The 30 day Grant
Funding Challenge.
A live challenge for creatives and community groups with a project in their head and no idea where the money comes from.
1st to 30th November 2026. Doors close Sunday 25th October.
£297, paid in full. Or three payments of £105.
You've had the project in your head for a long time
You know what you want to create and you probably know roughly who it is for. Yet every time you think about funding you have no idea what you need to do, where to start or how it works. So you give up before you've even really begun. It's a nice idea but for someone else.
I get that, because honestly, the forms are long, the language is often complex and it can be overwhelming.
So the project stays in your head, in a notes app, in a conversation with Claude or in a wishful conversation you keep having with a friend.
That changes now!
In just 30 days (yes you read correctly, 30 days) you will choose a fund, build your project properly and write and submit a real application. Not a draft, not a plan that gets submitted sometime in the new year. A submitted application with your name on it, by the end of the 30 days.
Why this works
You won't be trying to navigate this process alone. For 30 days you have guided lessons, weekly live calls with me answering the questions you would otherwise be Googling at eleven at night.
Then you have everyone else, writing at the same time as you, hitting the same wall on the same day, and turning up to cheer when the first person presses submit. Trying to do this alone is a big part of why it has taken this long.
Let's condense what could take a year into 30 days!
Let me be straight with you about how this works
I will give you the framework, the tools and thirteen years of knowing what funders actually look for. You have to do the work and you have to write the application. And yes, it will require effort, hence the word 'challenge.'
There is no version of this where you watch the videos and an application appears at the end, and there is no version where AI writes it for you. I will show you how AI genuinely helps, and I will show you exactly where it will cost you the money. If you were hoping to hand the whole thing over and look for easy money, this is not the thing for you.
If you do the work, you will submit. That is the deal.
What you walk away with
A submitted grant application.
A project and a plan you can explain to anyone.
A budget you understand and can defend.
A budget template
A real understanding of how funding works, who funds what, and why applications get rejected.
The research, evidence and case study material you will reuse on every application after this one.
A shortlist of funders that fit your work, so you already know where the next one goes.
People I've worked with
“With the guidance of Emma I was able to complete an application I thought was impossible. I was able to launch my music program after years of putting it off. With a daunting application in front of me, Emma guided me with questions and nudges to get myself to the final spot of acceptance. Wouldn't have thought I had it in myself to complete something like this but Emma showed me that it was possible just by being clear and concise.— Bemz, artist and M4 Director
“I enjoy working with Emma, she gets my money sorted. Working with her took my career to new heights and developed me as an artist, manager and business owner. What more can I say, go work with Emma now. Working with her will improve your chances of success! Go do it!!!!— Sean Focus, artist and manager
“It's been a wonderful experience to work with Emma. The professionalism and commitment of her work is something to be praised, now I have all the necessary support to make my creative vision come to fruition.— Muya, artist.
I worked with all three of them one to one. The exact framework I worked with them on is what I'll teach you inside the challenge.
Who this is for
Creatives with a project and no organisation behind them. Creative Scotland and Arts Council England both fund individuals, which is exactly why this works for you.
Constituted groups, community organisations and small charities with a project that needs £5,000 to £10,000.
People who have never applied for anything, and people who applied once or twice, been rejected and never gone back.
The process is identical for larger amounts. I have kept the challenge in the £5,000 to £10,000 bracket because that is where most first applications land, and where you are most likely to get a yes.
Who this is not for
This challenge is not for you
If you are not willing to do the work and write the application, this won't work. The application is your work, not mine.
If you are hoping AI will write it for you, please do not join.
If you are looking for free money rather than funding for a specific piece of work, you will not make it through week one.
If you do not have a project yet, only a feeling that you would like some funding, you are too early. Come back when you know what you want to make.
And if you need to set up an organisation before you can apply for anything, message me. That is a different piece of work and I have something else for it. Contact me and let's talk more!
Is your project actually fundable?
If you're a creative
Check your project against your target funder's guidelines before you join. Creative Scotland's Open Fund for Individuals, for example, won't fund a podcast, a film or TV led project, or your business start-up costs. That's not something I can check for you before you buy, it's something you check for yourself, and week one gives you the exact questions to ask.
If you're a charity or social enterprise
Most projects are fundable somewhere, but not every project and not with every funder. It's on you to be clear about who benefits and how, and to find the funder whose priorities match. What no funder will fund anywhere: clearing a deficit, paying off debt, or something that's already happened. I'll teach you how to check and how to choose. The call on your specific project is yours.
How it works
A short video every day, Monday to Friday, between five and fifteen minutes. One action to complete that day. Nothing at weekends, so you have two days to catch up if life gets in the way.
Four live calls with me, Monday evenings from 7pm to 8pm. These are not pre-recorded, you're in the room with me. We start with wins, then I take your questions and review real applications live on screen so you learn from everyone else's as well as your own.
