RDA Illawarra: Grant Writing Workshop Presentation 7-9 July 2015

RDA ILLAWARRA GRANT WRITING WORKSHOPS (JULY 2015)
Tehla Bower
Senior Consultant – Funding & Strategy

Introduction/background
• Who am I
• Grants/funding experience spans 12 years
• Specialist since 2009
• Approx $15m for projects valued at well over
$50m (exclusive of advice and coaching that has
led to funding success)
• Illawarra based
• Independent of funding bodies
RDA ILLAWARRA | GRANTS WORKSHOPS JULY 2015

Who are you?
• Great cross-section of the Illawarra community
• NFPs, business, council, tourism, arts, charities
• Industry representatives

When you think about grants..
Do you feel like this? Or maybe this?

Or in extreme cases…!

This will hopefully be you by the end of
this workshop!

Session Overview
• Industry overview – Australia/NSW
• Navigating the grants landscape – planning
vs ‘scattergun’ (grants research tips)
• Eligibility – a common oversight
• Policy and Political influence
• Funding proposal planning for success
• Funding agreements & post-reporting
• Q & A

Grants & Funding in Australia
• Currently approx $50bn available (market size)
• Over 900 grants (conservative)
• Government grants, tenders, community
foundations, philanthropic trusts
• Others such as crowdfunding, venture capital,
angel investors (not a focus of this session)

The Grant seeker market ‘pie’
Grant seekers
Grant makers
Support
agencies (eg
RDA)
Project
supporters
Project
investors
Funding
Program
managers
Government
policy &
politics
©2015 Waples Marketing

• Hundreds of grants are announced each day
• Some recent examples:
– NSW Community Building Partnership program
– $6.4m for nurses to deliver health care (rural and
remote communities) – Dept of Health
– $6.3m Southern Cross Renewable Energy Fund
(battery storage)
– $100m for pest and weed management (Dept of
agriculture)
– $200m biosecurity funding
– NSW Footy Facilities Fund

Where to start?
• Grants/funding landscape can be a daunting and
overwhelming place
• So many opportunities – how to find the right
one/ensure we don’t miss out?!
• Importance of researching, planning,
understanding your project

Where to start (internal
process)?
• Know very clearly and precisely what you want
funding for…
• …and how much $$ you want/need to deliver
your projects’ objectives

Where to start (program ID)?
• you then need to find the grant (we will provide
some tips for this in a moment)
• make sure you are eligible…and review formal
guidelines and any other published material (eg
media releases, info/fact sheets, FAQs, past
successful applicants lists)

Where to start?
• AWARENESS & knowing where to look is one of
the most important keys to effective
‘grantsmanship’
• Lets have a look at some examples……..

Government’s ‘GrantFinder’
• www.business.gov.au (‘Grants & Assistance’)
• Australian Government’s official grant search
database
• User-friendly

Government’s ‘GrantFinder’

NSW Govt - Innovate NSW
• www.trade.nsw.gov.au/innovatensw
• Connecting technology development SMEs,
researchers, major corporations and business
end users

Our Community
• www.ourcommunity.com.au
• ‘Australia's Centre for Excellence for the nation's
600,000 not-for-profits & schools, providing
advice, tools, resources and training’
• The Funding Centre – great resource

Our Community

Our Community
“A foundation grant isn't merely a grant;
it's an invitation to share a mission.”
The Funding Centre

GRANTassist
• SA Govt
• A great tool as provides free search database for
community/individual as well as
business/industry
• Targets SA organisations but can be seen as
benchmark for other databases

GrantReady (non-govt)
• www.grantready.com.au
• ‘GrantGuru’ resource
• Free to a certain level then fee for service

GrantReady (non-govt)

Other resource examples
• Ministry for the Arts (Arts & Culture)
• Destination NSW (Tourism)
• Entrepreneurs Infrastructure Program
(Industry)
• iAccelerate (technology startups)
• Dept of Health
• IRT Foundation (Research/Community)
• NSW Footy Facilities Fund

A word of caution…
• Beware cold callers offering ‘free money’ and
claiming to be the Australian Government
• Government search databases are free, use
them as a first reference tool
• Customised databases and grants calendars
can be helpful

A word of caution…ACCC
http://www.accc.gov.au/update/don’t‐pay‐
for‐free‐grants‐information
Sept 2014

What to do once you identify a
suitable grant
• Funding readiness
• Eligibility!!! Might sound obvious but you would
be surprised
• Consult the publicly available information first
(eg media releases, guidelines, application form,
policy documentation)
• Contact the funding body (even if only an email
has been provided) to discuss your project

Are you ‘funding ready’?

Are you ‘funding ready’?
Simple Assessment – do you have:
• Strategic Plan/Business Plan?
• Project Plan and Budget?
• Organisational capacity to undertake the project?
• Sustainability post‐grant?
• Capacity to at least match funding received?
• Appropriate legal structure for eligibility requirements
(eg incorporation, ABN, DGR registration etc)?

Funding readiness for NSRF

Funding readiness for NSRF
 Evidence of Incorporation
 Project Management Plan
 Business Case
 Risk Management Plan
 Procurement Management Plan
 Written confirmation of all partner funding (cash &
in-kind)
 Asset Management Plan
 Audited Financial Statements
 Evidence demonstrating applicant experience

Also referred to as..
..Having all your ducks in a row!

Are you an eligible applicant?
• One of the most obvious but important questions
to ask before considering making an application
• Seen many cases where both application and
project strong and worthy BUT ‘disqualified’
before key internal personnel got chance to read
about it
• Ie Worth taking the time to clarify with funding
body!

