What is the ‘price’ of a bid-writer?

I think this survey by Blume is really interesting. But let's also think beyond 'bid-writing'. I’ve never really done just ‘writing a bid’ although I know some do.

The process of writing is very much ‘a piece of string’, as they say. And the very top price differences will probably be because you're applying for, eg. £5m capital with Heritage Lottery.... (Even so, £8k is..... unusual.... You'd really need a high likelihood of success....)

But I think if you add together the requirements of the application, and the quality of the existing content, that's really where the distinction lies.

But that is also where the long-term relationship comes in: a good fundraiser/ bid writer will be helping you build solid material that can be used repeatedly, by them if you stick with them, or indeed, by you, in the future. Reusable assets and collateral are very highly valuable and go beyond the price of a ‘bid’.

You can also find that if somebody is helping you out at a more strategic level, with multiple bids, a lot of the work is around getting you 'funding ready'.

That's not necessarily just getting your written policies straight (hello, ChatGPT) but actually thinking about 'How do we position this? What is the inspiring and convincing and compelling thing that we do, and how do we explain it to others? And are WE inspired by it? Dos it make sense to us? Or are we just on autopilot, doing and 'selling' the same old stuff?’

And indeed - whisper it - ‘is what we do really as good as it could be?’ Very often, some attention on the project or service, especially from outside, as part of the 'fundraising' process can actually allow some helpful transformation of the 'product' itself. That's more value again. That is what 'development' is, rather than solely bid-writing or even fundraising. It helps to have people who have worked in delivery and know how charity services WORK like the back of their hands.

Then, the larger bids are usually more like strategy documents - and can be productive and shaping of your work in the organisation as a whole. Use those as an opportunity to sense check your whole direction.

So that's why often it's helpful to think beyond a 'bid-writer', and think about it more as a developmental partnership, either for the bid itself, or for the longer term.

But if I had one piece of advice on writing larger bids, it's this: make sure you make the bid count for your organisation. They are brilliant opportunities to do thinking. Much as they feel like eating your greens or cleaning your teeth, they are actually always an opportunity for real reflection, and team-based creativity, especially at the larger sizes.

Not least, where else does finance, frontline delivery, marketing and comms, sales, HR, policy, governance, strategy and leadership all come together in a single place?

Treat it like that, and 'fundraising' turns into something more creative, transformative, and dare I say it, enjoyable..... And much more valuable than the ‘price’ of a bid.

The thing you have to remember is that the most vital thing about development is not writing - it’s thinking.