· 1 min read
A call that is misunderstood is expensive on both sides: applicants write off-topic proposals, and your team spends its days turning them down. Most of these problems are solved before publication.
One purpose, in one sentence
Start with what you want to change, not with the list of what you fund. “Restoring seagrass meadows on the Mediterranean coast” guides better than “marine environment”. The description then sets out the audiences, the territories and the expected duration.
Criteria an applicant can check alone
“Innovative project” lets nobody know whether they are eligible. “Non-profit registered for at least one year”, “project run in the Pyrénées-Orientales” or “total budget under €150,000” do. Every criterion that cannot be checked becomes a question for your team, one at a time.
An envelope and a range
State the call’s total budget and the range per project. Without a range, you will receive requests for €3,000 and €300,000 for the same programme.
Documents asked for a reason
Every required document should serve the decision. Articles and a budget forecast, almost always; a ten-page activity report, rarely. Fewer documents mean complete applications rather than ones abandoned halfway.
What KelpFund checks for you
While the call is a draft, its page shows what is missing (dates, criteria, form, documents) and a quality review flags criteria that cannot be checked and missing information. You can translate the call into French, German and Spanish, then share it with a simple link: anyone can apply from it, even without an account.