Reading grant guidelines
Invest time BEFORE you start writing a grant application to make sure you meet ALL of the eligibility criteria.
There are two reasons for this:
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You don’t want to get part way through your grant application and then realise you don’t meet all of the eligibility criteria. It’s a complete waste of time.
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Funding bodies don’t want to receive applications that don’t meet their criteria. Trust us, we ran our own grants program last year, and the number of applications that didn’t meet our criteria was quite incredible. Submitting an ineligible application is a good way to frustrate funding bodies. You want to build relationships with funding bodies, not annoy them.
So here are our top tips of what you should watch out for when reading grant guidelines:
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You have the right organisational status
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Your project/program meets the funding body’s priorities for that round. Priorities can can change from one round to the next, so don’t assume that just because your project was eligible last time, it’s going to be eligible again.
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You are based in the right geographic area
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Whether partners are required or optional
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That you can deliver the project/program in the required time
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Whether there is a co-contribution required (either cash or in-kind)
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That you can manage and acquit the grant funds you are applying for
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That you meet both the applicant criteria and the project/program criteria. These two elements are different, so check both sections of the guidelines.
On top of that, if a funding body says they want to fund innovative approaches to a particular issue, make sure you draw on the innovative aspects of your project. Your aim should be to make your project line up directly with the funding body’s aims for that particular grant round.
Give funding bodies insight into a project they would love to fund. Share your passion, show how your project aligns with their priorities, and prove how you can deliver a successful project.