Action Together's fantastic Funding team have created these Top Tips, to help ensure your applications are successful when applying to grants.
1. Be funding ready – most funders will expect that you have all or some of the following in place:
- A set of rules as your constitution, with at least two or three unrelated people on the committee
- Bank account in the name of the group
- A set of accounts for the previous year or a breakdown of the income and expenditure for the past 12 months
- A plan for your project which includes:
- what you want to do,
- who the project is for,
- when and where you’ll deliver, and
- why’s it needed and
- insurance, like public liability insurance, especially if you’re working with members of the public face to face to face.
- A safeguarding policy
Remember – different funders have different requirements, so make sure you check the specific requirements of the funder that you are applying to each time
2. Ask Action Together for support in looking into appropriate funding options and check your organisation meets the eligibility criteria to apply.
3. Always check the deadline for a fund before completing the application as most funders will not accept late applications.
4. Think of a punchy and positive title for your project that puts across what you do, e.g. ‘Bangla beats’ or ‘Time to Act’
5. Refer to your governing document when introducing your organisations aims and objectives.
6. Build your credibility – if you have the opportunity to do so in your application, try to include any evidence that demonstrates your ability to run the project. What is your track record, what have been your major successes? Avoid copying and pasting large amounts of text from the internet or previous applications.
7. Be specific about what it is that you are trying to achieve – show that you are led by demand and are addressing a need, for example, by using local research or statistics as evidence.
8. Be specific about what you will do and how you will do it – groups often struggle to explain what will take place if they receive the funding in an effective way. Focus on how you intend to make a difference and what activities you will carry out to meet your objectives, if you haven’t decided yet and part of your project is to work with your community to design the activities, then it is OK to say this.
9. Link your project as closely as you can to the funder’s priorities – groups sometime run away with their own agenda – it’s important that your project meets the priorities of the funder.
10. Take care to read each question carefully and make sure your answers include specific information that is relevant to the question. Ensure you have answer ALL of the questions on the application form.
11. Give yourself enough time to do a bit of extra research to ensure you can answer all the questions fully – look at what the funder has funded in the past and examples of good practice.
12. Be clear, precise, and positive about your group and your proposed project – don’t use abbreviations.
13. Keep in mind the funder’s guidelines and criteria when you are answering the questions.
14. Only include information specifically requested by the funder – don’t attach lots of additional documents.
15. If the form is online, draft your answers in a Word document or similar first so that you can save them as you go along. You can then also share them with other people in your group and keep as a record.
16. Get in touch with the Development team who can check your form and provide any feedback before you send it off.
If you have any queries about our funding opportunities, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our Funding team at funding@actiontogether.org.uk