5 ways to improve your success with UK grants
Applying for UK grants can be a tricky process to navigate. If you’ve never applied for a UK business grant before, you may be wondering where to begin. If you’ve applied, but not seen success – we can help.
We’ve put together a list of advice and helpful tips. If you follow these, you could be well on your way to winning your next UK grants…
-
Apply for a grant that matches your goal – not the other way around
Ensure that the funder’s aims, objectives and eligibility criteria fit with your bid. Carefully read the guidelines on how to apply and establish what additional documents and information you may need.
You need to ask yourself if the funder’s aims and objectives align with your application. If not, then maybe they aren’t the most suitable funder for you. Are you asking for an appropriate amount of funding? What size grants do they make?
The use of a SWOT analysis would come in handy here. It’s a great way to analyse if this is the right opportunity for you. You should assess the:
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threat.
-
Start planning early
It is crucial when applying for UK grants that you have impeccable time management and planning. Completing your proposal may take weeks or even months depending on the size of the grant you’re competing for. You should take note of what grants are suitable for your business. Some are only open at certain times of the year, so it’s best to put the date in your diary. You could plan backwards to ensure you have enough time to formulate a winning bid for funding.
You should be realistic when planning and set achievable internal deadlines when applying for UK grants. Breaking down the grant specification can help with this. Give plenty of time and allow extra time for any unexpected delays or issues to arise. Make sure you give enough time for your co-workers to gather any information they may need, especially for data and statistics. Having facts and stats will strengthen your response.
A helpful way to formulate a response is through the use of P.E.E:
- Point
- Evidence
- Explain.
It is always better to be over-prepared than underprepared when responding to UK grants! You could make a checklist of requirements of what’s needed for the application. For example, you could make a note of:
- Submission deadline date and time
- Format of the proposal
- The number of questions that need to be addressed and their word/page count
- What additional documents need to be attached
- The number of copies required
- How to submit (via a portal, email, hardcopy etc).
-
Have a business/project plan
A business plan is an essential part of any UK grant funding proposal. Funders want to know who and what their money is going to be spent on. The more in-depth information you provide, the easier it is for a funder to understand how they can help. However, you should keep it clear, using short sentences and paragraphs.
Don’t assume that the funder knows anything about your business or any technicalities unless specified. This is not the time to use overly technical jargon to impress the funder. They may get frustrated with this, particularly if they are not experts in that area.
Some grants for business start-ups will include mentoring and work with you to develop a solid business plan. This can help you organise your business before applying for funding.
If you’ve already started to trade, you’ll likely need to provide examples of your business position and balance sheet. You should clearly explain how both you and your funders will benefit from you receiving funding. UK grants can be daunting and comprising a business plan can take time.
Questions to consider for your business plan:
- What is the nature of your business?
- What products and services do you offer?
- Who is the target market or audience for your business?
- Do you have any advantages or a unique selling point that your competitors do not?
- What needs will your company fill?
- How will you fill those needs?
For new businesses:
- Experience and background – What led you to start this business? Where do you hope your business will go?
- Description of the company – Who your business is and what is it about? This is a great opportunity to make a great impression on the funder, making sure your business sticks in their mind.
- Research and analysis – Show that you’ve done your research, data and facts backed by stats are one way to convince a funder you mean business. Demonstrate the gap or need in the market for your business and why and how it meets that. What’s your unique selling point? How will your approach be more successful than other attempts?
- Needs and market – Describe your target market, and why you believe you will be able to provide and fulfil their needs. Not only that but how you will do it successfully and exceed expectations.
- Financial projections – Ideally, you’ll include your financial projections once you’ve analysed the market, setting clear objectives.
For existing businesses:
- Information about the company – Basic information such as when the business was founded, by whom, how many employees and where you’re located.
- The business’s mission statement – Explain what your company is about. What difference would you like to make to your community/problem? What are your short and long-term goals? What do you stand for?
- Highlights – How has your company grown? You could include market and financial highlights and other measurables.
- Products and services offered – What does your company offer in terms of services and products?
- Financial information – You could include your current investors and financial position.
- Plans for the future – What are your business projections and where do you see it going in the next several years?
-
Use Grant Writers
If you’re still unsure how to be successful applying for UK grants, there are other options. Using a professional Grant Writer can help improve your chances of success. Here are three reasons why:
-
They are experts in grant writing
Grant writing consultants are specialists in grant writing. Winning grant funding for their clients is what they excel in, even if they aren’t an expert in your specific field. They know what works, what doesn’t and what the funder is looking for. They know how to craft a winning grant proposal and understand the specific needs of each funder and funding opportunity.
-
Grant Writers have a wealth of experience
You likely only have one chance to impress a grant funder. Risking it on chance alone can leave you out in the cold. On average, only 8% of grant proposals submitted are awarded funding according to a survey conducted by LinkedIn. A professional Grant Writer has a wealth of experience. That combined with a good track record of success can improve your odds greatly when applying for UK grants.
-
They know how to plan and approach a proposal
Planning efficiently is essential when submitting any proposal. It’s best to be prepared as some grant funding opportunities may only open once a year. If this is the case, you want to make sure you’re readily prepared.
-
If you’re unsuccessful, try again
It can take a while to be successful with grant funding and bear in mind that it can take a while to hear back. Especially when you are applying to a large funding opportunity. However, applying for UK grants can be greatly competitive. You may not be successful with every grant application you submit and that’s only natural.
Try not to be put off or feel defeated, dust yourself off and try again. There are ways you can improve for next time. Asking for feedback from the grant awarding body and continue to apply for business grants to help fuel your company. A lot of successful companies have faced rejection and unsuccessful attempts at funding before they succeed.
Persistence pays off at the end of the day. Ensuring that you have a lot of grant applications on the go can increase your chances of success. This is because it can take a while before being successful with receiving grant funding.
In summary
Hopefully, you now have a better idea of how to apply for UK grants. Our advice can help you get on the path to success when applying for business grants. Remember to find a suitable grant that fits your objective – not the other way around. Start your planning early and have a business plan ready.
If you’re not sure you have the capabilities in house, you can always use a Grant Writer. They are experts in writing winning grants. One thing to remember is to try again if you’re unsuccessful. Ask the funder for feedback and try again.
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 this grant and others like it 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.
All you need to do to gain access is sign up for free.
Find more helpful tips and advice in our blogs. We cover topics including:
