Making it easier to apply for funding

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Extra Time Jan 2022
Making it easier to apply for funding

For the last few months, a small team from Sport Wales has been working on an in-depth project to improve the reach and impact of our grant funding for community clubs and organisations.

With the support of partners, community investment has really come to the fore over the last two years since the pandemic began, with more than 1,100 clubs and organisations sharing nearly £6m worth of funding through the Be Active Wales Fund.

But we know that more can be done to support our long-term aim of reducing inequalities within sports participation in Wales.

We caught up with Owen Burgess, Sport Wales’ Service Design and Development Lead, to find out what the project has uncovered…

A methodical approach

Working with specialists from the Centre for Digital Public Services, we’ve broken down the project into distinct phases; the first of which was a discovery phase. While many of us in the sector have heard anecdotal evidence about the issues some people face when applying for different funds, we needed to conduct in-depth research to review and identify the shortcomings of our own funding application processes. We wanted to understand what the user experience is like, see what problems they encounter and what support they need.

What we discovered

A running theme that we heard from surveys and interviews with over 250 community groups and clubs was the fact that our grants application form should be shorter, simpler, and clearer:
“We’re run by amateurs giving up their time, volunteers”
“The process needs to be made simpler”
“The form is hard to understand – the words used are too big”

(Quotes from users who gave feedback as part of the discovery phase)

We were alarmed to hear that some users felt they needed to be educated to degree level to complete our application form as they found the process too complicated. Half of those who gave their feedback said that they are happy to complete a written form whereas others preferred alternative methods of applying – they were put off applying as they didn’t feel confident or comfortable to write an application.

Improving our online application process

From our research, we could see that our main initial focus needs to be on improving our application form, but that is just one part of the whole end-to-end experience that we want to make better.

At present, because of the shortcomings in our current application form, we often find that the information we receive from applicants isn’t sufficient for us to make a complete assessment of whether or not to award funding. This can lead to a bit of to-ing and fro-ing which is time consuming for both us and the applicant.

By designing a better online application form, and specifying more clearly what information we need, we should free up time for our officers to be able to support those applicants who perhaps have a very low level of digital skills to begin with, so would really benefit from more human interaction and the chance to talk through the application process.

Testing, testing, testing

In mid-January we completed what the Centre for Digital Public Services calls the ‘Alpha’ phase. This 12-week stage involved us using all of the feedback we had gathered to design prototypes of the application form sections which applicants interact with the most, and testing those prototypes to see what works for both us and those applying for funding.

We’ve found this testing phase extremely productive. We’ve been able to tweak and re-test the prototypes as necessary, and the process has stimulated plenty of conversation which once again underlined the importance of plain language. Not only must we clearly explain to users what they need to do to apply, but we must also make it as straight forward as possible for them to do it.

Clearer headings, shorter sentences, friendly language and neat layouts are definitely the way forward. The amount of positive feedback that we received during this testing phase indicates that we’re making good progress.

What happens next?

Between early February and the end of May we will continue the design and evaluation of the end-to-end user journey, looking further at how it impacts on back-office processes and system requirements.

From a technical perspective, we already know that our current grants management system isn’t set up to accommodate all of the changes we want to make, so in the coming months we’ll also be procuring and implementing a new system which is more capable.

In the meantime, there are a number of quick wins we can achieve now by making simple changes to specific wording based on the feedback we’ve received, so you will start to see some noticeable differences to the current application form. Then, once we have a new grants management system in place we’ll be able to make the bigger changes. We’re excited about the improvements that we’re making and look forward to sharing full details with everyone as soon as possible.

What else have we learned?

We’ve learned that a lack of digital skills is holding some potential applicants back, so it will be vital for us to use technology that enables users rather than limits them.

While many clubs and organisations report having close links and positive experiences of working with our partners to develop their funding applications, others either don’t feel connected to their local authority or national governing body, or are put off speaking to them due to previous experiences. In response to this feedback, we will see how we can better promote the benefits to applicants of them liaising with their LA or NGB as part of the application process.

Amongst the other feedback we’ve received throughout this project is the fact that many clubs and organisations want more than just money. For example, they’d like to know more about how to actually address inequalities. This is an extremely important point for us all to consider and is something that we will explore in more detail once we have completed the design of the new grant application process.

What role will partners play in the remainder of this project?

Several of our national partners have told us that they feel they could play more of a role in supporting clubs and other partners as part of the grant application process, so we’ve conducted a survey to see how this support might look in practical terms.We’ll be following this up with national partners individually over the next few weeks. We have conducted a survey to see how this support might look in practical terms. We’ll be following this up with national partners individually over the next few weeks.