Grant Writing and Review

Grants are extremely important for the work of many environmental organizations and community groups. In order to have the best chance of securing grant money, applications must be as strategic as possible. Demonstrating the need for your work, having well-defined, achievable goals, and having a clear way to measure the impact of your work are almost universal requirements of typical grants. Learning to frame your projects and programs in this way will not only increase your chances of winning grants, but improve your effectiveness. If you have already paired up an idea or issue with a particular grant but need another perspective to tease out the right approach, we can help you develop a plan.

If you already have a draft grant application, we can review it before you submit, checking for the strength of your goals, measurable outcomes and the appropriateness of your plan to achieve your goals. As part of this process we go through the application step-by-step, pointing out strengths, weaknesses and options for you to improve the application in a comprehensive report. Typically we review grant applications seeking funds of $10,000 and up, and ask that you allow sufficient time before the grant deadline for us to review your draft, and for you to in turn make any desired changes and edits upon receipt.

As part of our past work we have written and been awarded several grants. For example, Ms. Ferguson’s Growing Spaces project, conducted in Cambridge, UK, was funding jointly with funds from the Cambridge City Council and through winning funds from P&G’s Future Friendly contest. She has also been trained by the London-based Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI) in Trusts and Foundations Fundraising.

Recently The Idea Tree conducted issue research for and co-authored a major grant for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which was successful and worth 8.3 million euros. This will enable Sea Shepherd to purchase a new, top-of-the-line ship to patrol the Southern Ocean. For more information please see our blog “Sea Shepherd’s 8.3 million euro award and The Idea Tree.”