Grant Writing
Prior to starting make sure you have thought through all the implications
of your project and identified all schemes of potential benefit.
We strongly advise that you make personal contact, if possible, with
the grant provider before completing the application documentation.
Make sure your application explains how the project will meet the objectives
of the awarding body. Include a work plan, including full cost. Pay
particular attention to describing your business's track record - you
are applying for public funds and those responsible for making the decision
need assurance you will spend it wisely and ensure the project completes.
Generally, the more "local" the awarding body, the quicker
you are likely to get a decision.
Applications to your local authority, for example, are likely to be
resolved in a matter of days or weeks. National bodies have larger bureaucracies
and will take longer, perhaps several weeks, to decide. Many awarding
bodies have, or are considering speeding up the applications process
by creating what are known as "Fast Track" procedures.
Should you use "grant consultants" or other advisers to help
you obtain grants?
The first point to realize is that when you apply for public money
it is your company and your project, which is under the microscope.
There can be no better ambassador for your cause then you and/or your
colleagues! To that extent logic suggests that you are better off if
you "Do It Yourself".
However, there are occasions where help can be useful:
a) Identifying Schemes
This is the most difficult aspect of all to deal with unaided, since
it is necessary to devote a good deal of time and resource to researching
schemes.
b) Applying for Grants
If you are applying for a substantial grant (say one worth several
thousands of dollars) and the awarding body is "remote" and
bureaucratic, or the information required needs a technical expertise
you do not possess, then it can help to appoint a consultant. This may
be particularly so in the case of applications where an expert's knowledge
of the processes required could prove invaluable.
In most other circumstances, however, the cost of consultancy probably
outweighs its usefulness.
c) Caution
The history of "grants consultancy" is not a good one! Many
so-called experts have proved to be nothing more than opportunists who
make false promises in order to extract fees from clients who have been
ultimately left "high and dry" with failed grant applications.
If you do decide to appoint consultants or advisers check their track
record and verify their claims before you make a binding commitment.
There are some schemes which disbar applications being made by any third
party on behalf of another business!
