Speaker 1: With so many grant writing opportunities available for you to reach your fundraising goal, it can just be downright frustrating, challenging, and completely overwhelming to even know where to start. Trust me, I've been there myself. But don't worry, I'm here to help. As a professional grant writer and consultant that sifts through these opportunities every single day, I'm going to answer the top, most popular questions I get all the time from startup founders who are looking to raise funds using grants. So in this video, I'm going to cover what type of grants are available for you, how to even find grants, how to go about the grant writing process, and what you need to do to put together a really strong, competitive application so that you can increase your chances of getting funded to grow your company. Hey guys, welcome back to the channel. I'm Stacey Chin from KeepYourEquity.co, and our mission is to help startups and small businesses secure non-dilutive grant funding. And we specialize in helping science and tech startups secure funding from federal programs called the SBIR and the STTR. If you're interested in learning more about these federal programs and how it can support you and your business, I'll leave a link in the description to another video below. And we also consult lots of other private and public businesses in healthcare, energy, tech, military, environment, and also NGOs to get them the grant funding they need to support projects that would make a huge impact to solve some of today's biggest global problems. Either way, no matter the industry or the idea, security funding is such a critical part to any startup's or business' success, and grants can be an excellent way to get non-dilutive financial support. However, finding and then securing these grants can be a really complex and time-consuming process. There are so many different types of grants out there, each with their own set of rules and application components and requirements. And depending on your business or your startup, you may not qualify for all these grant opportunities anyway, and sometimes the eligibility requirements may not be clear. And so for all those reasons, it is so important for founders to understand how to navigate this entire fundraising process through grants so that founders can identify the most appropriate grants for their businesses, which would eventually increase their chances of getting an award. I've been a professional grant writer for about 10 years, and to date, I've helped my clients across so many different industries secure over $10 million of non-dilutive funding. And with this invaluable experience, I want to share my thoughts and advice on how I would respond to the 7 of the most common questions I get all the time from startup founders looking to fundraise through grants. And these questions are… 1. What type of grants are available for my startup or business? 2. How do I even find these grants? 3. What are the eligibility requirements? 4. What is the application process like for these startup grants? 5. How much money can I apply for? And how long does it take to receive the grant? 6. What should I include in my grant application? And 7. How can I increase my chances of getting awarded this grant? But before I go in and answer those questions, if you can take a moment to like this video and to subscribe to this channel, I will be very grateful if you can do so. And this also will give you access to the wealth of knowledge and information of how you can secure non-dilutive grant funding for your business or your startup. And don't forget to check out our website at KeepYourEquity.co where you'll find lots of other resources, advice, and templates to support you in your fundraising journey. Thank you so much for your support and now let's get into it. Question number 1. 1. What types of grants are available for my business or startup? There are so many different grant opportunities available out there for your business or startup depending on your current needs and the development of where you are in your business. And these grant opportunities can be for anything including going for new hires, R&D efforts, expansion, operation, or even just to pursue other opportunities. However, I would say that the most common types of grants out there for startups or businesses are federal government grants, private sector grants, research grants, and non-profit grants. Usually, governmental grants are provided by local, state, or federal governmental agencies and are meant to support a variety of different industries and activities across healthcare, technology development, energy, environment, military, and so much more. Private sector grants are usually provided by corporations or businesses and similarly can be used to support many different types of developments and different purposes including marketing, R&D, research, expansion, new hires, and product development. Usually research grants are awarded to academic institutions or hospitals, but some biotech and startups may also be eligible for these types of grants as well too, such as those being offered through the SBIR and the STTR program. And finally, there are non-profit grants that are usually provided by philanthropic organizations and these funds are usually used to support social and community development projects. So once startup founders and business owners understand all the different types of grants available to them, the next question I usually get is, how do I find grants for my startup or business? There are several ways you can go about finding these grants for your startup or business. First, you can easily just do a Google search by entering keywords related to the grants that you're interested in pursuing. Some examples could be startup grant, foundational grants, non-profit grants, small business grants, or research grants. Here it is very important to be super specific in your search terms since there