Back by popular demand, YTAS is pleased to share the six-week-long Grant Writing Toolkit as part of the ‘Money Matters’ training strand.

Do you need to raise more money from grant applications? As the first part of our Money Matters training strand focusing on managing finance, budgets and fundraising, the Grant Writing Toolkit will give you the vital building blocks to make successful grant applications.

Post-COVID it is even more essential to have strong, well-developed applications ready to go as soon as funds open. This in-demand course will help you upgrade your fundraising skills and secure your income for spring 2023 onwards.

Let fundraising specialist (and YTAS’s very own Fundraising Consultant) Phyllis Martin tell you exactly how to plan, create and submit successful applications, and transform your fundraising.

Designed and tailored for the youth arts sector, this six-week block course will teach you how to plan, create and submit successful applications in just a few hours each week.

You will receive:

• Senior fundraising strategist support and professional drafting expertise
• Six 75-minute live small group training sessions, recorded to watch anytime
• One-to-one advice calls on request
• Time-saving templates of real successful applications, databases and supporting documents for you to use

Week 1 – Strategy: know what makes your projects fundable and where to find funders.

Week 2 – Method: learn how to compartmentalise and prioritise to make a basic grant-writing plan for the year ahead.

Week 3 – Planning: create a detailed timeline for your programme that avoids the common mistakes and shows funders you know what you are doing.

Week 4  – Budgeting: create a detailed funding budget, learn how it’s different from a delivery budget and make sure you include the details that funders need to say yes.

Week 5 – Impact: impress funding panels with rock solid outcomes and indicators.

Week 6  – Not Just Good But Great: how to use evidence of need to stand out from the crowd, what to say and how to say it.

These events open to anyone working in the Scottish youth arts sector. Those who sign up are expected to attend every week, however the sessions will be recorded so you can catch up if and when any sessions are missed! The project consists of six sessions over seven weeks. The session dates are 5, 12 and 26 October, and 2, 9 and 16 November. There is no workshop on Wednesday 19 October.

The YTAS sector training programme is supported by funding from the Gannochy Trust and Creative Scotland. Bursaries are available to any YTAS Member who requires financial support in order to attend one of our training courses, and will cover any fees associated with the training.

Who is it for?

Managers: For those of you who are running everything from behind the scenes. Training that is for managers may include opportunities for other office-based staff.

Freelancers: For those of you who are braving it on your own. Training for freelancers will be spaces designed to investigate the unique challenges that come from working contractually for multiple organisations.

What did previous participants have to say?

100% of attendees said their confidence in grant writing increased as a result of taking the course in 2021.

“Very informative and full of useful information with clear and concise direction, excellent back up videos to study in your own time and on hand tutor advice throughout. Would recommend to anyone looking for grant funding from new to seasoned administrators.”

Attendees told us what the most beneficial aspects of the course was to them:

“I have used the timeline template for my current application, and it’s been invaluable. It also helped me to see how the flow of fundraising throughout the year needs to look like so that it isn’t stressful and rushed.”

“Being given a current list of funders per types and priorities.”

“Being able to take the time over a six-week period to really consider where our organisation sits and how we can develop our strategies moving forward (…) putting time aside in a busy week to give head space to what we want to achieve and how we might go about it.”

“The whole programme worked as a filter in clarifying and solidifying creative ideas and visions for a fundable project.”

“I think EVERYTHING was useful and I learned something new in every session as well as feeling reassured that I’m on top of some elements. I found the sessions looking at budgeting and selecting and organising funders particularly helpful.”

Attendees told us how participating in the Grant Writing Toolkit has benefitted their organisation:

“We have the knowledge and vocabulary to write clearer grant proposals.”

“Improved planning and more efficient working with my organisation’s fundraising team.”

“The course has given me a range of tools to draw on and a structure for our fundraising activity and I feel more confident in my own abilities.”

“It has made the process of fundraising seem much more manageable and less daunting, and it has provided some fantastic tools for keeping on top of opportunities for funding, planning projects and writing grant applications.”