I'm having a great time editing a massive three year Esmee Fairbairn proposal for a client this week. Multi-page, multi-year bids are hard to edit when you've written them because you can no longer see the wood for the trees. Someone that isn't you can give great insight into your draft.

Do you have a big funding bid that could use some outside eyes on it? Having someone outside your organisation edit your bid is always worth doing if you can arrange it. They don't have to know what you do - after all the funding panel will be mostly people who don't know what you do.

What any outside eyes reader will be able to do for you:

  • catch typos and gaps
  • tell you if they can picture what you are intending to do
  • tell you if it makes them excited and is a good story
  • tell you what questions they have about the project that aren't answered in your text

What I'm doing for my client on top of this is:

  • making sure the ask fits the funder guidelines (having read them in detail and made notes on what they want to see)
  • adding terms that the funder uses to describe their outcomes so that the fit between project and funder is really, really clear
  • adding headings and moving chunks of text around so that they are in the right places and tell the story well
  • checking the ask is for the right amount and what it will be spent on is clear to someone reading it for the first time, adding or flagging up where calculations need to be included in the costings (a common reason for bids to be rejected and a key exercise in the Budgeting module)
  • line edits to calm down rambling sentences
  • writing placeholder text where I think something can be added to strengthen the bid
  • adding bullet points and numbered lists to break up walls of text
  • sending a page by page breakdown of what I've done, why, and what steps are needed to get the draft finished plus the edited text

If you are asking someone to help you with a draft then sharing this kind of checklist with them will help them to help you. Say "can you do X, Y and Z?" and give them a deadline that leaves you time to respond to their feedback.

I have space to do three more of these Big Edits later in the summer for £250-£450 depending on the number of pages and the funder. This is for funders like Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn, Historic England, Arts Council England Project Grants, Creative Scotland Open Fund, National Lottery multi-year funds, Robertson Trust, Gannochy Trust, Garfield Weston. You supply a completed first draft as a word or googledoc, I read, edit and send back my recommendations.

If you'd like to book a Big Edit email phyllis@trufflepig.org.uk with the subject line Big Edit, tell me the funder and fund you are applying to and when you want to submit, I'll confirm if it's one I can do, what the price would be and delivery window.