Business Grants Consultants
Business grants are a fantastic way to fund your business or startup idea alongside other capital sources courses, or when investment capital or loans are not available. However, there are a few barriers standing in the way for small businesses when it comes to seeking grant funding:
- Small businesses often miss out on grants because they don’t know about the opportunities available to them.
- The grant application process can be long and tedious, often requiring you to explain and evidence all aspects of your business model and how it will make money.
- You need to prove your business is deserving of the funds—just like any type of investor, grant funders want to know they are backing a business that will benefit the wider community and economy.
What grants are small businesses eligible for?
The Australian government has over 700 grant and funding schemes for Australian businesses—from startups and established small businesses to large global corporations. With so many grant schemes on offer, it’s all too common to overlook opportunities you may be eligible for. Most grants are grouped can be grouped into the following categories:
- Export grants: Eligible for businesses involved in exporting goods from Australia.
- Innovation/research and development grants: Eligible for businesses that have an innovative business idea.
- Climate grants: Eligible for businesses in the research or development of renewable resources.
- Manufacturing grants: Eligible for businesses involved in manufacturing different types of goods in Australia.
- Apprenticeship Incentives Program: Eligible for businesses that can provide apprentices with genuine opportunities for skills-based training and development.
- Startup grants: There are a number of grant schemes available for startups in specific industries or those that meet
In addition to federal and state government grant schemes, there are also non-government grants available. It’s best to speak to a grants consultant to determine exactly what you’re eligible for.
How do I apply for a grant?
There are two ways you can apply for a business grant:
- Complete and submit a grant application yourself
- Hire an expert business grants consultant
Although you can apply for a grant yourself, grants are competitive and time-consuming and demand a lot of time for research, preparing all relevant documents and writing a convincing proposal. It’s definitely worth considering how a business grants consultant can assist you and boost your chances of being approved.
What is a business grants consultant?
A business grants consultant helps small businesses and individuals find, prepare and apply for business grants. Grants consultants have a solid understanding of the different types of grants available and their extensive research and grant writing skills help them align your application with the objectives of a grant to give you the best chance of being approved.
Some grants consultants may specialise in certain areas such as research and grant writing while others may provide a full scope of services.
What services do business grants consultants offer?
Business grants consultants provide a range of services to help you secure grant funding from governments and other organisations including:
- Finding grant opportunities
- Writing grant proposals
- Administrative support for grant submissions
- Reviewing draft grant proposals and providing feedback
- Grant management
What are the benefits of hiring a business grants consultant?
The thought of searching for grants you may be eligible for and then spending hours upon hours making sure your application ticks all the boxes is enough to put many business owners off applying for grant funding. It’s all too common to see small businesses missing out on money that could help them grow. Hiring a grants consultant, even just to review your application and provide feedback, is a worthwhile investment that can offer a big return. Here are some of the benefits:
- Save time: Grants consultants can tell you straight up whether applying for a specific grant is worth it. They can also take care of the whole application process to save you precious hours that you need to look after your core business activities. When there are deadlines to meet, it’s easy to skip over key information which could hinder your success.
- Maximise the funding you can receive: Grants consultants know the ins and outs of grants. They know how different grants work and will help you get multiple grants and tax incentives where possible (something you may not be aware of).
- Excellent proposal writing: Grant proposal writing is a skill in itself that requires you to write clearly and concisely while being able to present and emphasize certain pieces of information. Grants consultants are trained in writing through a lens that helps your application get approved.
Should I hire a business grants consultant?
While there are many benefits of hiring a grants consultant, sometimes you might not need their services or you may benefit from a partial service only. Here are some considerations:
- The amount of time you have to play with: Have you got a decent amount of time left before the deadline? If you do, you could consider writing the application yourself and hiring a grants consultant to simply review and provide feedback. This is a more affordable option that will also aid your professional development to improve your grant writing skills. If you’re short on time and lack of expertise, you may need to hire a grant writer to push a quality application out fast.
- The amount of funding you want to apply for: Smaller grants are sometimes much more straightforward and faster to complete. Larger grants are usually more tedious and have larger criteria to meet. Assess the complexity of a grant application before deciding on the services you need.
- The number of grants you are applying for: If you’re applying for multiple grants, it could be a good idea to hire a grants consultant to complete one of them which you can then use as a blueprint for others. This could save you a considerable amount of cash.
- Competition: How competitive is the grant you’re applying for? Could a particular grant really change the course of your business? Sometimes it’s worth paying for the expertise and skills of a grants consultant to produce a quality application.
How do I hire a business grants consultant?
If you decide to invest in professional grants consulting services then it’s important to choose the right person. Below are some key things to consider when hiring:
- Grant application success rate
- Grant application completion time
- Knowledge of your industry
- The amount of work you are required to do
- Client testimonials and reviews
- Fee structure
What are the average grants consultant fees?
Grants consultants may charge an hourly fee, a fixed fee, a success fee or a combination of these. To give you a bit of an idea, the average hourly rate ranges between $50 and $150+ per hour depending on experience. Experienced grants consultants with a high success rate may charge up to $500 per hour.
If you’re looking for professional grants consultant services, we can connect you with business grant consultants here on SavvySME. Simply answer a few questions to get started. You can also reach out to other business owners or get expert advice in our Q&As.
