1. Will you charge for all the research and development work you do in order to complete a funding bid?

NO, everything done in order to submit a compelling funding bid will be included in the agreed charge(s).  This includes:

• Research

• Budget development

• Eligibility checks

• Writing an expression of interest

• Writing the bid

• Pulling together the relevant documents to support the bid (although you will need to provide these as soon as a contract is signed)

• Submitting the bid

• Keeping details of your individual pipeline of funding bids submitted and monitoring outcomes

2. I have heard that some funders do not like consultants writing funding bids on the charity’s behalf, how do you overcome this issue?

This may be true for a small cohort of funders, and it is only a recommendation. To overcome this, IDEA asks that the charity being supported provides us with an email address in their name, so if you are ABC Youth Services, we would ask for a generic email address – something like funding@abcyouthservices.co.uk.

3. We are a really small charity/group with no real income, could you still help us?

Yes, IDEA would need to determine whether you are ‘funding ready’ – either help you get to that point, or if you are, agree the pace you want to work at.  IDEA would suggest that you focus on the smaller pots to build your income and engage with local stakeholders to create more leverage in the community.  We do request a small retainer based on the value of the bid/grant we are applying for.  If this is not an option for you, please let’s still have a conversation as we can work together to make this work for you.

4. If we have no funding, how do we pay for your services to get us ‘funding ready’?

IDEA can look at your situation and potential success – whether you are doing something many other charities are doing etc., and perhaps come to some arrangement. Get in touch to discuss your specific needs and circumstances.

5.  Do you operate on a ‘no win/no fee’ basis?

Only in exceptional circumstance and by agreement beforehand.  Generally we ask for a retainer (on a sliding scale) but do recognise that not all charities/organisations are financially viable for this option.  Please book in a call to explore this further.

6. If we pay the agreed retainer, do we get this refunded at all?

No, the retainer is not refunded.

7.   Do you have a limit in how little or how large a funding bid you will apply for on our behalf?

Not really, but we have to make sure that our time is well invested, both for you as the client and for IDEA.  We have therefore put some limitations on what IDEA can and can’t do.  There is a sliding scale of costings and the larger the fund, the larger the retainer – but the % paid on success reduces.  Please see IDEAs costing structure for further details. 

8. If you are supporting a number of different charities, could there be a conflict of interest?

At IDEA, we are committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and transparency in all our work. To overcome potential conflicts of interest when supporting multiple charities, we implement clear policies and practices that ensure fairness, objectivity, and confidentiality. Each charity is unique and it is that uniqueness that IDEA will sell to potential funders.

9. How soon would we know if a funding bid was successful?

Every funder has different timescales, some are longer than others. It can take anything from 4 – 12 weeks to hear back. IDEA will maintain a pipeline of funding bids on their bespoke database and chase funders if the waiting time goes beyond that which is reasonable or advertised.

10. Could we potentially be competing with other charities delivering similar outcomes, applying for the same funding pot?

IDEA would ascertain your unique and specific delivery methodology and ensure that you are not competing with other similar charities at the same time.

11. What if I want IDEA to write funding bids for us but also get us funding ready?

This is achievable. IDEA would agree to a set of requirements needed and quote for the time it would take to deliver those to you at the £45/hour rate. Once we agree that you are ready to apply for funding, IDEA will then continue on the “NO WIN/NO FEE” basis.

12. What if IDEA succeeds in getting us a £500,000 over 5 years, do we have to pay the percentage rate as soon as we are advised it is successful?

This will depend on the funders payment structure. IDEA will align their invoicing with this. So, for example if the funder agrees to pay you quarterly, IDEA will invoice you quarterly, or if it’s annually, then IDEA will invoice you annually. There is a caveat to this which is included in the contract you would sign, which states that if the funder withdraws from future payments for something that is outside IDEAs control, the full percentage rate will still be due to IDEA, with immediate effect. Future funding is dependant on the Charity meeting the funders requirements and this needs to be understood at the outset. It will probably include regular monitoring returns by certain deadlines.

13. Can IDEA complete monitoring returns on our behalf?

In exceptional circumstances, yes – but this would need to be by prior agreement (which will come with its own signed contract) and is charged at a rate of £60/hour and is dependant on the charity being able to provide timely outcomes (case studies / impact) and outputs (numbers). This could take IDEA anything from 2 – 6 hours to complete depending on their complexity and information provided by the Charity.

14. Can we let you know which funding pots we want to apply to?

Yes, by all means, but IDEA will have the autonomy to decide whether these are viable options; working on a “NO WIN/NO FEE” basis means that IDEA has to concentrate on the most likely to succeed funding pots.

15. How do you know which funding pots/funders are best for us?

Once we have decided to work together and you have signed the contract, IDEA will ask you to complete a ‘Fact Finding’ document which asks MOST of the questions that appear on funding applications. From this IDEA will run a query on ALL the funding databases IDEA links in to (and there are many) using your unique parameters. IDEA will keep a record of these and determine which ones are more likely to succeed for YOUR CHARITY.

16. How much engagement is needed from us as it’s just me / we don’t have capacity to keep making calls etc?

This is up to you. At the outset IDEA will need a lot of information – the fact f inding document is very intense and needs a lot of information, but that should give IDEA the basis to move forward. There will always be additional questions but we will agree on best way to communicate going forward. IDEA will establish how much information you want/need and how best to get that to you (some Clients provide a shared Google Drive for example).

17. Would you run all potential funders by us? If this is what you want?

Or IDEA could keep a database of these and either send them to you or share them on a platform we can both access.

18. What happens when a funder wants to speak to someone about a funding bid that has been submitted?

IDEA would recommend that someone at the Charity speaks to the funder. IDEA will send all submitted bids to the Charity, or upload them on a shared drive and encourages the key person to make themselves familiar with it. This person will have the passion and understanding of what key outcomes they want to achieve; IDEA will not really be in a position to speak with passion over the deliverables.

19. Can we withdraw from this agreement at any time?

Of course you can. Any outstanding funding bids awaiting an outcome will still be covered by the agreement terms, but IDEA will not submit any further funding bids on your behalf once you withdraw from the agreement. We ask for a month’s notice and that the access to the email address is not cancelled until the date of the last funding bid has passed, so that IDEA can still monitor any successes as the percentage will still be payable.

20. We don’t want to be reliable on IDEA indefinitely, how can you help us become self-sustainable?

Enabling you to become self-sustainable is the whole purpose of our relationship so there will be an natural end to this for a variety of reasons – if you want to become self-sustainable sooner, IDEA can provide some training around income generation (which you could ‘sell’ to other charities to recover some of the costs).  Please see our cost structure for details.

PLEASE BOOK IN AN EXPLORATORY CALL IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS AS WE HAVE PROBABLY NOT ANSWERED EVERYTHING.