Grant funding can catapult your small business forwards – but applying can be daunting. What are the panel looking for? How can you show them that your business is the one that needs support? Over the years I’ve secured tens of thousands of pounds of grant funding for local businesses, and here are my top tips for making your grant application stand out.
1. It’s not about you…
Now, this might sound counter intuitive, but so many grant applications focus on what the grant money can do for the individual or company applying. While this is one part of the puzzle, the body that has established the funding available has its own objectives. Grant funding is not for you. It is to allow that organisation to achieve its objectives through you. You benefitting personally is a side effect – never put yourself or your business front and centre of the application. For example, you run a beauty salon. The Government probably doesn’t care that adding two more treatment rooms will increase your turnover by 20%. What they care about is that you’ll employ four more people due to that – increasing your tax liability and providing jobs for the local area. Keep their vision front and centre, not yours.
2. Get clear on the objective you’re helping them meet
With that in mind, there will be a published list of the key goals of each grant scheme. Choose the one that fits you most closely and stick to it like glue. It’s okay to think out of the box a little bit here. While you might need capital investment to increase the size of your premises to move your business forwards, that might allow you to employ more people. You might need money to increase your online presence due to increased competition in the area affecting your enquiry rate. That investment might allow you to safeguard current jobs. Things like investing in green technology are clearer cut, but take whatever objective you have for your business, apply it to the funding body’s objective, and then hammer home repeatedly how that grant money will allow you to achieve that outcome.
3. Show you’ve thought it through
A pipe dream with little thought about implementation won’t go down well. If you present a wishy-washy plan, you’re not inspiring confidence in your ability to achieve the desired outcome. Focus on the delivery and the steps you need to take to get from where you are now, to the achievement of your shared goal. It’s absolutely fine to be literal about it. Keep it simple, and demonstrate that you will know exactly what to do with that money when it lands. Tell them specifically how their investment will be used.
4. Use your financials and statistics
Make sure you’re able to demonstrate the return on investment you’re going to achieve for the awarding body, and how the grant funding will enable that. This doesn’t need to be complicated - a couple of simple models can be really effective.
For example: A grant receipt of £5,000 will allow us to double our online marketing budget for a year. Our current successful strategy ensures we receive 50 enquiries per month, of which we convert 25 recurring customers. With the additional funding, we anticipate being able to convert an additional 25 customers. We need two staff members to service ten customers, and therefore will need to hire at least two further employees across the period to keep up with increased demand.
Spell it out.
5. Answer specific questions clearly
Avoid using complicated language and answer any questions directly. A lot of grant application forms can feel repetitive, but this just gives you the opportunity to reinforce your very clear return on investment for the objective you are very clearly showing you are helping to meet. Make it as easy as possible for the assessing panel to think, “yes, this project meets our objectives and clearly shows how the money will be invested wisely.” Don’t leave them to join the dots. Shout about how their funding will help you to meet their needs. It’s also helpful to outline what will happen if you don’t get the funding. “Without this funding, I will be unable to invest in further green technologies,” or “I will be unable to increase my proven marketing efforts to double visitor numbers.” Make the business case unarguable for them.
Grant funding can be absolutely life-changing for small businesses. Good luck with your application and keep the above in mind when you fire off your business case.
Comments