Grants


POSSIBLE FUNDING SOURCES


n Royal Society of Chemistry Outreach Fund n Royal Society Partnership Grants and Tomorrow’s Climate Scientists grants n Royal Institution Science in Schools grant scheme n British Science Week Grants and Kick Start grants n Institute of Mathematics: Education Grant Scheme n CREST Awards underrepresented audiences n Edufund UK Hertfordshire n The Royal Academy of Engineering ‘Ingenious’ Award n Gopher Science Lab grants.


out more


about these and other grants for


science by logging in to the FundEd grants database.


Find


webinars to explain their funding rules and what they expect. Some bigger trusts have dedicated advisors who can help.


Read the guidance and eligibility notes Funders provide guidance as to what they will fund and what they will not. You would not believe the number of bids I had to reject (as an evaluator) because they didn’t follow the guidance. If you are bidding for funding to cover one part of your project, then include information on how you plan to pay for the rest. For instance, if a grant-giver will not fund staffing costs, then who will? If the funder has examples of previously successful bids, read them.


Get the right partners Create a collaborative network within your organisation and beyond. The wider the range of ideas, the more interesting concepts you will come up with. Bids for more money and from multiple schools are often more likely to be successful because they are going to have a bigger and wider impact. Highlight your relevant skills, experience and previous successes.


Match funding It’s much easier to get a grant if you already have others committed to your project. Some funders specifically require match funding,


so do check. Match funding doesn’t need to be financial. It could be staff from a company giving their expertise for free, or donations of kit. Local companies, PTAs and school funds are useful sources of small amounts of match funding.


Consider your audience Your bid is likely to be one of many, so make sure it stands out. Be clear about who your activity will impact and what your aims and objectives are.


Consider the impact How will the funding impact your cohort and how are you going to measure this? If the funding is more than £1,000 you might need an impact report. If it is a large bid, you could consider an external evaluation.


Include relevant data Is your school in a socially deprived area? What are your FSM and pupil premium numbers? Do you have a lot of ESL or SEN students? If you are working with a university widening participation department, they might be able to give you data from HEAT (Higher Education Access Tracker) to show how students from your school have progressed.


‘A bid tells the story of how the characters (that’s you)


make the world a better place and impact the lives of others’


Tell a compelling story A bid tells the story of how the characters (that’s you) make the world a better place and impact the lives of others, thereby helping the funder to achieve its goals. Explain the problem, who it affects, why it needs fixing and how you are going to fix it.


Get your proposal reviewed Ask a reviewer to read your bid to make sure you have a clear plan that aligns with the funder’s requirements.


Final checks Make sure you submit the bid on time. Some funders let you modify the bid once it is submitted but others don’t. I often submit a few days in advance, to give myself time to address anything that might go wrong. If you can’t edit the bid after the submission, it might be worth having a document shared with the bid team so you can put all the information into the required format.


The learning process Don’t get despondent if your bid is rejected. Ask for feedback – if you didn’t get it this time, you might be successful next time.


n Dr Mark Gallaway runs the physics education company Starlight STEM, which holds workshops and visits schools with a mobile planetarium. starlightstem.co.uk


FundEd SUMMER 2023 27


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