The news is that it doesn’t matter how great your project or the results you say you will deliver, it’s also about how well you have addressed the funder’s criteria and the questions in your response.
You also need to demonstrate that you have what I call the ‘The Four Abilities’.
Ability 1: Capability (Ca-pa-bil-i-ty)
Capability is about the capacity and ability of your human resources.
Many applications today focus on your organisations capacity to deliver on the grant and they will either ask you this explicitly or they will address it in their criteria or assessors scoring sheet.
Here’s just a few simple questions to ask yourself:
1. Do you have the skills, knowledge and industry know-how to demonstrate that you have the capacity to deliver the outcomes?
2. Does your team have the ability to work on the project?
3. Do the members of your target group/clients/users have the ability to undertake and fulfil their requirements of the project?
4. If you are running on volunteers, do your volunteers have the capacity to commit the number of hours in volunteer time needed to get the project completed?
So, how might we take an objective view of measuring ourselves against the first of ‘The Four Abilities’?
1. If you were to outsource an organisation to run a project such as yours what are you looking for? What skills and experience do you expect the successful group to have? Make up a list of all the things you are looking for. Check the funders’ guidelines and see if there is anything that needs to be included in your list.
2. Honestly, take a good hard look at your organisation and ask yourself if you are the best organisation to be doing this project. Where are the gaps? What would you need to do or prove to ‘win’ the outsourcing contract? If you were judging yourself out of 10, what score would you give for each of those areas you listed earlier? Why?
At this point, if you don’t have high scores and aren’t full of confidence that you have the capacity to deliver then STOP and re-think. Brainstorm with a few others about how you can get around the troubling areas – perhaps partner with another organisation or get support from consultants or council.
The point doesn’t proceed, you could potentially be wasting a whole lot of time on a grant application if you can’t honestly and confidently fulfil this requirement. While some grant providers will directly ask you the question about your capacity to deliver, others may not and as an assessor, I can guarantee you they are looking for it!
Check out the other 3 abilities;
Part 2. Sustainability
Part 3. Viability
Part 4. Accountability
*The Four Abilities is Trademarked by Natalie Bramble