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Although at Get Business Grants we’ve created the perfect grant finding resource for business owners and professionals looking to fund their ambitions, there are some basic skills that help make this quest more productive. These are not specialist skills, but just a set of 3 pointers that will help you get the most out of grant finding. The general rule is to spread the net wide enough to capture as many relevant grants as you can and then narrow it down to the one that fits your criteria the best.
- Be flexible on sectors
Again, keep an open mind. The sector you can place yourself in may not be the only one that you could qualify for. For example if your business is manufacturing aerospace components for the defence industry you might also be able to qualify for grants across other sectors such as Aerospace, Advanced Manufacturing and Defence plus manufacturing of course. Again this widens the net to ensure you have a good range to select from. - Be open minded on what you need your grant for
Keeping an open mind about what you need the funding for is crucial to casting a wide net and capturing a good range of grants. You can always filter down later in the process. Think about what you are trying to achieve – for example business growth needs a range of inputs and grant purposes can be interpreted or extrapolated to broaden your search and increase your chances of success. So a simple business growth plan could include grants for property, equipment, recruitment or working capital. By keeping this broad, you will capture more grant opportunities. - Assess the best grant to go for
The next stage is to narrow down your search to focus on the grants where you have a better chance of success. Look more closely at the qualifying criteria and requirements of each scheme. Check for eligibility but also make a judgement call on how strongly you fulfil the criteria. If you are still unsure whether to apply for a particular grant then talk to the grant scheme provider to assess your chances of success and relook at the grant objectives to check for alignment. Also, assess how much work is required to complete the application and any specialist support you are likely to need from others. Common sources of support for applications are Accountants, Grant Consultants and also Business Advisors but there are also online resources that can help improve your application. There will be a cost for their support, so factor this into your decision on which grant to apply for.
Of course if you get stuck or don’t have the time or patience we are on hand to help you in your quest to find the right grant.
