Future Partners helps organisations navigate project funding processes. We can prepare your expressions of interest (EOI), requests for proposals (RFP), business cases, accreditation and tender documents, or grant funding proposals.
Each donor has its own processes, guidelines and forms for funding applications, which organisations must comply with. We are experienced in applying for and accessing funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank.
What our funding-application service involves
- familiarising our client with the donor's processes, requirements and the documents to be completed
- mapping the process to develop the application — assigning tasks across our team and the client's, supervising the work, and ensuring the quality of the final proposal
- helping our client develop its ideas for the proposal and articulate them in plain English
- helping our client identify suitably qualified people for the proposed project team, from its own staff and our network of specialists
- checking that all parts of the proposal are coherent — for example, that the budget matches the work plan
- advising our clients on draft funding contracts between themselves and donors
Project concepts & business cases
Future Partners prepares project concepts and business cases for organisations that have good ideas to address local challenges and improve people's lives, and want to pitch those ideas to a donor. We're trained and experienced in the New Zealand Government's Better Business Case methodology, if your organisation uses it.
A project concept outlines the idea for a project: where and why it's needed, who will be involved and benefit, what changes will result, how it's coordinated with other initiatives, how much it will cost, and what risks may be involved. Once a concept is approved, the project needs to be designed so it can be implemented — our project design service builds on the work done at the concept stage.
What our project-concept service involves
- pinpointing the need the project will address
- identifying who has a stake in it, what they need from the project and what they'll contribute to it (stakeholder analysis)
- analysing the context using PESTLE — political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors
- assessing the demand for change and improvement (such as better sanitation, a more relevant school curriculum, or better access to markets for local produce)
- reviewing other relevant initiatives to understand and learn from their experience
- identifying how women, youth, the elderly, people living with disabilities and different ethnic groups will be involved in and benefit from the project
- identifying the outcomes stakeholders want, and agreeing priorities that are realistic for the time and money available
- writing the concept or business case using our format or the client's template
Engaging with stakeholders
Consultation with stakeholders helps identify the 'crux of the matter' — what people and organisations care about and want changed, and why. We use stakeholder analysis to:
- define the results and benefits people want, and what they'll look like
- understand and agree what stakeholders will need to be doing differently by the end of the project
- determine how we'll measure the changes people want to see
- understand what will contribute to change, and what the barriers might be
- build stakeholder buy-in and commitment to the project
When we run a stakeholder analysis, we assemble a team that includes a project design expert, a MERL expert, one or more subject-matter experts, and an in-country consultant who knows the local context, stakeholders and issues.
