It\u2019s always a hot topic \u2013 raising funds through grant applications, and at VANEL we\u2019re always available to talk to groups about their approaches to grant applications.<\/p>\n
GRANTfinder has just carried out some interesting research<\/strong> across a range of funders, which highlights (in a report) just what the key problems are which potentially prevent groups from accessing grants.\u00a0 And these findings should be something for anyone submitting a grant application to learn from.<\/p>\n The report looked for common factors from funders that influenced whether they awarded or didn\u2019t award grants from their funding pots.\u00a0 The clearest failure was the ineligibility of the applicant for that grant (67% of funders said this was common or very common).\u00a0 Spending time submitting a bid that your group is ineligible for in the first place is highly wasteful all round, and seems an important first lesson.<\/p>\n If the group itself is eligible, apparently many projects or activities are ineligible, and again this is a very high factor in failures to get grants.\u00a0 Poor standards of presentation of applications and not addressing the questions or the needs of the fund were also common.<\/p>\n Learning how to prepare an application better and apply to the correct funds is very important.\u00a0 But some of the factors are often outside our control.\u00a0 Many funders said that over applications to funds was a big reason for rejection.\u00a0 And apparently concerns over accessing match funding or the actual viability of applying organisations are also significant.<\/p>\n