How I Win Grants and When to Grow into a Business
I was invited by the Temasek Foundation to share my grant journey. Here’s the distilled version you can copy, adapt, and ship - split for two paths:
Points 1 & 2 → for general “do good” grants (no profit allowed).
Point 3 → for founders who want to build a mission-led business (profit allowed).
1) If you can’t pitch in 3 sentences, you’re writing too much (non-profit grant focus)
Reviewers skim. Make their job easy.
Problem (who + pain): Who is affected and what breaks if we do nothing?
Solution (what + how): What you’ll do and why it works for these people.
Outcomes (evidence + continuity): What success looks like and how the programme keeps running (without profit).
Pin this: If you can’t crystalise your project in 3 sentences, you’re writing too much.
Quick check: Can a stranger repeat your 3 lines after one read? If not, cut, clarify, and test again.
2) Pilot small with a mini-grant, measure honestly, then scale impact.
Use mini-grants to run a tight 6–12 week pilot, collect quant + qual data, then apply for a larger non-profit grant to scale impact.
Remember: Scaling ≠ only “more people.” Some projects should scale deeper: more sessions per person, caregiver training, home-practice kits, 3-month follow-ups.
Pick 3–5 metrics: attendance/completion; pre–post 3-item index (tension/mood/confidence); “would recommend” (0–10); % using at home after 7 days; one partner quote + one facilitator note.
How to write the “scale” grant:
Problem with numbers: “In a 10-week pilot (n=68), tension scores dropped 1.2 points.”
Validated solution: “Bilingual prompts + seated options raised completion 72%→88%.”
Scale plan: Breadth (e.g., 6 sites/480 pax) and/or Depth (8-week progression + caregiver training).
Continuity: partnerships, volunteer pipeline, in-kind support (no profit involved).
3) Want to grow a company with a good cause? Pilot with non-profit funds, then apply a venture-type grant (social enterprise path)
If your long-term vision is a sustainable business with impact, separate your journey into two stages:
Stage A - Prove the idea with a non-profit mini-grant (e.g., OSCAR@SG Fund)
Goal: Validate the problem–solution fit and inclusivity (access, safety, low-mobility, bilingual).
Deliverables: small pilot, clean data pack, unit economics (time, materials, cost/session).
Positioning: You are not making a profit here; you’re de-risking the concept and proving the social value.
Stage B - Grow the idea with a venture-type grant (e.g., VentureForGood)
Goal: Turn the validated programme into a repeatable, revenue-supported model.
What changes in the application:
Impact + Revenue: show how sales co-finance ongoing impact.
Operations: manpower, logistics, pricing guardrails.
Financials: sustainable margins so the mission survives market cycles.
My story: I received OSCAR support three times, and my VentureForGood only succeeded on the third attempt - after I pivoted with the committee’s input.
One-liner to remember:
Use non-profit grants (like OSCAR) to pilot and prove. Then use venture-type grants (like VFG) to build a mission-led business that can pay for itself.
Copy-paste helpers
Three-sentence opener (non-profit or venture—adjust the last line):
We serve (who) facing (specific problem) in (context).
We deliver (activity/solution) that works because (insight/evidence).
We will achieve (measurable outcomes) and sustain it via (partners/volunteers) (or “via earned revenue + partners” for social enterprise).
Mini-grant → big-grant block:
Pilot results: (n) participants; completion (percentage)%; pre–post change (indicator).
Iteration: We added (adaptation) → completion improved to (percentage)%.
Scale plan: Breadth: (sites/participants) and/or Depth: (weeks, caregiver training, follow-ups).
Sustainability: (non-profit) (partners/volunteers/in-kind); (social enterprise) (earned revenue + CSR bookings) cover (percentage)% from month (x).
Final thought
Grants aren’t a verdict; they’re a learning loop. Crystalise your idea in three sentences. Pilot small and measure: wider or deeper. If you’re building a business with a good cause, pilot with non-profit money first, then scale with venture-type funding so your impact and company can last.
With care,
Cherry
Founder, The Little Changemakers