are some grants that are solely dedicated to different topics like cancer research, research and development, infrastructure grants, demonstration grants, or just non-profit grants. And there's also online databases that can help you search for these grant opportunities. And usually these databases come with a comprehensive list of different grant opportunities available along with the eligibility requirements, funding amounts, and deadlines. One of these databases is Grants.gov and this is actually a centralized database of all the federal grants offered by the U.S. government. Here startups and businesses can look up for different grant opportunities based on keywords, eligibility requirements, and other critical factors. You can also explore other governmental websites like the Small Business Administration to search for other different grant opportunities for your startup or your business. Also you can check out your state's local business development centers or local incubators that can give you lots of free resources and advice of how you can search for different grant opportunities. So once you've found a grant or two that you may be interested in applying for, usually the next question I get is, what are the eligibility requirements? So the eligibility requirements for any business or startup grants can widely vary depending on the type of grant and the funding agency. Some of the most common eligibility requirements include the business's location, size, and industry, as well as the type of project or research developments they want to pursue. So for example, government and state grants require that the startup may be located in a certain geographical region or be involved in a specific industry or field. And some may require to have a limited amount of employees. And as we discussed, there are also private sector grants available that are focused on funding high innovations and R&D efforts. However, some of these eligibility requirements require for the startup or business to be focused on high profit, high growth, and high impact. Research grants are only for startups or businesses or academic institutions focused on R&D. And while non-profit grants may only fund businesses with a 501c3 status. Either way, depending on the grant you want to go for, the best way to figure out the eligibility requirements is to read through the solicitation or to ask the program officer or the agency to make sure that you qualify before you actually write the grant. And that leads to our question number four, which is, what is the application process like for a grant? The application process, depending on what grant you go for, can widely vary across the board. The application process starts by researching and identifying what grant you want to go for. And once you've identified that it is a good fit for your business or startup, you want to review the eligibility requirements and then research the application process so you'll understand what components are necessary to put together a full application. Now, there are also some applications that would require you to either submit an abstract, a cover letter, a letter of intent, or a project pitch so that they can get reviewed and approved before you proceed to prepare a full application. So depending on the opportunity you want to go for, there could already be templates available for you to use. And if so, just use those templates. It will make things ten times easier for you throughout the grant writing process. Other times, the instructions might be a little bit vague and you'll have to go through a hundred page solicitation or directions to identify what components they want within your application. However, once you understand what is needed to put together a full application, the next step is to get to writing. And this may include drafting a really detailed proposal that outlines a project or research that you want to pursue if you get the funding. Other common components of a grant application also requires a business plan, a summary of your short and long-term goals, a detailed budget and budget justification, timeline, resumes, and lots of other supporting documents. There are also other grant opportunities that might require some additional follow-up components like pitches, videos, and site visits. So it is really important for you to comb through the solicitation really carefully so you can understand what is exactly needed to put together that full application. And for these reasons, some businesses or startups would prefer to hire an expert grant writer so that they can help them to plan out and identify all the components so nothing will be missed. And question number five is, how much money can I apply for and when will I receive the grant? So I might be sounding like a broken record at this point, but it really depends on the grant opportunity. Usually a good rule of thumb is the bigger the grant, the longer it will take to do the review. So for example, if you submitted an NIH SBIR grant, you might not hear back from the funding agency to understand whether or not your application got awarded within 4 months after submitting it. In another example, for the NSF SBIR program, you might not even hear back until 6 months. And in another example, I recently finished a PCORI grant for $5 million that was submitted in May, but the review process won't happen until July later this year. And then the funding awards will be announced later in November. So even though reviewing the grant can take quite a while, it might be months later until you actually receive the grant if they want to fund your application. And this timeline often depends on several factors such as the complexity of the grant application process, the number of applicants being reviewed in that cycle, and due to the specific requirements of that grant program. And because securing grants can be so competitive, even if you go through the grant writing process the first time, you