Top Tips to Get Funded

The first time I reached the dizzy heights of running a charity, I don’t think I appreciated the necessity to focus so much attention on bringing funding in.  It was a steep learning curve for me, but I had many mentors and helpers who coached me in how to write a successful bid – and although I say it myself, I did become good at it, managing to bring in large sums of money!

I am still involved in writing bids and pulling together proposals involving multiple partners.  I have also been fortunate enough to also be on the other side –  assessing grant applications which is helping me hone my craft as I am reading lots of submissions, some of which are really clear and easy to understand, and others that are muddled, confused or worse still, haven’t read the criteria of the funding so totally inappropriate.

Funding is really competitive.  Your bid has to stand out from many others as being well thought through, deliverable, effective and achievable.

If you are writing a bid for the first time, or looking to make your funding applications stronger, here are my top tips.

1. Preparing your bid

Funding opportunities often come out without prior notice and with a short lead in time.  The weekend you had planned relaxing, enjoying yourself or sorting out your sock drawer, becomes diverted to pulling together the information you need to submit your application by midnight on Sunday. 

48 hours isn’t long enough to write a winning bid from scratch.

My tip to anyone involved in bid writing is to look at what your funding needs are first. Identify whether these are one or separate projects and pull together a draft proposal for each project that can be tailored to the specific needs of the funder. 

Do your research. 

• Find out if there are other similar projects already running and if so how will yours differ or complement them. 
• Find out the level of need and if appropriate do a survey to assess this and where it is likely to be. 
• Talk to others already working in the area and find out if you can collaborate. 
• Do online research and see if there is any data to support your proposal. 
• Make it really clear what your project’s objectives are – what problem is it trying to resolve. 
• Describe how you will do it and what difference it will make.   
• If your project will help people, how many people will it help and more importantly how will it help them. 
• Who will you be working with to deliver this and what will be the wider impact of the project?

For example, ‘We will work with 10 people over 12 months.  At then end of our involvement, they will be able to better manage their finances and we anticipate that 50% of them will move into education, training or work and ultimately reduce their reliance on emergency support.’

Check your are objectives achievable – if we take the previous example, are there enough people who can be trained to achieve the outcomes and is the timescale realistic?

Make sure you will be able to deliver it.  If you will need to recruit or train people to run or work in the project, build in time for this to take place.   

Ensure your project also has time to wind down at the end and how final reporting will be made – this could be valuable in the application.

Will there be a legacy that will result from your project?  If so, what will that look like?

Draw up a budget that can be adapted to the amount of money involved.   I draw up several budgets based on various levels of funding.  Make sure your budget includes all the expenses of running the project, a realistic contribution to your overheads and funding to cover roll out and wind up. 

One of my early mistakes was not to allocate enough for overheads and management charges as I wanted the funder to think we were a cost-effective option.  All that happened was that the funder felt was unrealistic and therefore not a valuable investment!  Don’t undervalue the costs of running a project, both direct and indirect!

Not only will this give you an ‘oven ready’ bid should an opportunity come up at short notice, it also focuses your search for suitable funders.

2. Research Funders

Having sat on grant awarding bodies, it is not unusual to see applications that appear to have been sent out to a wide variety of funders on spec.  It’s sometimes not clear how the project will meet the criteria the funder has set out and thus is automatically rejected.

Spend some time looking for funders who support the kind of work you do.  A good place to start are the funding databases such as The Grants Resources Information News (https://grin.coop/) or Charity Excellence (https://www.charityexcellence.co.uk).  There are many more, and often your local Voluntary Sector Forum will circulate funding opportunities as they come up.

Once you have identified an organisation that you feel might be interested in your project, do your research.  Check out their website, look at the criteria, frequently asked questions, and case studies of grants they have made.  Look at their entry on the Charity Commission website, their Annual Return often has useful information about the grants they have made and who their Trustees are.  If you have time, give the organisation a call and talk through your idea to see if it would interest them.

Finally, check how they would like an application to be submitted.  Some organisations want it through an online portal or application form, others want a proposal in writing, some what a brief introduction and may request further information later.  A few don’t want unsolicited applications, so you will need to find out if you can contact someone within the organisation to introduce yourself initially.

3. Tailor your proposal

Now you have your project that needs funding and you have identified a potential funder.  The next step is to tailor your proposal to meet their criteria.

Double check that you have picked the right funder who already supports the sort of project you want to run.  It is often tempting to adapt your project to suit the funder.  This isn’t a good approach as it will most likely fail to meet either your or the funders objectives.  Don’t try to dress your project up as something it isn’t.  If you have a good project that you are confident will solve the problem you have identified, then the right funder will help you achieve that.

Although you don’t want to change or adapt your project to meet funder’s requirements, your proposal should identify how it helps your funders meet their objectives. 

Firstly, read the guidance and highlight specific areas the funder is interested in.  I find it useful to write down the specific questions the funder is asking on a flipchart or a separate document and note down in bullet point form how your project can answer those questions.  This ensures you don’t duplicate your answers, whilst encompassing everything you want to include.

Wherever you can, show how the issue you have identified and your proposed solution are linked.  Explain how your idea has evolved and who you have collaborated with or included in developing your project. 

Sometimes it can be appropriate to include graphics such as dashboards.  Graphs can provide a lot of information across with a low word count.  Case studies or testimonials that are relevant to your project can be really important.

Get someone else to read it through to make sure you have answered all the questions.

Check your word count if applicable and check spelling and grammar.   It is frustrating when you are reading an application if you can’t understand it, or the responses don’t match the questions.

4. Double Check your proposal

Where possible, I try to give myself time to ‘sleep’ on the final bid, at least overnight, but preferably for a few days.

When you are in the thick of writing a bid, particularly a long one, it can be hard to proofread it with fresh eyes and notice the bits that lack clarity, or information that you have missed.

If you can give yourself a few days and then set aside some time to review it afresh that is really valuable.  Other more relevant information may have come to light in the interim.  Reading it afresh may help ensure it is logical, explains why you have chosen this project, how you have developed it and what you hope to achieve.

Once again, if you can find someone else to read it who hasn’t been involved to ensure it makes sense.

Once you are sure it is the best you can make it, submit it in the format the funder has requested.  Although it is good practice to allow time for checking, you will often feel that it could be stronger, but there comes a point when you have to accept that it is as good as you can make it in the time available.

5. Ask for Feedback

Writing bids can be difficult and disheartening.  It takes a lot of yourself to prepare a good bid, so it often feels quite personal. 

However, there is a lot of competition out there for funding.  It is anticipated that the success ratio for good proposals is around 10 to 1, so for every 10 bids you submit, only 1 will be successful. 

Try not to be disheartened but do ask for feedback so you can tighten your proposal up.  Asking for feedback can also create a connection with the funder that could help future applications.

Sometimes it takes several submissions to the same funder before you get successful, but at this time you are building a relationship, they are perhaps getting to know you a bit more and feeling more confident in your ability to undertake a project.

6. When you are Successful

You’ve done it, you’ve got the funding and your project can go ahead.  This isn’t the end of the bid writing process.  This is your opportunity to build a stronger relationship with your funder which could result in repeat funding for your project or an easier path to future funding.

Make sure you work with them to promote the successful funding application.  Ensure you complete any reporting requirements along the way and if possible, invite them to see your project in action.  There is nothing more rewarding to a grant funder than knowing how their money is making a difference!

Next Steps

I hope this is a useful starter.  There are a lot of great resources out there such as https://www.charity-fundraising.org.uk/grant-fundraising-top-bid-writing-tips.  Take a look at my website (page on my bid writing offer coming soon) https:/how-i-can-help/.