YOU GET A GRANT, AND YOU! AND YOU! Every reader here gets a grant!
If only.
The unfortunate reality is that Oprah is not here handing out grants for your projects.
The truth is that grant funding is fiercely competitive and no one’s handing them out just for showing up.
Fortunately, our experienced team, led by Kerri Eckart – an expert with a 90% success rate across 300 plus bids – knows a thing or two about how to make your proposal stand out in the playing field.
Craft a compelling proposal that resonates with the funder and secures a win, with this checklist based on the most common mistakes.
Funding ‘guide’lines
Despite its deceptive name, think of this less as a guide and more as a strict, inflexible set of criteria that will determine whether your application is immediately thrown out of the running.
When the guideline asks you to describe your company and how your project aligns with the criteria in 300 words or less, this is not a guide. 301 words will be disqualified.
So, before you start that application and invest many days of teamwork, it is crucial to thoroughly read the requirements and triple check your eligibility.
The grant is not really about you
The first misconception is that the grant application is an opportunity to express what YOU need.
Like any sales document, the grant application is about selling to the needs of the recipient.
In this case, the task is to sell the reason that your project is most aligned with the grant’s core purpose aka, what it was designed to fund.
Do extensive research to know the funder – understand their driving forces, values and priorities – then align this information with your WHY to underpin every answer.
Remember, they are offering the grant to support business interests or uphold government corporate social responsibility goals.
| Why do you require funding? | Translation: How does this project align with their values and motivations? |
| Why are you the best applicant? | Translation: How does your company and project align with their priorities and driving forces? |
| Why is your project more worthy of funding than competitors? | Translation: Prove that a win for you is the biggest win for them. |
If applicable, research the previous grant winners, take notes on what brought home their win and why they stood out from competition.
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. You’re eligible, you’re qualified. So, sell that strategically with tailored responses.
Prove achievability
At the end of the day, the grant application is just one team of humans trying their best, speaking to another – so ensure your pitch doesn’t sound like Mission Impossible 9 (yes, there’s been that many movies).
Demonstrate that your project or idea is well-planned, cost-effective and feasible.
Be specific when clearly outlining the what the proposal is, exactly where this money will go, what the execution will realistically look like, and what you aim to achieve.
A well-developed budget will highlight how achievable your goals are.
Clarity is valuable
Yuo cna raed tihs baceuse yuor brian is inrcedbile.
But this also means that your incredible brain will very likely miss many typos and incomplete sentences.
Ensure your answers are clear, concise and PEER-REVIEWED by fresh eyes.
For an applications assessor reading several proposals, mistakes and responses that don’t get to the point will make your application appear sloppy and unprofessional.
Avoid complex language or buzzwords that might obscure your message.
End your project description with a clear and compelling funding needs statement stating the use of funds, the beneficiaries and the objective.
Narrative skeleton
There are few things more intimidating than staring at a blank page with the text cursor blinking at you like it’s timing your thoughts.
Lay down the framework with a narrative skeleton, using the exact headers from funder prompts, guidelines and scoring criteria.
Then dot point the most valuable topics to address for each question.
This process ensures you answer every question directly with relevant and valuable information once you start building it out into professional, cohesive sentences.
Make it easier with Focused Marketing. Contact us about our tender and grant writing services.
—
