Case Study: Community group training – grant writing, measuring success and acquittals
Volunteering North Queensland
The Situation
Not-for-profits and volunteer groups need the skills to write winning grant applications, so their groups remain sustainable with continued funding.
However writing the grant application is only one part of the picture – what about measuring the success of the grant project, and acquitting the grant correctly so that the group can continue to receive funding?
And how to train a room of people with varying levels of skill, experience and background knowledge?
The approach
Using her skills as a Certificate IV qualified trainer and assessor and tertiary-qualified group facilitator, Renée designed and developed a series of training sessions designed to meet the needs of all participants and avoid the dreaded ‘death by Powerpoint’!
Each workshop allowed plenty of time for questions and answers in a large group setting, enabling more experienced participants to share their knowledge and lessons learned with the less experienced. Small group work allowed more ‘air time’ for those less comfortable with speaking in a large group, and there was time for individual thought and reflection. Practical exercises were based on real life examples.
All attendees had the option to contact Renée any time after the session to ask questions when writing their next grant application.
The Result
Feedback from the workshops was overwhelmingly positive, and Renée is frequently asked when the next workshop is being run. Several participants were successful with future grant applications thanks to the skills they learned in this workshop.
“Our club was successful in receiving a $10,000 grant for domestic violence awareness raising in Townsville. We would not have received the grant if it wasn’t for Renée’s grant writing workshop. When we attended Renée’s workshop, our group was about 3-5 days away from submitting an application for the Gambling Community Benefit Fund. I was worried that our application wouldn’t have a good chance of success, as it didn’t seem to match the parameters of the Gambling Community Benefit Fund and it wasn’t the usual type of thing that they fund. After attending Renée’s grant-writing workshop, we rewrote our entire application based on what we learned at the workshop, particularly matching our grant project goals to the goals of the funding body, tips for using the right words, etc. We were successful! Keep running these workshops Renée, you’re doing wonderful things for the people of Townsville!”
Anneli Haipola, Zonta Club of Townsville Metro
“I’m doing my first big grant application. Thanks to your training I am definitely feeling a lot more confident.”
Clare Leo, Stable on the Strand (now Stable NQ) Administration Officer
“I’ve gone from not knowing how to write a grant to inspired to try.”
“The workshop catered for all levels of experience.”
“That was a brilliant session, makes me want to get straight into writing a grant!”
Training participants
“We engaged Renée to deliver a series of workshops as part of our training program to equip community groups. I was impressed by Renée’s communication, preparation, and flexibility to accommodate all our needs while ensuring that the workshops were engaging for the participants. I highly recommend Renée to anyone looking to engage her services.”
Shane Harris, Manager, Volunteering North Queensland
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