Two write along sessions, where we all sit down at the same time and write. No teaching, no talking. Just an hour where the thing actually gets written.
A private community where you post your work each day, ask questions and watch other people building at the same time as you. I am there too.
Everything is recorded and yours to keep.
The 30 days
Week one
Get clear. Why this project, what it actually is, who it is for. Research funders and choose the one you are applying to
Week two
Build the project. How you will deliver it, who is needed, how long it takes, what it costs. Start the budget and brain dump your first answers
Week three
The evidence. Research and data on why this is needed, case studies, equalities and environment. Write the core questions
Week four
Finish it. Review the budget, use AI properly and safely, get it reviewed, edit, submit
What is included
The Funder Shortlist.
A curated list of funds open or on rolling deadlines this November, in the £5,000 to £10,000 bracket, relevant to creative and community work. Nobody starts from a blank search engine.
The Reviewer Checklist.
Exactly what to send someone when you ask them to read your application, so you get useful feedback instead of a thumbs up.
The What Happens Next guide.
How long decisions take, what to do when you get a yes, and what to do with a no.
Why me
I spent thirteen years figuring this out. I built Be United from an idea in my head into a nationally funded organisation that raised over £1.2 million in grant funding. I then worked with individual creatives and helped them access £70,000 in grant funding.
It took six years of strategic work for Be United to reach multi-year funded status. Organisations across Scotland spend twenty years trying to get there and plenty never do.
I am a Clore Leadership Fellow and a Fellow of the School of Social Entrepreneurs. I have been immersed in the creative and cultural industry for over a decade and understand how it works.
I have written hundreds of applications, successful and not. I have been turned down more times than I can count, and every rejection taught me something I now hand straight to you. I have spoken to funders, learnt the systems and I understand the process from the inside. It is a set of skills that I've learnt and honed over a decade. Now I will teach them to you so you do not have to spend thirteen years working it out.
I have charged £100s to work with me 1:1. For 30 days you get the same thinking, the same eyes on your work and the same straight answers, at a fraction of what that costs. I am opening it up at this price because there are only so many people I can help one at a time, and there are far too many good projects that never get funded because nobody ever showed the person how.
The price
Before you decide, answer this one honestly. What would it be worth to you to have that project funded? Not the vague version, your project funded, money in the bank and you can start creating??
Most people applying in this bracket are asking for somewhere between £5,000 and £10,000.
I cannot promise you will get the money. Nobody can, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something. What I can promise is that if you do the work, you will submit, and that what you submit will be worth reading. You cannot win a fund you never applied to.
Doors close Sunday 25th October. We start 1st November 2026.
Refunds
There are no refunds on this one, so be sure before you purchase please.
I cannot refund you if a funder says no, because I am not selling you funding. And I cannot refund you if you do not do the work, because the work is the whole thing.
So be honest with yourself before you pay. If you know you will show up, come. If you are not sure, wait for the next one.
Questions
I have never applied for anything in my life. Is this too advanced?
No. It is built for exactly that person. Day 1 assumes you know nothing.
Do I need an organisation, a charity number or a bank account?
Not if you are an individual creative. Creative Scotland and Arts Council England both fund individuals. If you are applying as a group you will need to be constituted, and we check all of this on Day 1 so nobody gets to week four and finds out they cannot submit.
What if the fund I want closes after November?
You will still have written the application. Plenty of funders run rolling deadlines, which is one reason this challenge is built around creative funding, and if yours opens in January you submit in January with the whole thing already done.
The challenge starts on Sunday 1st November. Does it run at weekends?
No. The 1st is your welcome day. You get everything you need to get set up, meet everyone and be ready. The first lesson lands on Monday 2nd November, and lessons run Monday to Friday from there.
What if I miss a day?
Everything is recorded. Lessons only run Monday to Friday so the weekend is built in as catch up time.
Can I use AI to write it?
Not the application. I will show you where AI genuinely helps and where using it will lose you the money. Assessors can tell, and so can I.
Am I guaranteed to get funded?
No. Anyone who promises you that is lying. Rejection is a normal part of this and I will teach you how to handle it, because the people who eventually get funded are the ones who applied again.
Will you tell me if my project is fundable?
No. I teach you the framework to check that yourself, I don't vet every project before you buy. Some exclusions are worth knowing upfront: Creative Scotland's Open Fund for Individuals won't fund a podcast, a film or TV led project, or business start-up costs. Charities and social enterprises have more room, but no funder anywhere covers a deficit, a debt, or something already paid for.
I don't guarantee your project is fundable. Nobody honest can.
Two ways to spend this November
You can spend the month the way you spent the last 30, with the project sitting in your mind.
Or you can spend the month writing the application, and at the end of the 30 days you press submit.
You will not be doing it on your own.
Doors close Sunday 25th October.
£297, paid in full. Or three payments of £105.