Not for profit, charity and community bid, tender and marketing writing

Not-for-profit, charity and  community organizations often do not receive government funding often have to tender for government programs and accreditation. Some not for profit organisations do not receive any government funding at all and rely heavily on corporate sponsorships and grants to raise funds.

A well written grant or funding application can have a strong impact on the outcome especially in the highly competitive not-for-profit sector. Most not for profit and charitable organisations write well and clearly communicate their key points of difference. This is critical, and emotive language is also critical, particularly when submitting corporate applications.

Grants and government accreditation funding can be a little different. You need to comprehensively respond to all of the questions. You need to provide supporting evidence and documentation. It is also critical that you identify and select the grant or funding opportunity to bid for that you have the best chance of winning.

How we can help not-for-profits write grant submissions, funding submissions, marketing collateral and NDIS and other applications

Our team is ready to assist with all your not-for-profit writing needs, including grant and funding submissions, award entries, websites, and reports. Emotive language, scientific terminology and a clear compassionate writing style are often key components to grant and not-for-profit writing. There is also the added challenge of competing with other not-for-profit organizations and project managing demanding proposals and tender responses.

Our scope of services includes:

• Writing bids and tender proposals for government community services contracts.
• Writing compelling grant applications for funding submissions.
• Writing and developing supporting documentation for grant applications.
• Creating graphics and infographics for your bids, proposals and funding applications.
• Writing website and other marketing copy for your charity.
• Advising on what Grants are available both in Australia and internationally and your prospects of success.
• Developing NDIS and other applications that comply with the relevant requirements. This includes developing supporting documentation as required.

Our Not for Profit Writing team

We have a team of four writers including one writer that specialises in the not for profit sector and community organisation tenders. In addition, our Director, Jason Cooney, has extensive experience writing grant applications for not for profit clients.

Our team of writers pride themselves on being responsive. The principals we live by:

• You email – we respond.
• You ask where we are at with your document – we send you a editable link to the draft.
• You call – we answer or call back in a reasonable time.
• We prepare a final draft for your review well before the submission deadline.
• You ask about potential grant opportunities and we send through options that align with your service.

Our not for profit writing team will work closely with you to ensure documentation is in place in preparation for funding opportunities when they arise. Large organizations are increasingly becoming more demanding with their corporate social responsibility spend. We will help you implement and achieve best practice when applying for grants and funding.

We have an innovative fee policy for not-for-profit organizations, that entails a percentage of money raised, ensuring minimal risk and financial strain when procuring our services.

Writing to raise funds

We all know that fundraising is a critical functionality NPO. Most donations are made by individuals and not companies. So you have to aim for the heart of the people and explain to them the difference you are providing. There are several techniques you can use to improve your fundraising writing:

• Use “Personality Theory” to reach more readers.
• Make your fundraising letters personable and easy-to-read.
• Examples of direct mail fundraising letters that reach the heart.
• Writing donor thank you letter.
• Write Stories that will capture donors’ imagination.

Not for profit pitch writing

At The Tender Team we can also help you write a professional pitch for your NPO. The following five points are crucial:

• Context: Set the scene for your audience even if they already know this. You need to train their brain early.
• Issue – Explain what the problem is: Explain the “broken” sector of the community.  Tell people what the issue is in a detailed way before you tell them “how” you’re going to solve it. This may be obvious but a lot of speakers jump into the “solution” too quickly.
• Solution: Keep the chat about ‘The Solution’ quick and specific. Avoid any non-profit “buzzwords” that people aren’t going to understand. You have to be careful in using Technical jargon and industry-specific keywords.
• Impact – How will what you do change the world: Will your idea make a difference out there? Which types of people will feel the impact the most?
• How much are you going to raise: You must be clear on how much you want to raise. Also, what are you going to spend it on. Provide the audience with your main expenditure elements.

What is a not for profit

A nonprofit organization (NPO) is also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization or nonprofit institution. The entity is dedicated to advocating for a shared point of view. The surplus  that arises out of the revenues is used to further achieve its ultimate objective and not to distribute its income to the organization’s shareholders/leaders/members.

