How to write a Q funding bid

There’s a knack to writing a great funding application. Practice helps, but there are also some ​‘rules’ to consider to demonstrate your project’s design, development, and eventual delivery. 

Assessors struggle when a proposal has been put together in a hurry, is not fully thought through, or is unclear.

This interactive guide is designed to support you to apply for funding, regardless of your experience with proposal writing. 

It contains some tips and practical questions to help frame your application and give it the best chance for success!

In summary:

• Embed the theme in your project and proposal.
• Present a compelling need for your project.
• Make a clear, evidence-based case for change.
• Take readers on a clear and logical journey through your project.
• Be clear about how you will involve patients, service users, and wider stakeholders in your project.
• Show evidence of engaging and collaborating with Q members in preparing your bid.
• Decide who will write your proposal.
• Start your proposal with a clear aim statement.
• Make sure your method and delivery approach are clear, and your narrative aligns with your timeline.
• Make sure your budget is detailed and reflects what you’re trying to achieve.
• Be realistic about what you can achieve with the time and budget.
• Provide clear measures for the work and how you will adjust based on findings.
• Clearly show how you will evaluate your intervention and share learning.

Download the interactive guide and use the menu to help you navigate the document. You can jump to a specific section, or read it from cover to cover. 

We’ve included a summary above and the full range of resources below for ease of access.

This guide is for Q members looking to apply for Q funding. It focuses on Q Exchange, but the guidance applies to other Q funding programmes too.

We developed this guide based on member funding bids and assessor feedback on what makes them successful. It draws on comprehensive summaries of feedback from Q Exchange 2 and Q Exchange 4.

The following resources can help with your Q funding bids and Q funded projects.

Join the following Q groups to tap into thinking and resources on:

• Co-production
• PPI and Diversity
• Making use of Patient Experience
• Liberating Structures in health care
• Complexity Approaches to support Quality Improvement