The five-step process to landing a start-up grant

3. Evaluate if you’re the right fit

It helps to define your projects and activities in order to gain clarity about which grants you might be eligible for. You may find you can obtain different grants for different stages of the project.

Having that definition will also help to find the right match and alignment with the type of projects the various grant bodies intend to support.

Some questions that will help with that definition are:

What are the objectives of the project?
What problem or opportunity will it address and what benefits does that provide?
Who are the people, businesses and markets that will benefit?
How will you implement the project and who will that impact?
What is your timeframe to implement the key stages or milestones of the project?
What resources, people, equipment, cash and services will you need to implement the project?
What is the actual likelihood of your project going ahead?
What benefits and return will the success of your project deliver?

With your project defined, you’ll be in a better position to determine how your project matches the objectives of the grants body in awarding that money to businesses.

The program guidelines are a good place to start. They often outline the objectives of the grant, eligibility criteria, application process, and any other conditions, agreements or requirements you need to meet.

4. Apply

You need to make your application shine so it stands out from others. To do that you need to address the guidelines and eligibility requirements. You also need to consider the grant body’s perspective and show how you will support their aims and objectives and provide a return on their investment, along with sustainable solutions, in order to support why you should be funded.

Here’s a quick checklist that will assist your grant writing:

Answer the question
Use professional language
Stick to word limits
Be clear and neat
Don’t assume prior knowledge of the assessors, within limits
Build your case
Show value for money
Be consistent across the application
Make sure your budgets and projections are realistic, include all costs and contains no errors
Be able to record, measure and justify your results
Present realistic and measureable timeframes
Be honest, upfront and proactively deal with any downside or negatives
Use supporting documents where appropriate

5. Ongoing requirements

It isn’t over after you submit your application.

If you’re successful you might need to sign contracts, provide reporting or submit your application to audits as part of the conditions associated with some grants.

You should also make it your aim to develop good working relationships with the grant makers, which will make the process of providing progress updates and feedback easier.

As government grants are often funded for multiple years or rounds of funding, good relationships may also help with early notice of changes and the opening timeframes of subsequent rounds of funding that you might be eligible for. This will help you prepare and apply early.

If you’re not successful with your application, have heart. Set aside any bitterness or cynicism and call the administrator to politely ask for feedback or advice that can be useful for your next application.

They may also have some insights into other related programs they have knowledge or interaction with, that you might also be able to pursue.