Persuasive Grants – A customised series for ACE providers

CCA worked with a leading industry provider of strategic advice to charities and not for profits on setting up effective grant-seeking strategies for the ACE sector. Funded by the Department of Education’s 2021-2022 Teaching and Leadership Program, this initiative provided ACE organisations with a series of customised webinars and an accompanying toolkit to assist them in identifying grant opportunities and then successfully applying for and maintaining effective relationships with funding bodies.  There was also opportunities for specific application critiquing for a limited number of organisations.

Note that the following sessions were only for members of Community Colleges Australia. Please contact us if your organisation is interested in membership.

Webinar 1: Organisational and project readiness:
What do funders expect? How can you prepare your organisation?
This webinar took participants through a series of preparatory and readiness steps and provided a checklist of what funders expect.

Webinar 2: Quality grant writing
What does a quality grant application look like? How do you ensure your application stands out in a crowded field?
This webinar included samples of strong and weak responses to standard questions, including project need, outcomes, and measures.

Webinar 3: Relationships and reporting
You've been successful in gaining funding. What next? This webinar focused on how you can build effective and engaged partnerships with your funder.
What do you need to report, and how? How can you meet and exceed your funders' expectations and make sure your subsequent applications meet with success

Your Facilitator – Jo Garner, Strategic Grants

Jo Garner is the Founder and Director of Strategic Grants, leading a passionate team dedicated to working collaboratively with for-purpose organisations to build their capacity and secure grant funding to deliver vital projects to achieve their mission. A professional fundraiser, Jo has written literally hundreds of grant applications and has project managed the development of successful government tenders up to $50M and Social Benefit Bond submissions. In addition to strong communication skills, her key experience and strengths lie in the ability to apply strategic thinking and solutions to non-profit challenges and help them develop the right solution to build their capacity and sustainability. Jo is a regular presenter at key fundraising and philanthropy conferences and is known for her engaging training techniques and facilitation of strategic planning workshops.

Resources and further reading

Some recent resources which may be of interest are described below:

Strategic Grants have a new podcast series, the Funder Fifteen, where Jo Garner, founder and Director of the organisation, talks with grant funders and administrators to ask questions applicants would like answers to:  https://www.strategicgrants.com.au/podcasts/

Paying what it takes, a new report by Social Ventures Australia (SVA) and the Centre for Social Impact (CSI), in collaboration with Philanthropy Australia calls for grantmakers to fund indirect costs – that is, costs that cannot be directly attributed to a specific program or project – in order to create a long-term impact. This is not a new conversation but this report brings currency and collates evidence to reinforce its importance. The report may be accessed here https://www.philanthropy.org.au/tools-resources/paying-what-it-takes