Writing successful bids
People approach funding in different ways.
For many learning providers, the pressure to keep income coming in to enable them to survive can mean that funding applications are made on a reactive rather than a strategic basis.
The dangers of this are obvious. Chasing funding too indiscriminately can distort an organisation and deskill it. There is evidence that people who write successful bids do so because they are clear about what the project is for, how they are going to deliver it and what the outcomes will be for all stakeholders. i.e. they have a strategy and action plan and this potential funding will allow implementation of elements that have already been 'planned'.
Applying for funding is something that almost all Learning Providers need to do.
However, writing a successful funding application is like a good recipe - it depends on a few ingredients coming together well. The three key ingredients to a successful bid are...
- Finding the right funder,
- filling out the application properly and
- providing all information required.
Good ideas are essential.
Even the very best application may not make up for a poorly thought out project.
The following are some of the ingredients of a good idea...
- It meets a really important and urgent/current need.
- It is fresh or interesting and captures the imagination.
- It is innovative.
- It is topical - it fits with current Government and / or other National or regional or local agendas, social thinking, concerns.
- It addresses issues of disadvantage, a key concern for most funders.
- It is different - it stands out in a crowd of more ordinary applications.
- It shows value for money or leverage (a small input with lots and lots of output).
- It complements and supplements existing provision or involves collaboration with other agencies.
- It has a clear and attainable objective.
- It has measurable benefits and specific outputs.
- It is realistic and achievable.
- It is fundable, and may even develop its own income in the long term.
Preparation Check List
What are the development plans, aims and objectives, of the local and national strategic organisations? (National Government; funding bodies; LSC; QIA etc.)- What are the aims and objects of your organisation?
- How does this proposal meet these?
- What expertise and capacity do you have to achieve the proposed project?
- What will your organisation achieve for itself and its clients/users/learners/stakeholders by undertaking this project?
- What are your assumptions behind the project and what evidence do you have for these?
- How do you know clients/users/learners/stakeholders want it?
- Are you sure this is the best way of achieving your aims?
- If you do this project what things will you not be able to do?
- Do you have the capacity and skills to undertake the project and what training needs have to be met?
- Would your organisation benefit from working with others (a collaboration / partnership)?
- How would others (a callaboration/partnership) benefit from working with your organisation?
- Have you got the right partners and are you all clear of your respective roles?
- Can you describe the project in clear measurable language to a lay person?
- What would be the consequences of not doing the project?
- What is your exit strategy if the project is successful? You often have an ethical responsibility to the people you work with and all stakeholders to think about the future of anything you start.
- How will you disseminate the 'findings of your project' / tangible outcomes to others?
When you are preparing a bid you need to communicate in clear language what you are going to, what will be different because of these actions and how you will demonstrate these changes have actually been achieved. When you have a clear view of what your project is seeking to achieve you can then look at potential funders. Being clear about what you are trying to do makes it easier to run searches. If you are not sure about whether your project fits a funder’s criteria contact them and ask their view.
Some will take telephone enquiries, others increasingly want a brief outline before you prepare a full brief.
Read the guidance with the bid documentation very carefully.
Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License
Produced and edited by John Dalziel (eLearning Adviser) JISC RSC-Northwest - Lancaster University