Welcome to Friday Funding Chats, your weekly accountability buddy in your small business funding journey. Every Friday we deliver top fund picks and tips to your inbox, saving you time and making your funding journey an empowering one.
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🤑 Three exciting funding opportunities
🤑 What my mentee taught me about Grant Funding
🤑 Book a call with me
In the last newsletter you loved this opportunity from Foundervine, so here it is again. Breakthrough is an 8 week accelerator with a £21,000 grant funding pot at the end.
Grant LGBTQ+ London Fund - City Bridge are introducing funding specifically to provide accessible, flexible, and community-informed funding for LGBT+ not-for-profit organisations and groups in all 32 boroughs.
Accelerator Upscale Technation - Built specifically for tech businesses making that tricky post Series A move. Includes training, mentoring and networking building (with investor intros).
Grant RIVET x Girl Dreamer Young Women Innovator Challenge - for WOC aged 18-30, offering £600 to test, build, or grow a community-focused idea.
These Top Opportunities were lifted from the Funding Opportunities Database, a unique listing of over 80 grants, awards, accelerators and other funding opportunities for your small business (with a focus on creatives and social & environmental impact). Upgrade for just £4 a month and get Friday Funding Chats Live, and interviews with founders who have funded.
I do a lot of mentoring. For me, it’s not just about supporting another founder on their journey, imparting wisdom, or being an accountability buddy. I mean, it’s about all those things, but I also learn a lot. My mantra in life is to stay curious, and, in the wise words of Snoop Dog ‘never be the smartest person in the room.’ So whilst I enjoy sharing my learnings, I often walk away with a few of my own, and last week was no different.
My mentee had started a production company offering video production, but also workshops and networking to empower young creatives. Not my usual sector, but as a not-for-profit with a focus on supporting under-represented people, we were most definitely aligned.
What struck me was that even though this was a production company, the grants that they had been awarded were very diverse. One was for Wellbeing & Anti-Racism workshops, another was for Sexual Health, and finally, Employability. The startup tackled each of these issues and projects in their own unique way. They thought outside of the box, and instead of literally looking for grants to support film or creative work, or develop their production work, they thought about how that work, could benefit the issues facing the wider community.
Each project supported the goals of the business - to teach creative skills to under represented young people - it was the outcome lense that was different.
What did I learn from this? This is a technique I have been sharing with clients for a while now, so it was wonderful to see not one, but three exciting examples of it working for an organisation.
What can you learn from this? Understanding what grants you are eligible for is one thing. Knowing when to be flexible and creative with the brief and the outcome required is another thing. Here are a few questions to ask yourself;
What activities to I do? (How do you make your products or who makes your products, what are your services, etc)
List all the possible benefits of what you do? Ie; address loneliness or burnout, recycle plastic, support specific communities, address a waste stream etc.
What are the current issues, think macro and micro. Ie; what issues affect people in your community, your Borough, your County, your Country.
How can you fit both of those things together?
An example of this is the current issue around young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training). Do you have a skill you can teach them? Can they make your products? Work on your team? Find some grants funding this work.
Of course, it’s not necessarily this simple, but what I do want you to understand is that your eligibility is never as black and white as you think. There are shades of grey and a variety of ways of addressing social, environmental and economic issues that are often the subject of grants.
Do you read these emails and think ‘I don’t know where to start’? Or maybe you have started but find yourself stuck and in need of a fresh perspective in how your business makes money? I am now offering Funding Diagnostic Calls for small & micro business founder in need of a collaborate way to diagnose a new funding strategy.
We’ll explore your goals, process, challenges, and successes. I’ll as you focused questions to ensure we build a complete picture of your specific needs, helping you move past any roadblocks.
What to Expect:
You will leave the 50-minute call with:
A fresh perspective on your funding process, helping you to see it differently.
New possibilities and open doors for funding applications.
Clarity on a potential next step, including the option for a follow-up session to ensure you stay accountable and action your points.
🔗 Need more? Connect with us on Instagram & LinkedIn
🎓 Do you have a small business community who could benefit from our knowledge and support? Reach out today to find out about our workshops, speaking and consultancy services. Contact Lucy
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