifer Ct.