Grants Pipeline: Identifying Grant Opportunities

How do I find grant opportunities for my project or business?

According to the best estimates, there's $125 billion of grant funding distributed by government and philanthropic funding bodies each year in Australia. There are a vast number of free and paid grant databases available online, ranging from the Australian Government’s Grant Connect platform to corporate grant databases, such as the Grants Expertise Management System (GEMS). Applying for grant funding is becoming increasingly competitive, and many organisations lack the time, resources and in-house expertise to understand the current grants landscape, identify relevant grant opportunities quickly, and successfully apply for funding.

If this sounds like you, let Olivia strategically prepare your organisation for grant success by creating a tailored, chronological pipeline of current and forecast grant funding opportunities.

What’s involved in the Grants Pipeline process?

Your Grants Pipeline is tailored to the funding needs of your organisation and captures an overview of the most relevant grant opportunities for a 12-month period. This process involves:

1. 45-minute Strategy Meeting with your General Manager, Chief Executive Officer, or Board representative/s to identify and understand the top funding needs of the organisation over the next 1-3 years. This is an ideal exercise to undertake at the start or end of a strategic planning cycle, or before the start of a new calendar/financial year, depending on the budgeting cycle of your organisation.

2. Development of your Grants Pipeline Report. Your report will be available within 1-2 weeks of this strategy meeting. Clients are presented with their report in two formats: a) PDF: ideal for circulation to an Executive Management Team, or to include in the agenda and Board papers for your next Board or Committee meeting, and b) Excel Spreadsheet: ideal for organisations needing a ‘live’ document to update internally.

3. 45-minute Next Steps Meeting with your General Manager, Chief Executive Officer, or Board representative/s to provide recommendations for grant programs the organisation should progress applications for in the next 1-6 months. This takes into consideration the resourcing available at your organisation, and options for external grant writing support will be presented.

The development of your Grants Pipeline includes:

• Eligibility-checking. Grant guidelines (where available) are reviewed and the eligibility of your organisation is checked against all key requirements (e.g. business structure, not-for-profit status such as registrations with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), turnover, number of employees, etc.)

• Overview of key grant details, such as the availability of funding, total funding pool and individual funding request maximums/minimums, deadlines, grant assessment and project delivery timeframes, grant criteria, and information about previous funding rounds including relevant case studies and/or success rates (where available).

• Grant matching to the top funding needs of your organisation, as identified in the Strategy Meeting.

Typically, not-for-profit and charitable organisations can expect their 12-month Grants Pipeline report to identify 20-30+ highly relevant grant opportunities for their consideration.

How do I book a Grants Pipeline?

Please reach out for a free quote for the development of your Grants Pipeline:

Do I need to update my Grants Pipeline?

Yes, updating your Grants Pipeline regularly is recommended. Your Grants Pipeline is a strategic snapshot in time. However, the Australian grants landscape is dynamic and new grant opportunities that are relevant to your organisation may be announced regularly. You will need to treat your Grants Pipeline as a ‘live’ document, and it will be most effective in supporting your organisation if it’s reviewed on a regular basis. Clients are supplied with an Excel Spreadsheet version of their Grants Pipeline to update this internally, or Olivia can provide Grants Pipeline updates based on your requirements:

• Monthly: Regular, once-a-month updates are recommended for organisations with a ‘high volume’ grant-seeking approach. If your orgnisation is applying for 10+ grants per year, consider monthly updates to ensure your team is up-to-date with the latest grant announcements.

• Quarterly: Ideal for grant-seekers applying for 6-10 grants per year.

• Annual: A yearly review of your Grants Pipeline is recommended for organisations applying for 1-5 grants each year.