Funding
How to Write a Grant Application That Doesn't Get Binned in Round One
Most grant applications fail in the first sift. Not because the business is bad, but because the application does not answer the questions the assessor is actually scoring against.
Grant bodies publish their assessment criteria. They tell you exactly what they are looking for and how many points each section is worth. The founders who win grants treat the application like an exam with a mark scheme – because that is exactly what it is.
Your Business Plan Shouldn't Take a Month
You have the idea. You know it works. But the plan? That has been sitting in a half-finished Google Doc for three weeks.
You are not alone. According to Bplans research, 67% of successful entrepreneurs never wrote a formal plan before launching. Not because planning does not work – because the process is broken.
The old way is genuinely painful
Download a template. Realise it does not fit your business. Google “how to write a market analysis.” Spend two hours on a section you are not sure matters. Get interrupted. Come back a week later and lose your thread.
Grant Applications Are a Full-Time Job. They Don't Have to Be.
The average small business spends 20 hours per grant application. That is half a working week – researching eligibility, reformatting your business info, writing to someone else’s structure.
And most of the time, you do not even get it. The success rate for first-time applicants is under 20%.
The research alone is exhausting
There are thousands of grants available at any given time:
- Government innovation funds
- Local authority growth schemes
- Industry-specific programmes
- Diversity and social enterprise grants
- R&D tax credit adjacent schemes
Finding the ones you are actually eligible for means hours on databases like Find a Grant (GOV.UK) or Grants.gov, reading criteria documents, cross-referencing deadlines.