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Guide

How to write a Q funding bid

An interactive guide to support Q members with creating a successful funding application for Q’s grant programmes.

This guide covers what makes a well-written and well-designed Q funding application. It includes sections on designing your project, collaborating and engaging with the Q community, why the project is needed, budget, evaluation and learning.

About this guide

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!

 

Over the years, we have gathered a lot of information on how members write Q Exchange funding bids and what makes them successful. We’ve compiled that information into this handy guide to help you write your funding application.

Q team

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.

How to use this guide

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.

Who is it for?

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.

How was it developed?

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.

Download

Guide How to write a Q funding bid
PDF
3.2 MB 
15 pages 
11 minute read

Related resources

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

Evaluation

Read Making Data Count NHS England
Join our Measurement for Improvement group
Visit our Evaluation group

Involving and engaging stakeholders

Understand The Improvement Journey The Health Foundation
Learn about the Challenge and Potential of Whole System Flow The Health Foundation
Read essays on perspectives on context in quality improvement The Health Foundation

Involving patients and the public

Download the Experience-based co-design toolkit Point of Care Foundation
Watch our Q Exchange feedback webinar on involving and engaging people in your QI project

Discover more

The Health Foundation

Q is led by the Health Foundation and supported by partners across the UK and Ireland

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