Government grants can be a powerful tool for your business. They can bring exciting new ideas to life, or be the catalyst you need to grow faster. 

And they can give you the additional resources you need to tackle some of those business challenges that might otherwise feel out of reach.

But before you can win with grants, you need to find them. And while that might sound easy, the reality is it can be tricky to pinpoint the grants that can most help your business. So today, I’m going to share some information on how to find grants, but also some pro tips that can speed up the process. 

Let’s get started.

Where do I look for and find grants?

Before you start searching, it’s good to understand the different types of grants and where you might find them. Government grants are issued at either the federal, state, or local government level. 

Finding a list of federal grant opportunities is simple, thanks to the Australian Government’s GrantConnect search engine. Federal grants are usually the biggest and often most competitive grants of all, so it pays to be across the latest developments, so you aren’t caught unawares when a new opportunity arises.

Intro to GrantConnect

On GrantConnect, the list of grant opportunities defaults to sorting the grants that are closing soonest, with ongoing grants at the opposite end of the list. 

You can choose several different ways to sort the list including by the issuing agency, close date, or primary category. If you know which government agency or category your grant is likely to fall under, these are good ways to quickly find relevant opportunities.

Of course, not all grants are issued by the federal government, so if you’re searching for a grant that doesn’t fall under this umbrella, or you aren’t sure, you’ll need to look elsewhere and do a bit more research. 

GrantHelper Pro Tip

Grants are administered by specific departments of government (e.g., ​​Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources), and the most up-to-date information about a grant may be found on the issuing department’s website.

Each of Australia’s state governments publish their own grant opportunities, and have their own web pages, so these are also great places to look:

• NSW government grants
• VIC government grants
• TAS government grants
• NT government grants
• WA government grants
• QLD government grants
• SA government grants
  

The state government websites all operate differently, but most will allow you to sort the grants by industry, organisation type, and status. Doing this will save time and allow you to find more relevant opportunities without scrolling through all of the current grants that are up for grabs.

There are also other grant search engines from third parties which can be useful, but they may not always be as up to date as the government web pages that they take their cues from.

It’s at about this point that you might think to yourself ‘searching for grants can be quite time consuming.’ And you’d be right—it can be a slow process. But it doesn’t have to be, because you can get help from a grant consultant.

GrantHelper Pro Tip

You should be able to engage a grant consultant to do some of the research for you at no cost; most consultants won’t charge you to find some relevant grant opportunities. Develop a relationship with one or more grant consultants and you might find that the opportunities start coming to you.

How to find small business grants

If you’re a small business owner, there are a couple of ways to speed up the search process for federal grants.

1. Use keywords to refine your search by industry:

In this example, we’re searching for grants for a manufacturer, so we’ll use a keyword that naturally comes to mind: ‘manufacturing.’ And we get a couple of targeted results.

GrantHelper Pro Tip

Try to keep your keywords as broad as possible. For example, ‘wine’ will provide more results than something more specific like ‘winery’ or ‘winemaker.’ This way, you’ll get more results and won’t miss out on finding opportunities because your search keywords were too specific.

2. Use keywords to search by the size of your business:

The descriptions for grants often include references to business size—though not always—so if you want to find grants specifically for small business, try using a keyword like ‘small business’, ‘medium business’, or ‘SME’; you’ll probably get some very relevant results. In this example, we’ve drilled down to six specific results that we can quickly review rather than the full list, which is more than 100.

GrantHelper Pro Tip

State government departments offer a wide range of small business grants. Familiarise yourself with your state government’s grant web page as well the websites of government departments relevant to your industry.

Hire a professional grant consultant to help you

Whether you’re a research whizz or your sleuthing skills have room for improvement, there’s no escaping the fact that finding relevant grants takes time. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg—finding your grant takes only a fraction of the time it will take to prepare and
submit your application. 

So, even though finding the grants is the ‘easy’ part, it’s well worth considering hiring a consultant to help you with the grants process as a whole. 

A grant consultant can save you a lot of time by finding and vetting grant opportunities for you, and only presenting you with the most relevant opportunities that your business is likely to win. They can also write your application and provide strategic direction for your grant project, should you require it.

Help Me Find Grants

How do I get a grant in Australia? Are grants hard to get?

How difficult it is to get a grant depends largely on the strength of your grant project and the application you submit. 

A poor-quality application that feels rushed or incomplete is unlikely to be successful, even if your project is relevant. Likewise, a well-written and thorough application will only go so far if the numbers don’t stack up, or your project is not relevant or is missing important information.

Competitive grants are as the name suggests, competitive—and the competition can be fierce. 

