For companies developing technical products and services, writing applications for grants is a common practice. As InDepth Communication works alongside companies helping with their marketing, we are often called upon to support or even lead the grant writing process. In fact, on every occasion we have led the writing process we have been successful.
In Depth has obtained over $5.5 million in grants so far including a CRC-P, two Modernising Manufacturing grants, an ARC grant and a number of smaller ones. We lead the application process on those occasions. In addition, we have supported our clients' customers on several occasions where they have been successful.
To be transparent, the success of our applications has been largely due to the excellent quality of the applicants and the compelling nature of their innovation. If the application 100% aligns with the assessment criteria, then it's just a case of firstly eliminating any reasons to mark the application down and then making your project sound better than competing applications. That is where InDepth Communication comes in.
There are a host of reasons why well aligned applications don't get awarded grants, ranging confusing technical language to lazy repetition of key points. However, the fundamental issue is a lack of effort.
For some reason, many applicants treat grant applications rather flippantly, leaving it to the last minute to scrape together information. In our experience, successful applications require many rounds of revision to get the wording just right. You should be consulting multiple stakeholders and advisors to get their perspective and to fine tune / optimise the application.
If you leave starting your grant drafting process until a few weeks before the deadline, you are almost guaranteed to submit an application with flaws. The successful CRC-P application I led was conducted over three months with upwards of 10 drafts put out for consultation among the key stakeholders.
It's hard work but there are few easier ways to generate cash for your start-up. In the CRC-P case our client was awarded $3 million. In the second of the modernising manufacturing grants, about two weeks of full-time effort on my part spread over about 6 weeks of facilitated input yielded a $2 million grant.
Many people shy away from putting in the effort but it should be considered an investment rather than an at-risk exercise. Our preferred approach is to generate a library of content, loosely organised around the current grant opportunity, that can then be repurposed for different applications, including presentations, investment pitches, other grant applications and more.
There are a huge range of grant opportunities for companies including Commonwealth, state and local government grants; grants from research institutions, philanthropic foundations; industry specific growth grants; entitlement grants and more. The key to successful applications starts with a VERY close reading of eligibility and assessment criteria, and all the required information. Because of the highly competitive nature of grants, it's really only worth applying if you are very close to ticking all the boxes with your application.
While there a host of tips and tricks for crafting the content well, here are two key points worth highlighting:
Balance your answers according to the questions weight: The selection panel(s) will have a check sheet awarding a score to each question in the application, according to how well it was answered. A key mistake people make is not to evenly distribute their effort and word count according to the distribution of points for each question, which is usually defined in the grant guidelines. e.g. if a question is weighted at 25% then exactly 25% of your content should be focused on that question. This applies to both volume and value of the content. If you have a really compelling point to make, don't waste it in a 10% answer when you could make the same point in a 40% answer.
Be creative but precise in answering the question: People often don't properly read a question or misinterpret it, thus losing points for not answering the question. Often questions seem to be repetitive and there is a temptation to repeat yourself, even copy and pasting content from earlier in the application. However, careful analysis of these questions usually reveals a slightly different angle they are looking for. It’s somewhat of an art in how creative you can be in expressing your key points in multiple ways.
There is a wide range of companies offering their services to help you write grant applications. Probably the most valuable aspect of these services is that they will ensure you don’t miss out on any opportunities applicable to you. They are also highly experienced in writing grant applications. These companies will charge for services which may be a flat fee or a percentage of the grant amount, and sometimes they will only charge if they win the grant for you. If you want quick and easy support, these can be your best option.
InDepth differs from the above services in that we want to build a broader relationship with you, truly understanding your technology and the industry you work in, developing key content assets stemming from the fundamentals of your core value proposition that can be leveraged in multiple ways, including grant writing. It's an example of how we become invested in your success.
We wish you the best of luck in any grant applications you have underway. Please contact us if you would like our assistance.