Grant Applications — Dos and Don'ts | Tobbie Capital Advisory
Grant applications are scored documents. These are the habits that separate funded applications from filed ones.
The Rules of the Road
Grant applications —
dos and don'ts.
Do
- Read the guidelines twice — especially the "ineligible activities" page
- Map every answer to the rubric — the assessor scores what is on the page, not what you meant
- Quantify everything — jobs created, revenue impact, leverage ratio
- Attach quotes on letterhead and letters of support early — they take weeks
- Match your budget to the narrative — every line justified
- Start before the deadline — portal outages on closing day are legendary
- Keep a claims calendar of co-contribution and acquittal dates
Don't
- Recycle a generic application — assessors recognise prose written for a different program
- Exceed the word limits — over-length answers are often disqualified unread
- Promise outcomes you cannot evidence — the acquittal comes for every promise
- Ignore the co-contribution rule — if you cannot fund your share, the application dies there
- Apply to competing programs for the same spend — double-funding gets clawed back
- Leave letters of support to the last week
- Assume this round is the only round — a rejected application often wins next round with better evidence
"The best grant applications read like a plan the assessor could defend funding — because every line answers a question the rubric asked."
On Scoring
Next Step
Have an application in mind?
Free read on fit and chance — before you invest the effort.
