Advocacy Funding

Bid writing, tender production, grant applications and service design for advocacy organisations

Why Advocacy is So Damn Fundable

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Advocacy Funding Bag of Grants Money
Advocacy services deserve more

Advocacy is a truly terrific way to help people. It tackles the root causes of people’s problems in a fresh and innovative way. It involves its users at every step of the process, drives system-wide change and is delivered by a deeply committed workforce.

But it’s not getting the number of grants it deserves. Even though it can reduce service dependency and save local authorities a tonne of money, funders don’t yet get its value.

Let’s see what we can do about changing that.

Are you with me?

Great, let’s do it. [Read more…] about Why Advocacy is So Damn Fundable

Guest Post: 3 Steps to Showing Value for Money in Your Advocacy Tender

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Value for Money film poster
Who is the star of your value for money advocacy tender show?

Advocacy contracts are becoming tighter and increasingly price driven. Whether you agree with price driven commissioning or not you’ve got to show Commissioners how you offer value for money.

You have to convince them that they are getting a good deal from you; in terms of both quality and cost.

You can do this more easily by understanding their definition of value and then showing that your outcomes offer this value.

Here’s how. [Read more…] about Guest Post: 3 Steps to Showing Value for Money in Your Advocacy Tender

7 Ways to Show Funders the Crying Need for your Advocacy Service (Part 2)

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Sad doggy asking for advocacy funding
“If you don’t fund my advocacy project then I’m going to cry” said Rover

Hey, it’s good to see you again. Welcome to Part 2 of a two part series on how to coolly and clearly convince funders of the crying need for your advocacy service. The series takes you through the different types of evidence you need and shows you how to use them to make your bid wail desperately for funding. Without being a drama queen.

In Part 1 we learnt how to hang onto the reigns of our good idea until we’ve got our evidence clear, use facts and figures to build funder trust and use quotes to bring your facts to life. Read on to learn four more ways. [Read more…] about 7 Ways to Show Funders the Crying Need for your Advocacy Service (Part 2)

What Saville Row Tailors Can Teach Us About Bid Writing

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Advocacy tailoring
Tailor your bid like the pros by outlining first

Bid writing can be a laborious process. Even for experienced professionals sustaining the energy and focus needed to churn out quality responses to 10 or 20 questions at a time is a challenge.

How can you speed it up? How can you make it easier?

There’s one traditional tailors trick that can make a critical difference. Without it you’re wasting your time. [Read more…] about What Saville Row Tailors Can Teach Us About Bid Writing

7 Ways to Show Funders the Crying Need for your Advocacy Service (Part 1)

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How to Get a Grant for Your Advocacy Project
“Please will you fund my advocacy project?”

“Pick me, my project is desperately needed!” is the cry of every good funding bid.

In fact it’s the minimum that it needs to say to stand any chance of success. If it’s not saying it then you’re better off starting again or going home. If your bid’s not crying its heart out then your funder-to-hopefully-be won’t be persuaded to help you.

Now I don’t mean it’s got to be indignant or have a hissy fit. No one likes a drama queen. Your bid needs to be cool, clear and convincing in its desperation. It’s got to wail with the genuine pain and anguish of the people you’re trying to help.

That way your funders will hear their cries too.

To cry louder, stronger and more convincingly you need to  [Read more…] about 7 Ways to Show Funders the Crying Need for your Advocacy Service (Part 1)

The Secret to Convincing Funders of the Need for your Advocacy Service

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Need for advocacy
Are you convinced of the need for advocacy funding?

You understand the need for advocacy. You deal with it everyday. You know it like the back of your hand and it’s why you do this job. So you should be able to tell funders about it really clearly and convincingly. Right?

So why is poor communication of need one of the top 5 reasons for rejection?

It’s because when you work with the need every day it’s easy to end up desensitised to it. And if you’re desensitised then it’s harder to communicate the nuances, subtleties and real life impact of it in a convincing way. This happens to everybody and it’s inevitable.

Your bid needn’t suffer though. There is a way to overcome it but it’s still a bit of a secret. [Read more…] about The Secret to Convincing Funders of the Need for your Advocacy Service