NSRF Eligibility - recap
• Legal entity with ABN
AND either
• A Local Government body including ACT Govt,
or
• A Not-for-profit organisation, either in own right
or on behalf of consortium (that is not owned by
state or territory govt)

NSRF Ineligibility - recap
× NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, SA, TAS & NT
governments
× State and territory government-owned entities
× State and territory government-owned NFPs
× Universities, technical colleges, schools and
hospitals
× RDA committees
× For-profit organisations

Seems pretty straightforward?

Of the applications received
from LGAs
…….26% were ineligible

Of the applications received
from NFPs
…….46%were ineligible!
So it is obviously still an area that needs attention!

Session summary so far..
Check against eligibility criteria 
Know the guidelines inside out 
Review all publicly available
information

Do you have a genuine project lined
up?

Are you prepared/can you wait for
funds?

In addition do you have the TIME and RESOURCES to complete the application??

Lets talk about Funding
Proposals

Lets talk about Funding
Proposals
1. Basic Housekeeping first:
– Know the deadline and PLAN your submission!
– Get your team involved early (particularly anyone
who will be involved in implementation)
– Complete the application in its entirety (may seem
obvious but evidence shows otherwise)
– No gaping holes (ie just because you don’t like
numbers doesn’t mean you leave out the budget!)
– MANDATORY means precisely that
– Apply an ‘Evidenced Based Mantra’

Some ‘must-tick’ boxes for
success
1. Showing experience in the area that the grant
covers
2. Link this back to the grant’s objectives
3. Demonstrate your capabilities including
resources and staff and your methodologies
4. Show that you are already part of the
community in which the funds from the grant
(show you understand the issues)

Questions to ask of yourself
1. Am I writing more about my project or my
organisation? (very important)
2. Am I being specific about the features of my
project and the outcomes my project will
generate?
3. Am I answering each question completely?
(treat it like a uni assignment and break it into
chunks)

Importance of evidence
1. Spoke briefly about evidence earlier
2. Some examples of evidence?
 Economic data (such as employment,
unemployment, population, LGA characteristics)
 Qualitative/Quantitative research (internal or
external)
 Statistics/data to back up your project objectives
 Academic evidence/published credible sources that
reinforce the value of your project

‘Economic benefit’ of your
project – NSRF example
“Economic benefit relates to those benefits generated by
new or improved infrastructure, and can be described in
terms of the ability to generate additional income through
more efficient use of resources and improved trade
opportunities” (NSRF Guidelines pg13)

REMPLAN online tool
“REMPLAN provides access to detailed demographic
data for 1991 to 2011 Census years, economic data
and maps for up to 114 industry sectors as well as
population and employment forecasts”
http://www.remplan.com.au/

REMPLAN online tool

Wollongong employment data
(REMPLAN)

For the tourism sector
Sites such as www.tra.gov.au can be useful

Project Budget considerations
• Requirements can vary dependent on
submission size and complexity
• Important to clearly outline the amount of
funding requested for each activity (ie salaries,
travel, construction, rent, insurances,
equipment, labour, technology etc)
• Don’t forget about matching funds if applicable
• MOST IMPORTANT – cross‐check all project
expenditure against the ELIGIBLE COSTS listing
in the program guidelines!

Project Budget example (simple)

Project Budget (complex)

‘Collaboration’ – what does it
mean and how can you use it to
enhance your proposal?

“the action of working with
someone to produce something”
Oxford dictionary

The purpose of the program is to foster collaboration between
industry partners toward delivering a compelling, new-to-market
solution. This consortia model of Lead Company, Pilot
Organisation, and Partner is specifically designed to build
relationships that deliver a solution with a strong opportunity for
commercial success.
Collaborative Solutions funding program
(Innovate NSW)
Program example –
Collaborative Solutions

‘Policy’ vs ‘Politics’
Two quite different but interrelated factors that can have a huge impact
on your funding proposal – and both out of the control of the applicant

Another important
consideration…
Are you prepared/can you afford to wait for the funds????
5 month
timeframe
5 month
timeframe

What does a successful project
look like??

NSRF Round 1 - sample

Accelerating Commercialisation

Wise words..
“It’s important to view grants from a business
perspective. If you think about it in terms of helping
to solve a problem for government, that will
change the way you apply for funding”
Extract from Company Director article June 2015

Session summary take 2..
Funding Proposal components 
Importance of evidence‐based
information, finding data and stats

Budget considerations 
Importance of policy & politics 
What does a successful project look
like?

In addition do you have the TIME and RESOURCES to complete the application??

You are successful in obtaining
the grant! - the next steps

1. Formal Acceptance of grant offer

2. Signing funding agreement & terms (can
involve some back and forth between agency
and applicant)

3. Receiving grant monies (oftentimes in
instalments across life of grant following
project milestones being reached)

4. Completing project reporting
documentation (quarterly is common)

Questions??

Further questions
Tehla Bower
Senior Consultant – Funding & Strategy
Waples Marketing Group
Ph: (02) 4221 1300
M: 0412 738 752
E: tehla@waples.com.au
www.linkedin.com/in/tehlabower
www.twitter.com/tehlabower
www.waples.com.au

RDA Illawarra: Grant Writing Workshop Presentation 7-9 July 2015

Empfohlen

Empfohlen

Weitere ähnliche Inhalte

Ähnlich wie RDA Illawarra: Grant Writing Workshop Presentation 7-9 July 2015

Ähnlich wie RDA Illawarra: Grant Writing Workshop Presentation 7-9 July 2015 (20)

Mehr von Regional Development Australia (RDA) Illawarra

Mehr von Regional Development Australia (RDA) Illawarra (20)

Kürzlich hochgeladen

Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)

RDA Illawarra: Grant Writing Workshop Presentation 7-9 July 2015