Grant Writing – Investments4TechWomen

Consulting & Grant Application Writing

About Us

TechWomen4Boards’ grant writing consultants work with clients from the private, public, community and non-profit making sectors. We deliver fundraising, business support, training, business development and research services to SMEs, social enterprises, charities, housing associations, colleges, schools, local authorities and community & civil sector organisations. The consultants’ fundraising work for clients includes writing grant applications, funding bids and tenders, to access grants, loans, contracts and social investment.

With over 25 years of expertise, and since 2003 have:

Both are Approved Consultants for NCVO, NAVCA, CIOF, Enterprise Nation, NTRL and the Institute of Economic Development.

TechWomen4Boards’ grant writing consultants support businesses in the following sectors:

Health and social care
Fashion
Wellbeing
Digital services
Creative industries
Sustainability and environmental projects
Education and learning
Business associations
Faith groups
Community partnerships
Sport

The main funds that that are apply to on the clients’ behalf include:

UK government funds – a range of funding
UK Research and Innovation, a large NGO – a range of sectors
UK Lottery Funds – Reaching Communities, Awards For All and others
Innovate UK – digital projects in health, wellbeing, sustainability and creative industries
Wellcome Foundation – biomedical
General business support funds – (consultancy only, no cash)
EU funds
A range of charitable trusts including Paul Hamlyn Foundation – creative
City Bridge Trust – a range of sectors
Mercers Foundation – City of London Funder
UK National Health Service – a range of funds
UK Shared Prosperity Fund – a range of sectors
GlaxoSmithKlein – wellbeing and biomedical
Sport England – sport
UK local authorities – a range of funding
European Union funds

Previous success includes:

£400k for a transport business
£480k in funding for a health and social care business
£150k for a tourism business
£10k for a software development project
£200k for a wellbeing business
£10k for a doctor-led healthy eating programme
£50k for a counselling organisation
£20k for a digital project for a business partnership organisation
£10k for a construction industry training organisation
£150k for a housing association
€1 million for a journalism support organisation – this was in partnership with other bid writers in different countries

Application Process – What Will The Consultants Do

PLEASE NOTE: Funding success for your organisation cannot be guaranteed – this is about risk, not probability, and you should consider your options carefully before proceeding. If in doubt, please seek further advice from a suitably qualified

Stage 1: Assessment

Assessment for the applicant's funding needed, including the completion of an application template.

Stage 2: Funding Research

The consultants will do the research and identify relevant funders. They will then check this against your organisation and its remit and priorities and those of potential funders. They will meet with you once the funding research is nearing completion to discuss the next steps. You will be supplied with a copy of this research on request.

Stage 3: Bid Writing and Development

Once the research is completed, they will start to write funding applications on your behalf. As part of this they will ask you questions for clarification and send you a form which will help develop these bids. They especially need budgetary information and they will ask you for a draft budget and costs.

Stage 4: Sign Off and Submission

Once the above have been completed then they will submit the draft applications to you for comment/sign off. Once we have submitted these bids to you, the second invoice will be sent. The final invoice is payable once the bids are submitted either via yourselves on paper (we will supply the covering letter and addresses of funders), which you may have to sign personally or electronically via web based application submission portals, or which they will submit if no signature is required.

Elimination Criteria

There is no one single factor that could cause your application to be rejected, but some of the most common ones are:

Failure to submit on time/not signing the application
Insufficient track record of organisation or experience of key leaders/managers
Not fulfilling the eligibility criteria
Failure to address key criteria of the application
Insufficient track record or asking for too much money
Budget that is poorly drafted
Failure to specify outcomes or key performance indicators
Limited demonstration of social value.

Cost

Costs vary and depend on the amount of work and complexity of the application form/funder requirements. The cost range is from single applications (£500 on average – though some are more expensive) to packages of applications. If you pay £2,000-£5,000 plus VAT we will write between 6 and 18 applications, and provide you with free funding research reports and advice (except for Innovate UK grants, as much more work is required). Success fees are to be paid on receipt of notification of grant from the funder – these percentage fees are based on the total value of the funding obtained for you by us on an application by application basis. The success fee is based on a sliding scale, ranging from 4%-15% plus VAT.

TechWomen4Boards don’t accepts any responsibility for any loss which may arise from reliance on information contained in any of our presentations, advice, consultancy, funding application or communications, or from omissions or errors in any such content. It is your responsibility to obtain relevant professional advice in respect of any query. The information and guidance included in our communications and presentations is for general information purposes only and is subject to change. It does not constitute legal or professional advice, nor is it an offer.