Grant fundraising Strap here
BID-WRITING
EXPERT? WHEN DOES IT
PAY TO USE A
Bidding for additional funds for your school is a competitive process of convincing funders that their money is well spent with you. In some cases, you only get one chance to get it right. So when is employing a bid-writing
expert the right decision for your school? By Rachel Gordon
I
talk to many School Business Managers, Headteachers and administrators about their reasons for not wanting to write
bids themselves. These include: lack of time to dedicate to the bid-writing process, competing priorities, lack of expertise, dread about putting pen to paper, fear of rejection and lack of experience. If you are serious about raising funds for your school then it might be time to think about employing a bid writer.
Why use a bid writer? writer’s expertise and experience. They may have insider knowledge of funders’ priorities as well as their application-review processes. They
can advise you on which aspects of your proposed expenditure are fundable, how likely it is that you will actually secure funding, which grant programmes are most suited to your needs, how long you can expect the process to take and what a winning bid should look like. A bid writer also knows how to
write a compelling bid. They will be able to ask you incisive and nuanced questions to elicit the right information. They bring a level of objectivity to the process, helping to identify the pertinent details and help by cutting out unnecessary or irrelevant detail that those close to the project often include, and which can take up valuable space in
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a bid. They can also make sure that details you might take for granted, or assume the reader already knows, aren’t missed and are explained. When writing a bid yourself, it can be easy to overlook important details because you are ‘in the thick of it.’
How does the process work? At the beginning, the bid writer will needs and will advise on funding options. Once you’ve commissioned them to write a bid on your behalf, the next stage will usually consist of consultation, information gathering and writing. When a full draft is ready, the bid writer will usually share this with you to gather your
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