Grant Writing - Advice and Tips

Grant writing can be challenging even for the experienced grant writer. Every year thousands of grant opportunities open and close, resulting in millions and probably billions of dollars becoming available to non profit organisations and businesses across Australia. Competition for available grant money is immense and only the best submissions are successful in winning funding. There are many hints and tricks that can help give you an improved chance of success. Here are just a few:-

Get your local politicians onside

This is a forgotten strategy that most non profit organisations or businesses would rarely consider. But your local Councillor and local state and federal members of parliament move in powerful circles and a word of support to the right person could give your project an inside edge. I always suggest that my clients engage with their local politicians every say three months to update them on what the organisation/business is up to, how you are travelling and what your achievements are. Keeping them informed can help you in many different ways but certainly it certainly wont go against you when it comes to funding. Remember politicians love to get media attention and if your project in their electorate or their Council area wins funding then there is the prospect of media coverage and the local Polly will jump at the chance to be involved. Make them work for you and actively seek their support and actually ask them if they can actively support your organisation/business by having a word with key players. Also get them to be a referee for your organisation and project. Any support they can give you is better than none at all.

Think laterally about your project or business concept

If your project or business concept is the same as the organisation or business down the road – the chances of you being successful in winning funding obviously diminishes. You need to think laterally and try and identify parts of your project or concept that are different, ground breaking, unique; try and incorporate ideas that target what I call marginalised stakeholders; or incorporate aspects to your project or business concept that might bring funding from alternate funding streams. For instance if you can bring some of the following to the table when developing your project or business idea you will might be able to access a variety of different funding streams:- arts/culture, sport/recreation, women, children, youth, health/well being, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, multi cultural, disadvantaged, disabilities, remote, rural, isolated, have more avenues and homelessness. These are some of the main foci of Government agencies and therefore there is funding generally available to support these initiatives.   

Proper planning prevents poor results

Most organisations fail to plan which essentially means they could be planning to fail. The more ground work you can do in the planning stage to develop organisational/business goals and objectives the better chance you will be seen as a professional organisation or business worth funding. We always encourage our clients to have a Strategic/Business Plan in place which is supported by a yearly Operational Plan and Project Plans for significant projects. As mentioned above your projects or business concepts need to be well thought out, innovative and different to the run of the mill humdrum that organisations and businesses generally offer. 

These are just a few tricks that might help those chasing funding. Grant writing is not rocket science but nor is it easy. Grant writers who implement strategies that improve the chances of success while reducing the prospects of failure are the grant writers that are worth their money their weight in gold. At Red Tape Busters we have a team of those very grant writers!  

Contact us at Red Tape Busters - http://www.redtapebusters.com/ should you require more information about this article or if you require specialist grant, tender or job application writing experience. We can assist you to achieve your goals and objectives!

We are specialists in providing the following services:-
  • Lobbying
  • Tender Writing
  • Grant Writing
  • Resumes/Job Applications
  • Organisational/Business Development.

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