Grant Writing Insider Tips: Secrets from Grantify's £125M+ Success

It's a common misconception that downplaying risk makes your project more appealing.

Actually, grant assessors understand that any innovative project carries inherent risks.

A low-risk project raises a red flag – why do you need public funding for something that's already safe? You therefore need to highlight the right kind of risk.

Sure. ‘Right’ risks are often technical. Is there a chance your technology might not work as intended? That's understandable, especially for cutting-edge projects.

The key is demonstrating that you have the team and resources to overcome those technical hurdles.

‘Wrong’ risks involve management, execution, or commercial viability.

If you can’t convince assessors that you have a robust plan to bring your product to market, that's a major problem.

Two things. First, take the risk assessment seriously. Don't just list risks – discuss mitigation strategies for each one.

This demonstrates your awareness and proactive approach.

Secondly, remember that even a mundane-sounding project can benefit from a “pre-mortem” – that is, thinking about what could go wrong ahead of time so you’re better equipped to handle challenges.

Statistics are your best friend, and they’re an essential element of any winning grant application because they turn vague claims - which grant orgs hear a lot of! - into concrete evidence.

It's the difference between saying your solution addresses a ‘big problem’ and citing market research that quantifies the exact cost of that problem across your industry.

Remember, assessors aren't experts in every field. Numbers help them quickly grasp the scale of the issue you're solving.

Imagine an application addressing wind turbine failures.

Instead of saying ‘turbine failures create a huge burden,’ try something like: "In 2023, this affected 269 turbines, with each failed drivetrain requiring repair or replacement at £57K-175K/unit (Plutus, 2020). This equates to an annual cost of £46M to the UK energy sector."

That level of detail and market knowledge paints a much clearer, more convincing picture for assessors and establishes your expertise and credibility.

A good starting point is industry reports and research papers from reputable organisations. Government websites can also be a treasure trove of data – the ONS publishes a wide range of data relevant to many sectors.

And don't underestimate the power of trade associations or professional bodies in your field. They often conduct or commission research that can provide valuable insights.

Digging out the perfect stats can be time-consuming, of course, so definitely take advantage of our research tools: our Statista enterprise account, Data Gardener, and Google Scholar. They let you quickly find relevant supporting statistics without leaving the Grantify platform.

You need to show how you’ll wring every drop of value from every penny spent. Demonstrating wider benefits is a key part of that.

Assessors don't just want to see how the grant helps your company; they want to see positive ripple effects. This means thinking about economic, social, environmental, and even regional benefits your project could generate.

Absolutely. Economic benefits first look at impacts through your customers and users, then at the rest of the supply chain. This might include stimulating growth of business customers and subcontractors or boosting the UK's competitiveness in a specific sector.

Social benefits could mean creating new jobs, improving public health, enhancing education, or reducing inequality.

Environmental benefits are also growing in importance – think reduced carbon emissions, pollution prevention, or sustainable resource management.

Beyond these broad impacts, it's also important to show assessors that you're making the most of the grant funding.

There are many ways to show you’re spending the money smartly.

It could involve negotiating special rates with suppliers, leveraging existing resources your company owns, or even securing advisors willing to work for reduced rates because they believe in your mission.

Highlighting these efforts shows assessors that you're serious about making the grant funds work as hard as possible - and when you do that, you stand a better chance of winning the money you need.

AI is changing everything and grant applications are no exception!

Recent breakthroughs in generative AI models have pushed the capabilities far beyond the previous clunky chatbots, to the point where they’re now truly useful co-pilots in the application writing process.

AI - when used correctly - can take care of many tedious tasks, freeing you to focus on the core idea and strategy behind your application.

This is where Grantify comes in with our suite of bespoke AI tools specifically designed to streamline the grant application process and improve our clients' chances of success.

Thought you’d never ask!

So, our AI tools excel in several key areas:

Drafting Answers: Our AI Writing Assistant understands the context of your project. It can take your rough notes and transform them into polished responses, aligned with the specific questions and scoring criteria of the grant.

Research: Instead of scouring the web, our AI-assisted Reference Finder lets you access research databases like Statista directly within the platform. This saves hours and helps you find reliable, up-to-date statistics to bolster your claims.

Document Analysis: When you need to extract insights from pitch decks or even transcripts of conversations with our experts, our Document Parser uses AI to pinpoint key themes and suggest improvements to your responses.

That's a valid concern. That's why we emphasise blending AI efficiency and human expertise.

AI accelerates the process, but it's our experienced grant experts who guarantee that your unique story, your innovation, and your specific goals shine through.

Also, our AI Assistant is exactly that - an auxiliary tool, designed to help create high-quality grant proposals, not to replace your expertise, diligence, or project knowledge.

And, to make sure answers are perfect, the tool doesn’t just generate a response and expect you to move on to the next question. Based on your input, the tool generates multiple options for you to choose from and refine using improvement tags like ‘make more succinct’.

Precisely. We view the grant application process as a partnership.

Our experts share knowledge gained from countless successful applications. And our AI handles the time-consuming elements, ensuring a smooth and efficient experience that ultimately improves your chances of securing funding.