How to Secure a Grant

Posted on by Richard Everson

Introduction

Grants provide a great ROI if:

  • You identify the correct grant to match your current strategic focus, and
  • You can prepare a competitive bid efficiently

Grants are an alternative source of funding for capability building or infrastructure investment. Without a grant, a business would need to:

  • Allocate funds from retained profits (noting that you would need to generate $1m in revenue to secure $100K of investment capital at 10% net profit)
  • Borrow funds and pay interest, or
  • Raise funds from investors who will expect equity and/or dividends in return

Whilst many grant programs require grant funds to be matched dollar for dollar, the opportunity to secure ‘free money’ is very attractive.

Sadly, too many businesses invest too much time and effort chasing inappropriate grants or submit applications that are non-compliant or uncompetitive. This document aims to provide some helpful guidance on how to approach the exciting but challenging topic of ‘How to Secure a Grant’.

The ‘Serial Winner’

When discussing grants, I often suggest clients look at any list of recent grant recipients. Within the Top 10, I can confidently predict that 50% will have successfully bid for other grants. These are the ‘serial winners’.

How do they do it? They:

  • take a strategic approach to identify and bidding for grants
  • have done preparatory work to ensure they hit the ground running when an appropriate grant is announced,
  • invest appropriate time, money and rescores into their bids, and
  • engage external professionals with grant-writing expertise

Whilst success is never guaranteed, if you follow this approach, your chances of success will increase dramatically and you too, could soon be standing in the winner’s circle.

How to Find the Right Grant

‘Shovel Ready’ Projects

Before you begin to look for a grant, it helps to have a clear idea of your strategic priorities and what you might use grant funds for. It’s no use investing time and resources into a grant submission for a project that doesn’t closely align with your strategic focus. Identify up to three priority projects and begin the groundwork today (see ‘Hit the Ground Running’ below).

When I worked at RDA Southern Inland, we were told we needed to have a list of ‘shovel ready projects’ in our top drawer so we could act fast when large regional grant programs were announced. To be ‘shovel ready’, a project needed:

  • Evidence of demand and support
  • A project plan and budget
  • Preliminary approvals where appropriate

Where to Look

There are plenty of grant databases out there. You can waste a lot of time searching sites that will duplicate information, fail to reflect the full scope of grants on offer, or try to sell you something along the way. Find just enough databases to provide you appropriate coverage.

Typically grants will be offered by:

  • Local, state and the Commonwealth government
  • Government agencies
  • Large corporates with a CSG agenda

Here are a few suggestions. Have a look through the list, bookmark the ones that appeal. Do your own research to uncover a few more. Some allow you to set search criteria using keywords and create alerts.

When to Look

Delegate a trusted member of the team with the task of doing a regular (fortnightly/monthly) check of your shortlisted sites. They will get a feel for what’s out there and monitor grants that may be ‘opening soon’. Ensure this is done regularly, there is nothing worse than finding ‘the big one’ and realising it opened 6 weeks ago and closes tomorrow!

What’s a Good Fit?

When considering your customer’s needs, it pays to ‘stand in their shoes’ and consider their perspective. When evaluating grants, it pays to understand what the organisation awarding the grant is trying to achieve. The answer is hopefully in the name. E.g., the Regional Job Creation Fund will award grants to businesses that can clearly demonstrate they will use the funds to create jobs.

If your goal is to use the funds to buy a machine that will automate a manual process and reduce your headcount, don’t bother applying, regardless of whether you meet all the other criteria.

Sadly, the objectives of many grants aren’t always clear, so take the time to read the guidelines and understand what the funding body is trying to achieve before proceeding any further.

I ask my clients to imagine a grant assessment panel sitting down to assess 3,000 grant applications. Their goal is to find the worthiest applicants and will take any opportunity to narrow down the field. They can’t afford to progress a non-compliant application, or one that doesn’t meet their criteria 100%. So don’t bother trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. Only proceed if your business and project meet the criteria exactly, noting it may be worth adjusting an existing project idea to achieve alignment.

Hit the Ground Running

Let’s assume you identify ‘the perfect fit’ grant opportunity on the day it drops. Even then, you will be running hard to pull together a competitive bid. Your competitors will already have much of their application ready, in the form of a ‘content library,’ because they know most grant applications share 80% of their DNA. Most grants will ask similar questions and require similar information. This includes general information about the business:

  • Company background
  • Details of specified personnel (CV’s)
  • Capability statement
  • Detailed financial statements
  • Risk Management Plan

And specific information about the project you are seeking funds for:

  • Project description
  • Market fit, evidence of demand and support
  • Quotes/budget
  • Project timeline
  • Approvals
  • Evidence of matching funds

Look at several ‘open’ grants to get a feel for the type of information that is required. Some may require you to begin an online application, (which you need not submit), others will allow you to download a copy of the application form. Level up your competitiveness by getting started on your content library today. Regardless of whether you use this material in a winning grant application, it will be valuable IP.

Learn from the Past

If you have submitted an unsuccessful grant application in the past, I hope you were provided with the opportunity to get feedback on what went wrong. Always ask for detailed feedback and pay attention when it’s provided. Refer to this feedback as you prepare your next grant submission.

Work with an Expert

Knowing what to include in a grant submission, and how to format a competitive response, is a bit like learning a strange, new language. So, it pays to work with someone who is already fluent in that language, i.e., a grant writing expert. You will need to pay for their services, but your application will be far more competitive.

Tips for working with an external consultant:

  • Start today. Shortlist some people you would like to work with, get in contact, get a feel for them and their work. Establish a relationship with your preferred consultant, agree fee structures. I can provide introductions if you are struggling to find someone.
  • Identify boundaries and guidelines. Have a clear understanding of what you expect them to do and what you will retain ‘in house’.
  • Ensure you allocate appropriate resources and internal support. I have heard too many stories from consultants who have struggled to access timely and adequate information from their clients. Grants don’t need to be submitted in a mad rush minutes before the deadline, but sadly they often are because clients think they can ‘outsource’ the whole process. Preparing a successful grant application is a team support, everyone has their unique contribution to make.

When the Time Comes, Commit!

One day, you will find ‘the big one’, i.e., a grant that matches all your criteria and aligns with your strategic project. When that day arrives, you will be ready. Now all you need to do is commit. 100%. A half-baked submission takes almost as long to prepare as a highly competitive one. Allocate resources, set timelines, build in some buffers, and go for it. I’m always happy to provide feedback on a draft submission, but please don’t send it to me hours before deadline!

Next Steps

Determine whether applying for grants will be part of your strategic plan. If yes, continue:

  • Identify strategic projects that could be funded by grants, get them ‘shovel ready’ by developing high level project plans, securing quotes, planning approvals and provisional matched funding guarantees
  • Identify an appropriate selection of grant databases, bookmark them, set up and save search criteria and alerts
  • Task a trusted member of the team to regularly review these databases and build up their knowledge of the ‘grant landscape’
  • Review grant applications to get a feel for common questions and the information required. Identify and address any gaps in your content library
  • Identify and engage an expert grant writer
  • When you find a grant that aligns, go for it

All images sourced from https://unsplash.com/s/photos/free