might get your grant rejected. So that means you have to spend even more time improving your grant to make it better and then you have to go back and then restart that timeline again. And for those reasons, I usually tell my clients, especially going in for the grant writing process the first time to stay patient because grant writing and raising funds through grants is a persistence game. Now question number six is what do I include in my grant application? So let's define what a grant proposal is. Usually a grant proposal is a very detailed document that outlines a project or research that grant will fund, which includes all the nitty gritty details of how the project will get executed. So now that you understand what a grant proposal is, what do you include in it? Well, first and foremost, it is important to provide a very clear and concise narrative of what your business or startup is, the specific project or research that you want to pursue with the funds, and how would this grant support your mission or long-term growth. And these proposals will also require you to put together a really detailed budget and budget justification that breaks down exactly how the funds will be used. And this will include all the different expense categories, including salaries, travel, materials and supplies, publication costs, consultants, and so many more. And also some of these proposals will require you to put together a timeline, like in a Gantt chart form, that outlines when each milestone will get completed and also how that will relate to your short and long-term goals. And finally, there's also many other supporting documents that are usually required for these larger applications, like resumes or biosketches, facilities, research, and documents to make sure you have everything in place to carry out the proposed efforts, and letters of support to back your idea or to give you evidence as to why your grant should get funded. And last but not least, question seven, which can be arguably the most common question I get all the time from startup founders. And this question is, how do I increase my chances of getting an award? To increase your chances of getting an award, your proposal needs to stand out against the competition, which is the hardest thing to do. So the next question is, how do you even do that? So one way to stand out is to clearly and concisely articulate your goals and how your research or proposal efforts are aligned to that funding agency's mission. To demonstrate that your startup or business has a well-defined plan that can achieve these goals in the appropriate timeline of the proposed research efforts. And this is important so that the agency knows that these grants funds will be used very effectively and efficiently. And to do this properly, you want to outline every little detail and step-by-step of how the funds will be used to carry out your proposed efforts. In other words, how are you going to use the funds to go from step A all the way to step B? So when I invite my clients on how to go about putting together a really strong application, I like to go through a thought process exercise and ask them, if you were to get the grant funding tomorrow, what are you going to do step-by-step in order to get from point A all the way towards your end goal? And this can be a great exercise to walk through what you propose to do in your application, what problems you might encounter, how do you mitigate those risks, and how would you prove that your proposed effort will deliver the anticipated results that you want to at the end of the day. By breaking down these steps casually in this manner, this will help you to outline and also narrate exactly how you should structure your proposed application. Another way to which I help my clients get their applications to stand out from the crowd is to provide lots of visuals like graphs, charts, and also figures as well. And these types of diagrams can make the proposal stand out and be much more engaging so that reviewers can better understand your objectives and goals for your proposed application. And importantly, these visual aids can be an excellent tool to help you demonstrate the impact of your innovation and also draw a picture into the bigger picture that you're trying to solve. Another way that you can make your grant application stand out from the crowd is to highlight your business' past successes and achievements. And this can include testimonials from satisfied customers, awards recognitions, or relevant accomplishments or milestones you've completed to date. And by highlighting your startup's strengths and successes in this manner will help you to demonstrate why you are a good fit to carry out these proposed efforts. And last but not least, to make sure your application stands out from the crowd, make sure you carefully proofread and edit your application before submitting it. A well-written and error-free application demonstrates professionalism and attention to detail. And this can be very helpful to make your grant application stand out from the rest. You won't believe how many businesses I've seen submit grant applications full of proofreading errors, grammatical errors, and silly mistakes that will end up costing them this grant funding award. And with that, those are my answers to the top 7 of the most common questions I get all the time from business and startup founders trying to secure grant funding. I hope you found these tips helpful so that you can understand how to find and put together a really compelling grant application to increase your chances of an award. Thank you for watching until the end of this video. If you haven't done so, please like and subscribe to this channel so you can continue learning how to keep your equity throughout your fundraising journey. And of course, don't forget to check out KeepYourEquity.co for more resources and advice as well. Thank you so much and I'll see you in a video very soon.