How to Write a Grant Application

The most common reason grant applications fail isn't a weak project - it's a poorly constructed case for a project that would have been competitive. Assessors and reviewers are human beings working through a stack of proposals under time pressure. Your job is to make their job easy: answer the question they're actually asking, give them the evidence they need to give you points, and make it impossible to misunderstand your project. That sounds straightforward, but most applications miss at least one of these things.

Understand what the funder is trying to achieve

Every grant programme has an objective - a problem the funder is trying to solve or a change they want to bring about. Innovate UK wants to fund commercial innovation that strengthens the UK economy. NIH SBIR wants to fund health technology that will improve patient outcomes and reach the market. The UKSPF wants to create jobs and improve communities in specific geographic areas. Before writing a word, be clear on what your funder is trying to achieve - and how your project advances that objective. Applications that feel like they were written for the wrong competition fail at the first read.

Answer the question they're asking, not the question you'd prefer

Grant application forms have specific questions and specific word or character limits. Answer what's asked. If the question is "why does this project need grant funding?" - answer that, don't pivot into describing how brilliant your product is. If the question is "describe the market opportunity" - give market data, not more technical description. Assessors award marks against the question they asked; marks for answering a different question well are zero.

Structure your narrative for a tired reviewer

Lead with the most important point, not the context. "Our technology reduces surgical site infections by 40% using a novel antimicrobial coating that has not previously been achieved at commercial scale" is a stronger opening than three paragraphs of background on hospital-acquired infections. Use subheadings within long answers. Use bullet points for lists of evidence. Put your key claims early. Reviewers who are confused by paragraph three often don't recover their enthusiasm by paragraph seven.

Evidence beats assertion every time

Claiming your market is large is not the same as showing it's large. Claiming your team is experienced is not the same as listing relevant roles, companies, and outcomes. Claiming your technology is novel is not the same as citing the prior art and explaining specifically what you've done that hasn't been done before. Every important claim in your application should be backed by evidence - data, published research, customer quotes, comparable examples. Assertions without evidence score poorly.