Help for small businesses: Win funding with these tips!
If you’re an SME or start-up, it can be really challenging to find help for small businesses. There are plenty of opportunities out there, but how do you find the right one for your business? Once you’ve found a suitable grant, how do you secure the funding?
In this blog, we’ll answer your questions about financial help for small businesses. Keep reading to find out more!
What help is available for small businesses in the UK?
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Direct grants
One funding option for small businesses is a direct grant. This type of grant is typically given to SMEs and start-ups to cover any essential costs. This could include anything from training, new equipment and research.
In most cases, the recipient of a direct grant will be required to match the value with their own money. For example, if the funder awards you £1,000 in financial support, you will be expected to contribute the same amount. Depending on the size of the grant, this might not be feasible for some small businesses or start-ups. Therefore, it’s important to consider this before proceeding with your funding application.
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Equity finance
If you’re looking for help for small businesses, you might also be interested in equity finance. This is where you sell a share of your business in return for financial support.
A good example of this scheme is the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. With this scheme, businesses are offered up to 50% reduction in income tax. To be eligible, businesses must be less than two years old and have fewer than 25 employees.
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Soft loans
Another option that you might want to consider is a soft loan. Generally, soft loans are directed at SMEs and start-up businesses. They differ from regular loans, and usually have lower interest rates and flexible payment plans. This can be a great help for small businesses that might struggle with the costs associated with a regular loan. Instead, it allows them to make affordable repayments.
How to secure funding for your small business
To increase your chances of success when applying for help for small businesses, there are certain things you can do. Here are our tips for producing a winning grant proposal:
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Find the right grant for you
There might be plenty of funders offering help for small businesses, but that doesn’t mean they’re right for you. Before you proceed with your grant application, make sure that the opportunity is suitable for your business. To do that, you could ask yourself the following questions:
- Do the funder’s aims and objectives align with that of your business?
- Are you actually eligible for the funding opportunity?
- Do they offer the amount of funding you require?
There are other factors that you should consider when deciding if a grant is right for you, such as:
- Applying for grants and funding opportunities can be incredibly time-consuming. Do you have time to produce and submit the application before the submission deadline?
- What’s your backup plan? Help for small businesses can be incredibly competitive, so it’s important to consider your other options in case you’re unsuccessful. If the funding is awarded to another business, what will you do next?
- Does the grant you’re applying for cover all of your costs? For example, you might be expected to match the amount with your own money. Are you in a position to do that?
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Start applying early
There’s plenty of help for small businesses out there, but it’s still incredibly competitive. To give yourself a better chance of securing the funding, you should start applying as early as possible. You’re more likely to secure the grant if you apply when the opportunity first launches. This is because there is more money available in the earlier stages. As more businesses apply for the funding, the amount of money available will decrease. So, you’ll be faced with less competition if you submit your application early.
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Carefully read the documents
This is such an important part of the grant funding process, but is often overlooked by businesses. Before you proceed with your funding application, you need to read every page of the grant documents – carefully and thoroughly. Whether it’s one-page long or 100 pages, you need to digest all of the information available to you.
Failing to read the documents could result in you overlooking certain criteria points that could impact your chances of success. For example, there could be certain prerequisites that you need in order to be eligible for a grant.
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Talk to the grant awarding body
Another thing you can do to increase your chances of securing a grant is talk to the grant awarding body. This can be a great help for small businesses that are hoping to secure grants and funding for their organisation. It can help you determine your chances of success and give you a chance to have your questions answered.
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Produce an effective business plan
Funders offering help for small businesses are more likely to award a grant to organisations with an effective business plan. This is because it allows them to assess your business and how you plan to spend the money.
You should tailor your business plan to each opportunity that you apply for. However, as a general rule, your business plan should include the following:
- Mission statement
- Products/services
- Information about your company
- Employees
- Financial information
- Growth plans
- Unique selling point(s)
- Target audience
- Realistic milestones.
If you’re unsure what to include in your business plan, try asking yourself the following questions:
- What is the nature of your business?
- What services or products do you offer?
- Who and what is the target market or audience for your company?
- Do you have a unique selling point or advantages that your competitors don’t?
- What needs will your business fulfil?
- How do you plan to fulfil those needs?
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Check your funding
As we’ve already established, some funding opportunities require you to match the value of the grant with your own money. So, for example, if you’re awarded £1,000, you’re expected to contribute £1,000 as well.
For that reason, it can be a great help for small businesses to check their funding before applying for grants. This will help you determine which grants are suitable for your business and avoid unrealistic opportunities. After all, there’s little point in applying for a grant worth £10,000 if you don’t have £10,000 to match.
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Proofread your application
It might go without saying, but it’s crucial that you proofread and edit your application before submitting it for review. If your proposal is full of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, it doesn’t reflect well on your business. In fact, the funder might be dissuaded from awarding you the grant.
However, sometimes it can be difficult to find errors in your own writing, especially when you’re working with lengthy documents. To overcome this, you could ask a second reviewer to proofread your work for you. That way, you can rest assured that your grant proposal is completely error-free.
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Consider the format and style of your proposal
Finally, you need to consider the format and style of your proposal before you submit it. If your application is broken up into heading and subheadings, it will be more enjoyable for the funder to read. This will encourage them to look favourably on your business in the long run.
With that in mind, it’s important to consider the type of grant you’re applying for. For example, an application for creative funding will differ greatly from a government grant proposal.
Remember, if the funder provides you with formatting instructions, it’s important that you stick to them. Ignoring their guidance won’t do you any favours!
In summary
Hopefully, our tips and advice will be a great help for small businesses looking to secure grants and funding. Remember, you need to find a suitable opportunity and carefully read the documents – whether there’s one page or 100!
If you have questions, you can talk to the grant awarding body to find out more information. This will also help you produce an effective business plan, which will help funders learn more about you.
Finally, you should proofread your application before submitting. You need to make sure it is completely free of errors and uses an appropriate, eye-catching format.
Our services
Grant Writing
Our Grant Writing Service is for businesses who want to start applying for grants, but don’t know where to begin. They can also help businesses who have been applying for grants but aren’t seeing success.
Our Grant Writing Consultants have over 60 years of experience in bidding for funding and grants. From start-up business grants to self-employed business grants. They can take care of the whole thing for you – they’ll even submit it on your behalf.
Get in touch to find out how we can help your business grow!
Grant Tracker
You can find grants on our Business Grant Tracker. Currently, we have over 1,700 live business grant and funding opportunities. Our team have manually tracked 1,500+ data streams searching for business grant opportunities. Each one is then uploaded to one central system, streamlining the process.
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