Five Common Grant Application Mistakes Capital Grants Program
Five common grant application mistakes The BGA receives nearly 100 grant applications each year for capital projects spread across the Capital Grant Program (CGP) and the Trade Training Centre Program. There is a wide gap in the quality of the applications so this document has been written to assist your school s grant application to succeed by addressing all the relevant criteria and be written in a clear and concise manner. Here are some common mistakes and how to avoid them. Poor project planning Enrolment projections Not giving yourself enough time Inaccurate budgeting Poor presentation Poor project planning The project you are proposing to be funded must firstly satisfy the objectives of the Program these are stated in the front of the CGP Criteria and Processes document (on the BGA website) which is updated annually and aligns with the Schools Assistance Act and the Administrative Guidelines, both of which guide the BGA in determining grants recommended under the Program. Secondly, the project application must demonstrate appropriate consideration has been given to each aspect of the project. Factors such as construction costs (can you verify the costs per square metre), construction method (lump sum tender vs project management), construction materials (pre-fabricated vs bricks and mortar), staging (build all at once vs build over a few years), council approval (how do you know the Council will approve your project), alignment with School Master Plan (how does the project being applied for fit in with the school s long term plans), and project prioritisation (such as GLAs or library instead of car park resurfacing) are all questions the BGA Committee will address. Thirdly, the CGP has only limited funds to recommend for projects and the Program is quite competitive. It is likely that there will many schools similar to your SES level with similar projects, so your grant application needs to be reasonable in terms of the grant amount requested. Excessive grant requests (beyond the scope the BGA can recommend) may indicate your school would not have the funds on hand to commence the project, may have trouble raising the required funds through borrowing, or may be at risk of not completing the project due to lack of funds. All of these risks will be considered by the BGA Committee when assessing your project so the best tip here is to ensure your project reflects the CGP capacity and the school s financial situation. Lastly, you should demonstrate that the school personnel (or advisors) have the skills and resources to implement the project and are "ready to go" - this doesn't mean you necessarily 2
need to know the outcome of your grant application, but you will need a clearly set out and practical plan to implement your project. Identifying the qualifications of the team who will be managing this project will also be useful, including not only internal personnel but it would be expected that the school would use professional advice (architects, quantity surveyors etc) to assist them plan their project. Enrolment projections You will need to justify the project in light of the school s existing and future enrolments. Many schools cannot justify the enrolments they are projecting, and when compared to previous years enrolment projections, have been shown to be overstated. If there is some doubt relating to future year enrolments, and therefore the need for expanded facilities, the BGA Committee may recommend the school defer for a year to determine if the projected enrolments are realised before recommending a grant (if so, the school will still need to reapply in the next year). This issue becomes more apparent for small schools (< 60) who may be vulnerable to enrolment volatility. Also, some schools have a mixture of students that receive Government funding and students that pay full fees to the school. The purpose of the CGP is to provide facilities for students that receive Government funding. Many schools that may be unaware of this important distinction request funding where the majority of the students are not Government funded or where the non-funded students will also receive the benefit of the Government grant. Please be aware that the BGA Committee will critically evaluate the mix of students and may calculate the proportionate amount of the project based on the stated student mix and could determine that the school could fund the funded student portion of the project from its own funds. Not giving yourself enough time The application process is a lengthy and complex one, requiring input from a number of different sources, such as the Principal, the Business Manager, and possibly the Architect. Giving yourself enough time (at least a few weeks) to gather all relevant materials from everyone concerned is essential. You should also allow enough time to actually complete the application, and upload the required documents, which could take up to 2 hours to complete assuming that you have all the relevant information before you start. It would be expected that you would have reviewed the grant application early on to ensure you are aware of the information you will need and will have all of the relevant information prior to entering data into the application. 3
The online grant application consists of the following sections: school details, project summary, project costing, project funding, educational justification for the project, enrolment projections and justification, staffing projections, fees charged by the school, financial data for 1 past year, the current year and 2 forward years, selected historical data for 4 previous years, as well as loans and borrowings. All sections and fields need to be completed. Schools will not progress to the next stage of the process until the application is complete. Although the word limit for these sections are usually only around 100-500 words long, it's a good idea to have all this information already saved in a document so that all you have to do is copy and paste it into the application when you're ready. There's nothing worse than filling in all the sections to find that your browser has crashed and that you don't have a backup copy. You also need to ensure your school is in a position to provide audited financial documents by 30 April. This may entail working backwards from this date to ensure the required Board meetings are held, and the auditors have been scheduled to come in with enough time to complete the audit and prepare general purpose financial statements. Inaccurate budgeting A Capital Grant Program grant will most likely not cover the complete costs of the project - more often than not, your school will have to fund the majority of the costs. As a result it's important to highlight how you will source these funds. The best tip is to be honest about your funds and make accurate and realistic calculations. Do not inflate project costs (and make savings later), as any savings will reduce the size of the grant. Also, you cannot ask for additional funds later because you didn't use accurate costs at the start. You may also need to justify individual items of your project budget and explain why your project needs to incur those specific costs, or why they may appear to greater than expected. Many smaller schools only seem to prepare budgets when required as part of the CGP application. This is not advisable as many schools make mistakes that may be detrimental to their desired outcome. For example, some schools show large profits that indicate the school could fund its own project while conversely, some schools show large losses indicating they would be insolvent in 12-24 months which would preclude the BGA Committee from recommending a grant. Often, the situation is simply a result of incomplete budgeting or data entry, however the BGA Committee can only make a determination on the data presented in the application. The best tip here is to prepare those future year budgets well in advance and ensure the results are accurate, complete and justifiable. If in doubt, use an external consultant or accountant to assist you with the financial sections to ensure they are accurate. Poor presentation Pay close attention to detail, as small mistakes may inadvertently result in incorrect data being used to form an opinion on your grant application. In the text boxes, please provide only the required information and write in an economical style bullet points are acceptable. 4
Make sure you get a third party (unrelated to the grant application) to read your application before you submit it. Prior to the BGA Committee visit, we will request that certain people will be on hand to discuss the project. We will have identified what date the visit will occur on well in advance so please ensure that the people requested to be present at the BGA Committee visit are locked in. Your school is applying for Government funding anywhere between $100,000 and $800,000 it s essential that the Principal, the Business Manager, the architect and the Board chair are available to discuss the project and justify the school s request for Government funding. David Buley Chief Financial Officer Capital Grants Program Director dbuley@aisnsw.edu.au 5