NPO’s are known for their accountability, honesty, and commitment to their staff and to their cause. Public confidence in the NPO is a factor in the amount of money that a nonprofit organization is able to raise. When an NPO focuses on its mission, it will command public confidence and will increase revenues.

We’re ready to help

Our team is ready to help you secure your next government grant or tender. Whether you are a not for profit / charity bidding to operate multiple nourishing homes, or a small community group, looking to secure funding, we’re the team to help. Our writers have helped businesses across Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Queensland and the Northern Territory.

We love to help, so call us on 0410 448 770 or email your documents through to info@thetenderteam.com.au and our team will be in touch.

Client testimonials

The Tender Team are highly skilled in grant applications and writing for community service tenders. We have used them to write submissions and respond to RFPs and RFTs for our community services organisation (not-for-profit) for over ten years back when Jason started out as a freelance tender writer. The Tender Team are highly professional, responsive and have strong experience and good ideas when it comes to writing winning tenders. They are well organised, reliable and responsive.

The whole process is very transparent and their fees are reasonable. They know how to write winning bids and work on government and NFP bids all the time. They have very good quality control processes in place and Jason and the other senior writers are all hands-on. Overall, we are very happy with them and I would recommend them to any organisation looking for assistance with tenders.

Lisa M | Community Services Organisation | Canberra

We are a large charity organisation and most of our larger contracts are won and lost through bids and tenders. Therefore, bids and tenders are a critical success factor for our business. We engage The Tender Team to both complete and review our bid and tender responses for all federal, state and local government tenders. They know their stuff when it comes to charities as well as the childcare sector which we operate in. I think what is important and the biggest benefit gained from working with them is that they are so focused on winning and they are highly organised.

We have operations in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth so we are a large organisation and many of the tenders we bid for are large national tenders. They manage large, complex tenders very well and have the ability to easily communicate with everyone in our organisation. In addition, they integrate win themes and challenge us to provide evidence and support for our proposal which greatly increases our chances of success. Overall, The Tender Team are an excellent consultancy and are skilled in not for profit writing including bids and tenders.

Bill S | Not For Profit – Childcare Industry | National

Hi Jason and Team, Thanks for all your help with this submission. We will now await the result. I was very happy with all the written content – and there was a lot of it – and it was all great. I was also happy with how the entire tender process was managed – all the bits of communication. Regardless of the result I am very happy with your service and you and your team certainly know how to write bids and tenders for government. We hope we win it and thanks again.

Tracey C | Not For Profit | Darwin

Frequently Asked Questions

We need help with a funding application for our not for profit. Do you have experience writing funding applications for registered charities?

Yes. Our team of bid and tender writers have over ten years experience writing funding applications for registered charities and not-for-profit organisations. We understand the not for profit sector and bring our experience to writing applications for funding to the government and private sector.

We use persuasive writing and a methodical, detailed approach to comply with funding criteria, put forward a comprehensive plan of spending and secure funding for our clients.

Do you help large charities and not for profits only or smaller charities as well? 

Yes certainly. If you are a small charities or not for profit looking for assistance with writing a funding application then our team of writers can certainly assist. Likewise, we assist larger not for profits and community organisations. Our experience extends to writing bids and tenders for government programs across Australia from NSW, to Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. 

We understand how to help large, national charities and not for profits bid for and win national contracts with the federal government as well as contracts with state governments. 

Do you help charities and not for profits in regional Australia write funding applications?

Yes – we help charities and not for profits based across Australia including in regional and remote areas. If you are a small not for profit in a remote area, we can certainly help you with your funding application.

Do you offer any other types or writing services to not for profits and charities?

Yes. In addition to tender writing services, we offer grant writing services, website copy, social media management and we can assist with annual reports and case studies. We are highly experienced in a broad range of writing and marketing for charities. 

Do you have experience in all sectors within not-for-profit?

Yes. At The Tender Team, our writers have helped write grant, funding and tender submissions for a wide range of organisations within the charity and not for profit sector including health, science, education, environment, social services, arts and culture. 

Do you have experience writing grant applications for Australian funding bodies? Have you assisted Universities and other institutions?

Yes of course. We have experience writing funding and grant applications to just about all Australian federal government bodies. We have worked closely with a number of university and other institutions to submit and secure critical funding.