Grant Writing& Reviews
Having a great concept is a great start! But there is more to a successful grant application than a concept alone. One of the most challenging aspect of grant applications is being able to clearly and concisely articulate your idea to selection panels and funding bodies, along with the benefits and impact of expected outcomes.
I LOVE writing grant applications — from the nitty gritty detail of background research, to unpacking, contextualising and illustrating the benefits of your expected outcomes and impact over the short and long term.
Fortunately, I’m also quite effective at grant writing. In fact, I’ve helped clients to win over $80 million in competitive funding across a range of disciplines and funding schemes over the past 5 years.
"It always seems impossible until it's done"
- Nelson Mandela
What do my grant writing services entail?
Basically, whatever you need. I am able to provide as much or as little support as needed over the course of the grant development and writing process.
Capitalising on my breadth of experience, I know the right questions to ask to help you to fully ideate your concept and ensure it’s been rigorously developed. I can also conduct background research to outline how your proposal fits into the current research landscape. Most importantly, I will help you to convey the realistic benefits and impacts of your outcomes in a language that is clear and ‘hits the spot’ for your specific audience.
Working with you, your team and your partners, I can compile investigator/team capability statements and CVs. This is an extremely important and very highly weighted component of most funding applications. Unfortunately, this section is often under-prioritised and not given the amount of time or effort it deserves. I have established techniques to make you and your team shine: capitalising on your strengths, assessing team metrics and composition, and even pre-empting and addressing things that may be seen as weaknesses.
If desired for larger grants, especially, I can even take on more of a project management role and organise networking and developmental team meetings and workshops. I can also conduct interviews with relevant stakeholders to ensure inclusivity and use of the most appropriate and relevant field and industry-specific terminology.
Whatever your needs may be, I bring a creative, proactive and constructive approach to the grant writing process. However, no matter how much involvement I have in the writing, be assured that your proposal will still be completely representative of you (and your team), and your vision.
Whether you just need someone to help you articulate your idea, or if you would like a greater degree of support throughout the proposal development process, I would love to assist! Contact me for a free consultation on how I can help with your grant writing needs.
What I can NOT do:
While I will make every effort to ensure you submit your best application possible, I cannot guarantee a successful outcome. Writing and the ability to clearly communicate a concept are of extreme importance in grant applications. However, many factors must come together to result in a successful grant application.
Reviews
You’ve finished drafting your grant application [insert happy dance, a glimpse of daylight and a shower]. But despite your best efforts and many sleepless nights, you’re not sure that it’s as strong as it could be. Or, perhaps you just want a second opinion.
Not to worry! Critical grant reviews are one of my favourite services. And, arguably, the one that makes the biggest impact to the final product. Your deep knowledge and passion come together with my fresh eyes, advantageous outsider’s perspective, and thorough knowledge of grant schemes and requirements. I will positively critique your work from the perspective of an intelligent, non-specialist – that is, the same as what your reviewers generally are – looking for a robust plan, depth of context and of course, impact (or, the WOW factor).
When reviewing and critiquing your application, I will strategically evaluate your text for clarity, compliance and readability. But I’ll also go further than that. I’ll assess your text for a sense of excitement and urgency, as well as appropriateness with respect to your target audience and the funding scheme objectives. I will also help you to navigate the balancing act between demonstrating your deep knowledge and expertise, while not being so technical that you risk alienating non-specialists.
If the text is in final draft form, I will also proofread your work to make sure it is polished and primed for submission.
Letting me review your grant application can be a HUGE advantage! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Polishing
You’ve finished your application, but you just need a pair of fresh eyes to do a final read-over.
Nothing hinders credibility more than simple and careless errors throughout a document. Yet, it can be very difficult to proofread your own work when you are so close to it. Your mind automatically skims over the text, missing small mistakes. Proofreading can also be a cumbersome, monotonous and time-consuming task.
With a fresh set of eyes, I can proofread your final draft to make sure it is polished, reads well and is primed for submission, with no embarrassing spelling errors or typos.
Workshops
If you have a team or group of people who are all thinking about applying for the same (or similar) funding schemes, I can deliver information sessions and/or writing retreats to help get the ball rolling in an efficient way.
I will target information sessions to the grant scheme or agency applicable to your group, and at a level relevant to you. If you have a group that has little grant writing experience, then I will deliver a session on grant writing fundamentals. This will include topics like where to start, how to prioritise your time, extra resources you might find handy, and places where it can be very easy to come unstuck.
For more experienced groups, I’ll go into a bit more strategy, talking about where you can find places to really elevate your proposals above others.
And finally, for those of you who are ready to go (and maybe this happens directly after one of my information sessions), I can lead grant writing retreats. These can be as short or as long as you’d like, and cover as many sections of the application as desired. These retreats provide an excellent group setting for motivation, peer-review and creative thinking. They also present great opportunities for peer review feedback, and professional skill-building gained from conducting peer-reviews yourself!