Insights & Ideas.
Our team shares strategies and resources to elevate your project planning and grant writing.
Writing a Bankable Business Case
If you’re a business, at some point, you may need to write a business case. This is particularly true if you’re seeking financial support. Definition Unlike a business plan, which is an operational roadmap for your business, a business case is used to secure...
Grant Writing: Does your pitch get to the point?
Does grant writing seem like a daunting and time-consuming task? The reality is, most businesses and organisations today are time-poor. At the end of the day, they just want to get the questions answered adequately so they can meet their grant deadline. Writing may...
What is a Grant?
If you work for a not-for-profit or community organisation, your role may involve dealing with grants, or grant writing. At the very least, your organisation is probably impacted by grants (or a lack of!) But how much do you know about grants? Grants...
SWOT vs TOWS Analysis
When we're working on a business concept with clients, looking at the project from all angles is vital to ensure we create a solution that is robust and workable. Recently we've had a few clients come to us super prepared (we love that!) and they had all...
What do you need to be grant ready?
Things have been pretty crazy for the last six months or so. For us, the last couple of months have been particularly busy with clients needing help with grant applications. There are a lot of funding opportunities starting to emerge as governments try to mitigate the...
Grants for businesses
Under normal circumstances, grant funding for small businesses is pretty rare. Most government funds are diverted into services like the Small Business Development Corporation, firstly because the government knows the best 'bang for buck' is in support services for...
Planning for Community Engagement
When you are consulting with your community and other stakeholders, things can go really right or really wrong. Planning how you go about the consultation is key. If you’re planning a consultation, here are a few critical things to consider: Who are you inviting to be...
Gamification to Increase Engagement
When planning for a community engagement process, there are numerous methods you can use to increase levels of community engagement. One broad area, that you've likely experienced yourself without even realising, is gamification. What's that you say? Is that even a...
Government funding: being prepared and proactive
When it comes to government funding, don't believe the old saying, 'Good things come to those who wait'. Because right now, being prepared and proactive will give you the best chance of securing funding for your project. The impact of the COVID-19...
Inputs, Outputs and Project Outcomes
Back in the day, when I was assessing grant applications rather than writing them for our clients, I often saw applications that devoted too much time to things the assessors didn't care that much about. Grants typically pay for inputs. That might be wages,...
Engaging with Strategic Stakeholders
When organisations think about stakeholder engagement, sometimes the focus is all about the local level. This is definitely important because community engagement is key to project success. But another level of engagement to consider is how you are connecting with...
Why be grant ready?
We get it, you have tonnes of work to do just to keep things running. You are busy. So why is it worth making the effort to be grant ready? Instead of being reactive and scrambling to respond to grant applications as they emerge, you’re in control. You have a clearly...
The Goldilocks Approach to Your Grant Budget
It’s not often you can reference a fairy tale when talking about project planning and grant writing. But today's topic features Goldilocks. When it comes to creating your grant budget, think Goldilocks – not too much, not too little, just right. You want to have...
How much does it cost to engage a grant writer?
Here's a question we hear often: How much does it actually cost to engage a grant writer? Well, that depends! Things that would influence the price include: How complicated is the application process?How ready your organisation is to apply. Have you completed a...
Grants and COVID-19: what does the future hold?
The world looks a little different right now, both from a personal and a professional perspective. You might be wondering about grants and COVID-19, how funding will be impacted in the short and long term. As the pandemic crisis begins to ease, expect to see...
Remote working for small teams
Deviating from our usual focus on content about planning projects and sourcing funding, the current challenges presented by COVID-19 have prompted me to take some time to reflect on our strategies for remote working for small teams. We are a small team that all work...
How Project Planning Can Help You Win Funding
This might sound boring and obvious, but investing in thorough project planning sets your organisation up for success when the time comes to apply for grants. Many organisations leap into project planning mode when a grant fund opens. Unfortunately, most of...
Embrace your leadership potential
Embrace the fact that you are a leader. We believe that everyone is a leader, each leading in their own unique way. Don’t be shy about it or discount your leadership potential. Leading is not necessarily tied to being a boss, sitting on a board, or acting in some...
Being Tender Ready
Let's talk quotes and tenders. If you're a service provider who regularly has the opportunity to respond to requests for quote and tenders, which describes your approach? Option A - Mad panic desperately pulling together all the information you need, often ending in a...
What’s the difference between community engagement and communication?
We often work with non-profit organisations and local governments on community engagement projects. Occasionally it raises an interesting question - what's the difference between community engagement and communication? Many smaller local governments team up their...