e've got some practical tips to help make bid writing a breeze and contact details for if you need some extra support.

Bid Writing Tip 1: Read the guidance

• Read the guidance and then read it again!
• Pick out key words and phrases that you need to address in your application.  
• Also reread the questions to make sure you are fully answering what they have asked for.

Bid Writing Tip 2: Make it easy to follow

• Good funding bids need to be exciting and easy to follow.
• Make sure your ideas are laid out in an easy to read format
• Your bid must also provide easy to follow details on how you will deliver your project.

Bid Writing Tip 3: Match the funders’ priorities

• Use the same language and wording that the funder has used in their guidance and application form to tie in with their priorities
• Make sure you demonstrate what impact you have, and the benefit it will have on your communities.

‍

‍

Bid Writing Tip 4: Provide evidence of need

• Make sure you address exactly why your project is needed.
• Provide evidence to go along with it.

Bid Writing Tip 5: Put yourself in their shoes

• When writing your application, put yourself in the position of the person who is reading the many applications.
• What can you do to make yours stand out?

‍

Bid Writing Tip 6: Quality is better than quantity

• Draft your application so you can make any edits before submitting it.
• Focus on the formatting - include short paragraphs and bullet points to make the bid easy to follow.
• Don’t feel like you have to hit the word count. If you are happy with what you have written and have followed all the top tips, that is fine.
• Proofread your bid a few times before submitting.

You can download a copy of these top tips here (pdf) as a helpful reminder and share them with your colleagues and contacts.

Struggling with your funding bid?

Julie Baker is our Nova Adviser supporting income generation and bid writing. The aim of this role is to provide support to VCSE organisations in the Wakefield District to strengthen their financial sustainability and resilience through income generation and specialist support. This is done through:

• Providing tailored development support and advice to enable high quality funding applications.
• Supporting organisations to identify, bid for and secure funding to strengthen their longer term resilience.
• Facilitating the delivery of training sessions from Nova and specialist partners on writing successful funding applications and identifying appropriate funding opportunities.
• Arranging ‘meet the funders’ sessions.

f you'd like to talk to Julie about any of the above please do not hesitate to get in touch, you can email julie.baker@nova-wd.org.uk or call 07927 554280.