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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🤑 Grants for social enterprises
🤑 Before you apply for a grant, read this
🤑 How I can support your applications
In last week’s newsletter you loved this self nomination opportunity via Innovate UK for the upcoming EarthShot Prize, so here it is again.
Grant Social Shifters Global innovation Challenge - It’s back, offering young leaders and innovators (18-30) $15,000 towards a project or startup already delivering social impact on the ground.
Grant Tara’s Circle - an international program that supports women-led projects generating social, environmental, and economic impact through innovative solutions. 15 grants will be awarded of between €4,000-10,000
Grant Local London Trailblazers - Explore, develop and launch a viable business with free support across Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Havering and Redbridge. Grants of £5k are available along with mentoring and business support.
Grant Good Place To Live: New Beginning Fund - Powered by Lloyds, they fund work that supports people who are leaving; prison, the care system, an abusive relationship, the asylum system on securing the right to remain. Non profits can apply for an unrestricted grant of up to £ 200,000 over four years.
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.
Grant support is a large part of what I do. From sourcing and advising to checking applications, I support founders to access funding available for them. However sometimes, grants aren’t the magic bullet that people think they are (more on that later). I just wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t talk about the pitfalls of grants and the types of businesses that just aren’t suited to them.
So if you’ve heard about grants and want to get in on the action, here are 5 things I urge you to do before you start writing an application.
Ask yourself why? - What do you really need this grant for? If the answer is getting a pilot off the ground, scaling a proven product or MVP or funding community based activities, then yes you are probably a good candidate for a grant (and at the right stage). However, if you need a grant to stay afloat, to support core or running costs, or just to pay yourself, you may come across some hurdles. Most grants aren’t set up for this, they are very outcomes focused. They are also not there as a lifeline* if your business is failing or you can’t pay yourself. Think about it from a funders perspective, why would they give you £10k to pay yourself and your staff without any clear outcome achieved, when you could give £10k to an organisation taking care of it’s own costs, but scaling it’s impact through the use of the grant?
Know your budget - if you are looking to deliver something specific, know how much it will cost you. Of course it isn’t unheard of for businesses to collect a few different grant pots to contribute towards a particular project or the scaling of the company, but typically, if you ask for £5k when your project costs £20k to deliver, you may look like you don’t know what you’re talking about. Instead, understand where £5k will get you and be clear about what this milestone looks like and where you can go from there.
Try it yourself first - if you have an idea for something cool but you need a grant to get you there, it’s likely that you are too early stage (unless you are applying to an ‘ideas stage’ grant). Funders want to know that you are a safe pair of hands and that you are passionate about getting your idea off the ground. So if you haven’t done anything about your idea yet because you were waiting for someone else to fund it (especially in an era of free AI tools), that may not cut it. You’ll increase your chances of being funded by demonstrating what you have already tried without outside funding (or with your own funds). This shows them that you have gumption and are willing to try things to solve the problem.
Understand your eligibility - this works both ways. Know what you are eligible for, what you aren’t, and maybe where the area of grey is between both spaces. By this I mean - how could you become eligible for something by tweaking your project, delivering it somewhere specific or partnering with someone else? Knowing how your legal structure (Ltd, CIC, Charity etc) influences your eligibility, as well as what makes you unique as a founder will save you wasted hours applying for something you will get turned down for.
Get the full picture - grants are great because you don’t have to pay them back, however, they are also highly competitive and over subscribed. Sometimes, you don’t need a grant, sometimes you need a loan, or to strengthen your revenue streams or to unleash a kick ass crowdfunding campaign. A smart founder combines methods of funding in order to spread risk. Being reliant on one thing is never smart. So check whether your bank will extend you an overdraft or line of credit. Look into loans via the British Business Bank (their rates are better than most banks). Get over feeling beggy and launch that crowdfunder, or reach out to a friend or family member and ask them to invest in your business (Angel investor).
In my experience, a lot of founders forget these points, and when I mark grant applications it shows. Funding your business is about more than a well worded application (and no, a purely AI application doesn’t look great either), it’s about knowing where you want to go and that there are a lot of different ways to get there. So if you’ve already been applying for stuff and wondering why you’ve been turned down, addressing a few of these things may yield a different outcome next time.
*There are exceptions to this rule, but they are few and far between.
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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