I have secured grants for our own business and assisted other SME’s and Not-For-Profits secure hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of grants. Many people assume securing a grant is simply too difficult, and so never bother to try. On the other hand, many of us know people who seem to have the ‘Midas touch’ and secure one grant after another.
Now it’s your turn to explore the world of ‘free money’… but remember, there is always a catch.
The Pros
- Securing a grant is one of the most highly leveraged ways to access valuable funds. Preparing a successful grant bid can be time-consuming and if you engage external expertise, expensive. But the ROI is incredible.
- Applying for a grant requires you to assemble data, clarify your strategies and hone things like capability statements. Regardless of whether or not you’re successful, this is time well spent. Build a library of content to make the next application, your strategic planning, and marketing, easier.
- Success builds on success. If you can secure your first grant, you are more confident to apply for a second. And more likely to be favourably assessed. Being deemed a worthy recipient by one agency makes other agencies more confident in your capability.
The Cons
- Most grants have very restrictive criteria attached, which limits their effectiveness and often require dollar for dollar matching. And most are taxable. So their face value can be quickly eroded.
- Applying for a grant is time-consuming and comes with no guarantee of success. Could your time and focus have a bigger impact elsewhere?
- Grant junkies. Some businesses become ‘hooked’ on grants and build their business model around ongoing injections of grant funds. This is unhealthy and dangerous. A business should deliver sufficient value to its customers to generate a profit without grant funds.
How to Secure a Grant
The following are a few observations:
- Go hard or go home. As with anything in life, a rushed, half-hearted grant application cobbled together at the last minute is a waste of time – for you and the assessor. Don’t bother.
- Be strategic. Take the time to find a grant that is the ‘right fit’. If you need to significantly manipulate your project to meet grant criteria, don’t bother. But if you find a strong alignment, then go for it. And go hard. Most won’t bother, you would be amazed at how few applications are received for some grant programmes. Despite this, an agency won’t give out funds to a lacklustre applicant, you need to earn them.
- Seek professional advice. Completing a grant application is like learning a foreign language. The questions are written in a special code and each agency is looking for a specific answer to each question. Seasoned grant writers are fluent is this obscure language and will ensure your application ‘ticks all the boxes’ in a way an amateur could never do.
- Share success. It’s much better to share a portion of your successful grant funds with a grant writer than keep 100% of an unsuccessful grant for yourself.
The websites below offer a comprehensive listing of grants and services. Visit the websites, set appropriate alerts and consider engaging grant writing specialists to support appropriate grant applications. Both agencies offer free service and ‘paid for’ services. I have no affiliation with either. Be aware of less scrupulous operators offering ‘paid for’ access to grant databases.
https://www.bulletpoint.com.au/