Taking finance for granted - Page 2

You also need to be able to afford the grant. You'll almost always need to match grant funding with money of your own. (Although in the public and community sectors you can sometimes match funds in kind, with labour, for example.)

As you only get paid the grant after work has been completed, you'll also need to have enough in the bank to cover all costs until then.

It's about who you want to talk to now, rather than the money.

"It's a catch 22 situation," says Tony Butterfield, who's won two grants in the tens of thousands for his customised architectural joinery business Bridge End Joinery. "You can't get the grant unless you prove you need it, but you don't get the grant until you've spent the money. It's not helpful cashflow-wise." As you may need to take out a loan to cover the costs, it might be wise to look at low-interest loan schemes as an alternative to grants, if you think this could be an issue.

The assistance

Whether you're going to do this alone or pay for professional help will depend on how big the grant you're going for is.

Most consultants won't get involved unless the grant is at least £20,000, as they usually work on a commission basis of 10% or more. They will also typically only go for grants that have been around for some time, according to Heywood, as a one-off scheme would be too unfamiliar.

Butterfield used a consultant for his £45,000 grant to expand his business through new premises and plant and machinery. "I've got a business to run, at the end of the day," he says. "I'm a big believer in paying people for professional services, and it was worth it. It is a minefield - when you see the amount of paper they put together. To the layman, it is very daunting."

But Ian Marsden, whose technology and innovation company Eseye has been awarded two grants, found he didn't need professional help.

In the run-up to getting his £20,000 R&D grant, he found his Business Link advisor 'very nice but totally useless'. He instead made the most of free help on offer at his local enterprise hub, and from the grant provider. "It was just a case of reading the blurb," he says. It did take him three months (not full-time), but, he says: "When you're asking for that kind of money, what do you expect?"

The application

You have to prove your business meets the criteria and communicate your aims are legitimate through the application forms.

This is something Marsden struggled with. "You've got to show that it's securing jobs. But what does that mean when you actually come to fill out the form? Do I need to write out the job specs when I'm talking about securing jobs, or is it enough to write 'the effort is going to take two people, therefore we're looking to employ one more person'? In reality, the latter is all they need. By getting advice, you find that out and don't waste loads of time."

Andrew Foster, whose food packaging business Primopost won a £90,000 Grant for Business Investment (GBI), explains there are ways to make job securitisation more impressive on your application. "Rather than just saying we're going to create four jobs, you say you're going to create four and secure six - which is what you're doing, but by actually putting that in you've got a lot more boxes ticked because you've saved 10 jobs that were at risk."

Jeremy Phillips, j4b's managing director, says: "Meet all deadlines. It's a simple but overlooked point. Closing dates and application deadlines are there for a reason - miss them and you'll miss out on funding. Many schemes actually allocate on a first come first served basis."

He also recommends providing 'as much information as possible, including business plans, in-depth project descriptions and budgets, and cash flow forecasts'. Although, as Marsden points out, it's well worth checking with an advisor to make sure you don't 'labour the point'.

When it comes to actually submitting your application, making contact with the right people within your grant provider's organisation pays off. "It's their job to make you succeed, so just don't rub them up the wrong way and they'll help you," says Marsden.

It's worth presenting your application in a way that invites feedback rather than as a completed document. "You have to pitch it as, 'I'm going to send this stuff in, but I think there's probably a few bits that need changing, can you look at this bit'," Marsden says. Of course, he'd already run the first couple of drafts by his enterprise hub advisors first. "There's no point sending in something that could be spectacularly wrong."

And once got the final draft of your application in, don't expect immediate results. "Even when you've got all the right points in, they'll probably ask for clarification on a couple of things from you, which is another few weeks," Marsden explains.

The pay off

It's a lot of hard work - or, if you use a consultant, a lot of money - but the benefits of a grant are rich.

The effect an influx of cash can have on your business goes without saying. If you didn't need it, you wouldn't have been able to get the grant in the first place.

But being awarded a grant can bring more than just cash. "It gives confidence to early stage investors," says Dr David Harper, founder and chief scientific officer of Biocontrol Ltd, which develops adaptable biological agents for markets where targeted chemical drugs are failing or ineffective.

R&D grants he got gave his work 'validation'. The providers 'do the patent search, they evaluate the technology in a way that does give confidence to small investors - that somebody bigger than them has done that', says Harper.

Biocontrol has been awarded a total of five grants for various aspects of its work. Recently, it got one from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. "The money was only a very small amount, $100,000," says Harper. But the credential it brought with it has led him to work with the US Military. "It's about who you want to talk to now, rather than the money."

Now, Biocontrol operates a 'very active grants policy', with someone specifically recruited to handle grant applications.

And that's another edge getting a grant gives your business - once you have one, the way is paved for a second, and a third. Not only are you familiar with the process, but you have a relationship with a provider. As j4b's Phillips suggests, "Ask them to come and see what a difference their funding has made and, who knows, they may be able to offer further grants."

And why wouldn't you want that?

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