How to Answer Grant Application Questions

Know how to answer the questions in your application

Authored by:

iClick2Learn Team

How to Answer Grant Application Questions (P1.)

How to Answer Grant Application Questions (P2.)

How to Answer Grant Application Questions (P3.)

How to Answer Grant Application Questions (P4.)

How to Answer Grant Application Questions (P5.)

So the next staged formula is the content formula, and there are four parts to the content formula that are really critical for you to understand. The thing is, the right content that addresses the question wins the most points, wins the tender, etc. And what do I mean by that? The thing about your submission is it actually comes down to what the question is asking, and that’s what determines the content you provide. 

And there are four things that you need to make sure of that you look at, and you need to analyse the question. That’s the key component to this formula is you need to analyse and fully understand the question in order to know what content you provide.

The first one of these is parts. And what I’m saying is how many parts are there to the question? Are there four parts to the question? Is there two parts? Or is it a very simple question, and there’s only one part to the question? Time and time again, I’ve seen submissions that don’t address the whole question. They’ll only address one part, or if it’s a four-part question, they’ll only address two parts. 

And it’s unfortunate because it affects scoring. So if the question’s worth 10 points, there are four parts to the question, you’ve only addressed one part, you can only get a maximum of two-and-a-half points. Wow, that’s how critical this is. So I want you to break down the question. Watch for the word and. The word and indicates it’s another part, or there’s a new context. 

And we’ll talk about context in another unit following, but watch for the word and. I’ll give you an example. Someone might be asking you what’s the need for the project, and how is it identified? Wow, two parts to the question, different context. So that’s how critical it is.

The second part is to understand the subject that the question is asking about. And I’ll give a couple of examples. In a grant, somebody said I’m looking at this question and it’s called what’s your capacity to deliver. The very same question’s actually asked twice, but if you looked at the subject, the subject in that the first section of the grant was about the organisation, and the subject in the, it was the third section of the grant, was about the project team. So the subjects differs. The question might be the same, but the subject differs. So it’s really important to make sure you understand the subject of that question.

The third part is understanding the context of that question, or of that part of the question. So an example I gave earlier was what’s the need for the project, and how has it been identified? Now, what’s the need is quite simply saying this is the need. How it’s been identified is a different context because now it’s asking you what’s the research, the information, have you done focus groups, etc, etc So you can see there are very distinct different contexts. 

I’ll give you another example of the context in a question, and this is a pretty generic one: risk management. So they’ll ask you how do you identify, monitor, and mitigate risks, okay? What’s the subject? Risk. What are the context? How do you identify, monitor, and mitigate? So that means that one question has three different context areas, which means you have to address those three different context areas. Because if you don’t address them, you’ll lose points, because you haven’t told them everything that they’re asking for.

The fourth part to watch is the actions. And what I mean by that is, what action is the question asking you to provide? So, let’s look at a couple of words. And just to note here, I’m not focusing on verbs or action verbs. I’m asking what the action is that the question wants. So for example, what? What is a descriptor. What is giving enough information so that the person can understand. For example, could be a descriptor on what the target users are, who they are, etc. You know, what target uses is this project including? 

Well, that’s a descriptor, isn’t it? So give me enough information about them, so I can actually understand who they are. How question is a process question. So how is, how did you do this? It’s like the steps to it. So how did you understand it? How did you identify? Etc. Another one might be describe. So again describe enough information, so I can paint a picture. Another one is demonstrate. Now demonstrate for many people don’t get demonstrate right. Demonstrate is, it’s okay to tell me. But I need to understand that you can do it that you’ve done it, you can implement it. I need to understand how it works in practise. So with the word demonstrate, use a case study, an example to show that you actually understand and that you can apply what it is the question is asking.

Related posts

Introduction to Grant Writing [Course]

Whether you are new to grant writing or looking to refine your skills, this course provides valuable knowledge and practical techniques to increase your chances ...
Read More →

Introduction to Grant Writing [Course]

Whether you are new to grant writing or looking to refine your skills, this course provides valuable knowledge and practical techniques.
Read More →
Fundraising Plan

Developing a Fundraising Plan

Watch this recorded workshop to help you create a fundraising plan.
Read More →

Create a Sponsorship Plan

Watch this recorded workshop to help you create a sponsorship plan.
Read More →

Social Impact

Watch our two not-for-profit experts and learn what social impact is and how to identify the difference you make.
Read More →

Developing a Funding Ready Project

A handy template for you to start developing your project ready for your funding pitch.
Read More →

Approving Your Budget

Learn what information is contained in a budget, red flags to look out for, and questions to ask before voting to approve a proposed budget.
Read More →

Top 10 tips for your grant budget

We can all benefit from being able to better understand budget requirements for grants. Improve your chance of winning that next grant!
Read More →
50 Australian dollar

3 Ways to Find Grants Funds

Discover three ways you can proactively identify grants and reduce the time spent searching.
Read More →
Grants Calendar

Develop Your Grants Calendar

Don't wait for funding announcements. Learn how to develop a handy grants calendar and save stress by planning ahead.
Read More →
inland rail

How to win a Inland Rail Community Grant

This recorded online workshop will take you step by step through the guidelines of the current 2021 Inland Rail Community Grants Round.
Read More →
ANZ Seeds of renewal

ANZ Seeds of Renewal Grant Writing 2021

This recorded webinar will take you step by step through the guidelines of the current ANZ Seeds of Renewal Round 2021
Read More →
Online Training Webinar

How to apply for a Supplementary Volunteer Grant [Webinar]

I'll take you through the application and guidelines, step by step, and share winning tips and a simple method to increase your chance of writing ...
Read More →
Hand writing a submission

5 Step Formula To A Winning Submission [Course]

This course is specifically for nonprofits, charities and social enterprises, who are applying for grants, tenders, and award submissions.
Read More →

Four Abilities for Grants

Capability is about the capacity and ability of your human resources.
Read More →
How to understand those grant guidelines!

Introduction to Grant Writing

The four abilities of grant writing will help you understand the strategic thinking required for successful grant applications.
Read More →
Stand out from the crowd

How to Write a Competitive Grant Application and Stand out From the Crowd

How to gain a competitive edge over other submissions
Read More →
How to Structure your Grant Application Response

How to Structure your Grant Application Response

Know how to construct your application the right way
Read More →
Why you need to support your statements in your grant application

Why you Need to Support Your Statements in Your Grant Application

How to give the judges the key information they need
Read More →
How to understand those grant guidelines!

How to Understand Grant Guidelines!

Know how to make the most of the application guidelines
Read More →
error: This content is protected !!
Scroll to Top

Grant Writing 101 eBook

Are you ready to take your grant writing skills to the next level? Whether you’re a newcomer or seeking to refine your expertise, this 47 page comprehensive grant writing ebook has you covered.


Welcome

What you have already seen is just a small sample! There are loads more videos, in-depth courses, and content included in our library membership to
develop your skills. Let us show you!

Get access to the full library