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Grant funding applications. Today’s aims: Improve your funding success rate Enhance the readability & relevance of your applications Led by: Sue Scott. Grant funding applications. Improve your funding success rate -
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Grant funding applications Today’s aims: Improve your funding success rate Enhance the readability & relevance of your applications Led by: Sue Scott
Grant funding applications Improve your funding success rate - Techniques to enhance the readability & relevance of your grant applications
Workshop outline • Readability & style • Understanding funder motivations • Proving need & demand • Describing outcomes & benefits • Your questions
Key principles of successful bid writing • Effective communication - reflect the funder’s values • Focus on the customer’s need • Sell the benefits and outcomes • Describe your solution with conviction • Provide evidence of delivery capability
Your writing style • Make every sentence count “The application submitted is too muddled” • Do you need to use jargon? • Avoid long words or sentences • Concise is nice, brief is better “Be clear and straight to the point about what the funding is actually for…”
Readability tests • Two examples…
Active voice • Sentences in the active voice are shorter, clearer and more direct. • They can also convey more enthusiasm and passion… ‘We will fight them on the beaches’
Passive voice • Sentences using passive verbs tend to be flat and lacking interest • They add words, making a sentence long-winded ‘The enemy will be engaged by us on the beaches’ ‘The Council instructed the clerk to write to the County Council requesting……’
Tips on layout • Use structured headings to grab the reader’s attention & keep them interested: ‘Measuring success’ • Use white space - around your headings it gives them attention • AVOID USING ALL UPPER CASE AND UNDERLINING • Use captions to sell your message
E-bids • Doing not reading! • Need dynamic style with fewer words • Need lots of hooks • Front-loaded headings • Bullet points • Shorter sentences and paragraphs
Effective writing – elementary rules • Never use a long word where a short one will do • If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out • Never use the passive where you can use the active • Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent • Never use a metaphor, simile or figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print George Orwell, ‘Why I Write’ , Penguin Books 2004, first published 1946
Understanding funder motivations • Fund guidelines • Published material – Google! • Personal contacts • Events • ‘call to discuss the application first’ Person-to-person discussion
Show your project’s most relevant side • Frontloaded funder benefit statements... “Tots to teens will gain improved health, fitness & social interaction while enjoying the play space” “Young people at risk of offending will have access to recreational facilities such as cookery classes and music workshops.”
Bring the project alive… • A catchy name, eg Teen Cuisine • Service user testimonials • Photographs • Infograms – Information is Beautiful
Be persuasive • What’s the Need or Problem? • What’s your Solution? • Is this solution wanted? • Show plenty of evidence of need, ie. “Community fundraising has already started”.
Evidence for need • Parish surveys • Parish Plan • Neighbourhood Plan • District & County Council strategies • National government policies
Evidence of demand • Consultation, Consultation,Consultation
Evidence of demand • Your top tips…
Consultations… Coffee and cake or surveys and social media…
Answering the question correctly • Inputs = resources you put into your project (eg staff time, funding, venues) • Outputs = activities or products (eg promotional leaflets, play space) • Outcomes = about change (eg improved confidence; new community groups & leaders) • Impact = the outcomes and long term effects (eg community ownership & management of a building)
A fresh pair of eyes Your critical friend will be able to spot: • Assumptions about knowledge • Areas not described well
What next? Funding for Beginners Courses: • 3 April – Saunderton, Buckinghamshire • 5 June – New Ollerton, Nottinghamshire • 6 August – Cirencester, Gloucestershire • 19 August – Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire