Although approaches to securing philanthropic support vary, most districts are writing proposals "on-the-fly," prevailing on teachers and administrators to work during planning periods and after hours, writing proposals as opportunities arise. These activities tend to be self-limiting in that only the most convenient, highest-yielding, requests for proposals are deemed worth the time and effort to prepare. For instance, the Elk City, Oklahoma school district (2,300 students) wrote a onetime proposal to complete construction of a new high school and submitted the request to a new industry locating in town. The district received the $1 million grant in 1998. The next school year the district reported no gift income or grant activity. In another instance, a school librarian in Arkansas writes that, having written three successful grants for her school, she has "...almost no time for library work."

Districts that take a more systematic approach to proposal writing usually designate a teacher or administrator (lately it seems to be the technology coordinator) as a part-time grant writer. The best of these part-time grant writers devise standard "boiler plate" formats that can be inserted into proposal narratives and keep updated files on district demographics and strategic plans. They attend site-based management team meetings where resource needs are prioritized and prospects for securing external support are discussed. In the Hamilton ISD (Texas), a district with fewer than 1,000 students, the district's technology specialist was asked to spend a portion of his time pursuing technology grants. In one year, the technology specialist was able to secure about $500,000 in additional grant funds (including state and federal grants).

Districts with more discretionary money are hiring full-time grant coordinators to aggressively pursue private sector support. These professionals, with years of experience in proposal writing and strong management and communication skills, usually bring in several times their salary in grants each year. In Texas, the Houston Independent School District and neighboring Aldine Independent School District both employ full-time grant coordinators. Houston ISD, the seventh largest school district in the country, has a seasoned grants coordinator working with a team of grant writers. Aldine, which is one-fourth the size of Houston ISD, has one grant writer on the payroll. Both districts bring in anywhere from $2.6 to $4.5 million per year (excluding state and federal grants).