Bid writing · Specialism
Community health, voluntary sector and grant funding.
ICB procurements, community health services and social value submissions, plus grant applications for charities and community groups. Where the money comes from more than one place and the rules differ for each.
Grants and tenders are not the same document.
Voluntary sector organisations often reuse a strong grant application in a tender, or the reverse, and score badly both times.
A funder is buying change: they want a theory of change, a need case, and beneficiaries described vividly. A commissioner is buying delivery: they want capacity, governance, contract management and a unit price. The same project needs two genuinely different submissions.
NHS procurement adds a third rulebook. The Provider Selection Regime replaced competitive tendering for most healthcare services, and the process a buyer picks, direct award, most suitable provider, or competitive, changes what you are assessed against and how you can challenge.
- ICBProvider Selection Regime submissions and accreditation processes
- CommunityCommunity health services, prevention and early intervention contracts
- GrantsNational Lottery, trusts and foundations, local authority grant programmes. How we help →
- Social valueTOMs-scored social value responses on any public contract
- ConsortiumLead and partner submissions where several organisations bid together
- Public healthSubstance misuse, sexual health, health checks and outreach services
Grant funding
Grant applications for charities and community groups.
For registered charities, CIOs, CICs and community groups working in care, housing, mental health, children’s services and community health. Many of the organisations that bid for contracts need grants too, and we can help with both.
Finding the right funders
A shortlist of trusts, foundations and public funders whose priorities match your work, with their deadlines and what each wants to see. Fewer, better-targeted applications beat a mailshot.
Writing the application
Need, theory of change, outcomes, budget and sustainability, written to the funder’s own questions and word limits. Built from interviews with your team, so it sounds like you.
Reports and renewals
Monitoring reports that show what the money achieved, so your next application to the same funder starts from trust rather than from scratch.
Who we write to
- LotteryNational Lottery Community Fund programmes, from small awards to multi-year funding
- TrustsCharitable trusts and foundations, national and local
- PublicCouncil, ICB and government grant schemes
- CommunityCommunity foundations and corporate giving programmes
Before you apply
Most funders check the basics before they read a word about your project. Have these ready:
- Your governing document, such as a constitution or articles
- Accounts filed on time with the Charity Commission or Companies House
- A safeguarding policy that is current and signed off by your board
- A bank account in your organisation’s name
- A budget for the project that adds up
A fixed fee per application, never commission. You pay an agreed fee, quoted before we start, not a percentage of whatever you win. It keeps our advice honest: we have no reason to push you toward an application that won’t succeed.
An honest read first. Competition for grants has risen sharply, and many funders now turn down most of the applications they receive. If your project doesn’t fit a funder’s priorities, we’ll say so before you spend a week on it.
Grants and tenders, kept separate. When a funder and a commissioner are both in the picture, we write two different documents, because they are buying different things.
What assessors probe
Six themes across both routes.
Need and evidence base
Local data, not national statistics. JSNA figures, ward-level deprivation, waiting times and the gap you are filling.
Theory of change
Inputs to activities to outputs to outcomes, with the causal logic actually stated rather than implied.
Reach and inequalities
Who you reach that mainstream services miss. Under the PSR, addressing inequalities is a named key criterion.
Governance
Board composition, reserves policy, safeguarding oversight and financial controls. Where small charities most often fail selection.
Social value
TOMs-scored commitments that are specific, measurable and deliverable. Overpromising here creates contract problems later.
Sustainability
What happens when the funding ends, and how the service integrates with statutory provision rather than duplicating it.
Evidenced
NHS and community awards on file.
Mental Health Supported Living Services Provider List
Application accepted onto the provider list for Lots 1 and 2 following the evaluation period, with the contract issued for countersignature.
Domiciliary Care Any Qualified Provider
Two separate providers successful in the same AQP round under the Provider Selection Regime, both invited to mobilise for April service commencement.
Continuing Healthcare homecare accreditation
Approved provider status under the Provider Selection Regime, including satisfaction of the conditions precedent before the longstop date.
A tender or a grant on the horizon?
Send the closing date and a link to the notice or the funder. We’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth your time, before you pay us anything.