Be prepared to invest a lot of your time and resources into developing a winning application for a competitive grant opportunity. You should also consider hiring a professional grant writer; the cost to do so will usually be just a small fraction of the grant’s total value—and you’ll present a professional application that’s more likely to win the prize.

How to apply for government grants

While each grant opportunity is unique, the application process is fairly uniform from grant to grant. Here’s a basic overview of what you’ll need to do:

• Determine your grant project: the big idea, the economic benefits, and the details. What will be required to bring your project to life? Be as specific as possible
• Ensure your business meets all eligibility criteria—be certain; ‘maybes’ could sink your application before it even gets started
• Read the grant guidelines thoroughly; make notes of important details if needed so that you don’t forget them
• Get all necessary documentation ready: financials, staff, budget, business information
• Write the application, paying close attention to the assessment criteria questions and ensuring all questions are answered fully
• Submit your application—on time—late submissions will not be considered

Want to discover even more tips and tricks to help you create a winning grant application? Follow the link below to download our free Guide to Winning Grants.

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Can you apply for small business grants for free?

There is no fee to apply for a grant, so technically, yes—it’s free to apply. And unlike a loan, you won’t have to pay back grant funding, presuming you carry out your project as specified.

But there will always be costs associated with submitting an application. Firstly, if you plan to write it yourself, you’re going to need to invest a lot of your time into the application. Never forget the value of your own time!

Grant applications can be long and arduous processes that require a lot of back and forth between the person writing the grant submission and the people involved in delivering the grant project. It is common for a grant application to take more than 40 hours’ work. For large grants, that can easily become hundreds of hours for the person coordinating. 

Depending on the grant, you may need to provide a financial co-contribution; the government often funds only up to a certain amount of the total eligible project expenditure, and you will need to provide the rest of the funds from sources other than the grant.

In-kind contributions (non-monetary contributions such as donated goods and services or your time) may also be considered. And if you’re hiring a grants consultant or a grant writer, you’ll need to account for that cost as well. 

So, while applying for a grant doesn’t require you to pay a fee, applying isn’t really ‘free’ 

in the true sense.

Applying for federal grants

Want to apply for some of those large federal grants we mentioned earlier? Be prepared to work with a professional consultant, because these grants require you to present the highest levels of professionalism and the most detailed information. 

You’ll also need to present a compelling business case, project plan, financial forecast and other documents that stand above the others in the pile of applicants—there could be dozens or even hundreds of other applicants depending on the scale of the grant. Ask yourself what makes your project a great investment; you need to articulate the benefits of your project to Australia, and convince the assessors that you have the capability to manage funds and deliver the project as stipulated.

You should strongly consider working with a professional grant writer when applying for any government grant, and especially when applying for a large grant (as most federal grants are). A grant writer will help you to create a more robust grant application which will be more likely to succeed. The application process can be long and tedious, not to mention stressful and time-pressured, so it will also help to have an additional resource so you don’t burn yourself out or even miss critical details in your application. Details are easily missed when your day job isn’t grant writing and you have other priorities on your mind.

Wrapping up

Finding relevant, winnable grants for your business always requires some investment of your time, but with a bit of practice you can become more efficient and speed up the process by looking in the right places. 

And you also have the option to invest in a consultant who can use their expertise to quickly find your business the most winnable and targeted opportunities—and save your time by coordinating your application. 

Final thoughts

Our Insights showcase some of the grant-winning methods we employ at GrantHelper, and they will help you create a stronger grant application. But no matter how well prepared you are, winning grants takes time—something we know many business owners and directors just don’t have. And that’s why we’re here to help.

GrantHelper can assist with your organisation’s next grant application, no matter what stage of the funding journey you’re at.

I need help applying for grants

Check out our How to Prepare Before You Apply insight to help you reduce the stress levels when you apply for a grant.

Check out our How to write a successful grant application to learn some time-saving tips to make the grant writing process easier.

Our in-depth eBook is the single most valuable resource you will find that helps organisations to truly understand how to win government grants.

Is your business eligible for this government grant? Or perhaps you’re not sure and want to know more?

GrantHelper offers a range of government grant services, helping businesses of all sizes to discover, apply for, and win the best grant opportunities. We can help you with anything from finding the right grants, to writing your application, formulating an ongoing grant strategy, and more.

Get started now by filling in the form below, or tap the ‘Book a Discovery Call’ button to schedule a no-obligation virtual meeting with an experienced government grants consultant.

Prefer to talk? Call 0409 478 850 now for a no-obligation discussion. We’re here to help your business better understand grants, submit your best possible application, and get you in the winners’ circle.

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