Bidding For Funding

Learning to navigate the maze

In this competitive climate bidding for funding is ruthless. I learnt this to my cost quite recently being part of a consortium that narrowly missed out on some government funding. I have also been fortunate to bid and win funding so I have experienced both sides of the bidding process. Bidding for funding whilst a learnt art, is worth considering if you want to gain funds to sustain a “steady flow” of income alongside the more sporadic private one-to-one work.

Increasingly skills in how to put in a bid for funding and making sure your bid can succeed is becoming almost an expertise in itself with more and more private agencies big and small bidding for pots of money. The type of funds available has also changed and it isn’t just big government contracts but also there are increasingly smaller pots of money available to a diverse range of subcontractors or even individuals such as entrepreneurs and social enterprises some of which can be relevant to guidance practitioners.

The problem is always where to start. For some bids you need to show previous trading or established funding on a large scale which often counts out the smaller provider. However for others it is being in the know and being able to adjust to criteria that may be set. Recently for example an associate of mine put in for funding for a government contract to be told he had to have several million pounds turnover! He rang back and said this wasn’t really his scale but could he be a subcontractor and has won funding this way.

There are now several courses being run by various organisations to help practitioners put in bids and succeed in getting funding. One I found recently was free (which I like) through the St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge. This workshop which is for one day goes through the types of funding and grants available in business. This sort of event – whilst costing you a day in the office and travel can help narrow down what is a viable funding stream and what isn’t and learning more about what streams are out there. With the demise of EEDA and similar quangos around the country in April which will effect many doing redundancy work for example learning about new funding out there is always a plus. It also gets you known by some of the funding agencies who can put a face to the name in future.

What have I learnt? Detail is so important and don’t take anything for granted always provide exactly what is needed and a bit more, and make sure you focus the applications well to your type of business. Also I would recommend in this climate to keep you ears and eyes open and don’t be too trusting with information as you might feed a competitor!

For information about funding a good place to start is Business Link which has a section on finance and grants go to:

Visit St John’s Innovation Centre for information about them and its free events