Help with grant applications/bid writing?

[oxcat1]

I have been helping out with a relatively small charity that offers support to survivors of a type of childhood cancer. Other than the doctors who spearhead the thing, te entire committee is volunteers, including some of the survivors themselves, now teenagers.

I have a background in language writing, so i have been doing copy writing for the website, editing, proof reading etc. However, I have been asked to take on grant applications and bid writing. I feel utterly unqualified for this! I know from experience (and from reading on here!) that writing successful grants and bid applications is really quite a specialist skill, and obviously if i don't do it well, the charity will really struggle financially.

Can those of you who are bid writers/fund raisers offer any advice? Would there be any chance of getting some support from a professional through something like a CSR scheme? Or are there mentor programmes?

Would it be worth paying for a few hours from a professional to get things off on the right footing? That money would have to come from private donations though.

Any ideas much appreciated! Thanks.

I currently work with a number of organisations and projects looking at funding and I would say that you have the potential to obtain secure some grant support in the area the charity specialises in depending on what you are looking to fund.

In terms of support the best people to write applications are those who are involved with the organisation and understand its work and what it is trying to achieve best - however I do understand your concern. If you are good with words then thats a real bonus as basically the skill is in being concise and matching what you want to what the funder is about.

I am not aware of any support that you can obtain which would be provided by CSR or similar - sometimes there are schemes such as communities can or BIG potential who offer consultancy support to the not for profit sector but they often target specific types of organisations.

You may be able to work with someone on a commission basis but this is often frowned upon within the fundraising world - otherwise it may be worth going on a course which are offered by local CVS organisations or paying for some one to one support with a good fundraiser.

I used to be in charge of a bid writing team for a large charity - and even we used to really struggle writing successful bids. We tried employing freelance 'expert' bid writers. Then we had inhouse writers for a while. To be honest, neither were that successful. It's a real knack, but also I was suspicious that deals were being done behind closed doors despite the apparently transparent bid submission process. We threw a fair amount of money at bid writing and still hardly won anything.

In your position, I think I'd find a bid writing course to go on. Councils sometimes offer free courses, or you can probably find a fairly cheap private course to go on. Have a go writing them yourself and see how you get on. If you don't win anything, you could try paying for a bid writing consultant, but make sure you do very thorough research - check how many previous bids they have won and make sure it is for your exact area of work. Being an excellent bid writer for one type of contract does not necessarily make you good at another.

Good luck!