Grants - fit for funding

• Planning and preparation – getting the basics right
• Selecting a grant funder
• What do funders want
• Completing proposals and applications
• Delivering a grant funded project
• Grant funding – towards sustainability

Grant funding can be valuable way of enhancing budgets to solve specific problems or to take forward an innovative new approach. Whilst the process can be time-consuming, the potential gains in pursuing grants in a consistent and strategic way can be enormous. To aid understanding it is useful to first define ‘grant funding’:

‘Grant funding is whereby a reserve of money is set aside for a specific purpose, usually to deliver funders’ objectives, and does not have to be repaid. It usually involves an agency or organisation assessing your proposal to carry out a programme of work against a set of criteria they have created. If you do not meet their criteria, you will not be successful.’

Most voluntary and community organisations could not exist without grant funding in some form. This section will examine all aspects of preparing a funding proposal, writing concise and compelling applications and managing grant funded projects. It will also highlight the need to develop a long-term approach to funding by working towards sustainability.

Throughout the section there are useful resources available – case studies, weblinks to further sources of information and various guides to download.