Winning bids: developing stronger funding applications for schools and trusts

Grant funding can offer schools valuable support for projects, improvements and wider development, but successful applications need more than a good idea.  They need clear evidence, strong planning and often just a small amount of specialist input and insight to turn a good bid into a much stronger, more compelling application.

This practical session will help school business professionals understand how to find suitable funding opportunities, assess eligibility and build stronger applications.  Delegates will explore the common features of successful bids, from evidencing need and demonstrating impact to avoiding the mistakes that often weaken applications.

Justin will also look at how schools can add value to their applications, tell a clearer project story and approach funders with greater confidence.  The session will include practical bid writing guidance alongside wider fundraising ideas that schools can begin using straight away.  Specialist school funding sources continue to highlight the scale of grant opportunities available, alongside the importance of preparation, evidence and planning.  

In this session we explore

• How to identify suitable grant funders for school projects

• What strong funding applications have in common

• How to evidence need, impact and value

• Common bid writing mistakes and how to avoid them

Take home points

• Stronger bid writing confidence

• Better funding search skills

• Clearer project narratives

• Practical application improvements

This session is for

SBMs, SBLs, CFOs, COOs, finance leads, project leads and anyone involved in preparing, reviewing or supporting funding applications.

Justin Smith