Funding Formula Stage 6

The Bid Pipeline and Go/No-Go process

1. What is a Bid Pipeline?

A Bid Pipeline is a simple table or excel spreadsheet that summarises key information about potential funding opportunities. It should list all the funding opportunities that you are working on, whether preparing a proposal, pre-positioning, or just doing more background research. A Bid Pipeline should be updated regularly and include the following information:

Bid Pipeline information
Dates	– the date the opportunity was identified – the date the formal call for proposals is expected/announced – the deadline for submitting a concept note – the deadline for a full proposal – the date the project is expected to start – the duration of the project, including start and end dates
Names	the donor brief description of the project
Financial details	– the total value of the opportunity – the value of the opportunity to your Member Association
The status of the opportunity	forecast / open / active / submitted / shortlisted / funded
Other	– whether the opportunity is new business or renewal of an existing project – who in your Member Association is the lead contact point, or responsible for proposal development and submission

2. What is a Go/No Go decision?

A Go/No Go Decision is made once you have enough information about the opportunity to decide whether your Member Association wants to pursue this funding opportunity. A Go/No Go Decision Brief (template provided below) – submitted to your senior management team – summarises why or why not your Member Association should ‘go’ for the opportunity, and should include:

• key information about the opportunity (from the Bid Pipeline)
• why the opportunity is of interest to your Member Association – how would winning the money contribute to your strategic objectives?
• your chance of winning:
  • what does your Member Association have that the donor requires, for example, skills and experience?
  • what is your Member Association planning to do, that the donor is looking for?
  • how is your Member Association relevant to the donor?
  • does your Member Association currently have a good reputation with the donor?
• the risk of going or not going for it
• the main competitors or potential partners
• resources your Member Association will need to invest to submit a strong proposal

3. Why do you need a Bid Pipeline and Go/No Go decisions?

Positioning for and preparing proposals takes a lot of staff time and requires investment. There is also no guarantee of winning. Senior managers need to decide which funding opportunities your Member Association should invest in pursuing. The purpose of a Bid Pipeline is to give your Member Association information on upcoming funding opportunities, so that you can make informed and strategic decisions. The Bid Pipeline and Go/No Go Decision Brief will help you to:

• collate and analyse accurate research and intelligence on funding opportunities that are relevant for your Member Association
• monitor whether your Member Association is applying for enough funding to meet your income targets (see the ratio below)
• monitor whether your Member Association is taking a sustainable approach to fundraising, for example, avoiding dependency on a small number of donors, and avoiding implementing several large restricted programmes that all end at the same time
• allocate resources effectively, for example, there may be two large funding opportunities at the same time – if you don’t have the staff to prepare two good quality proposals, senior managers must decide which one is priority
• Tip: The ratio between:
  • the value of bids identified
  • the value of bids submitted, and
  • the value of bids won
  should improve over time, as investment in Resource Mobilization pays off and reaps rewards plan ahead, so that your Member Association is better prepared for work around bids

This ratio should look less like (a) and more like (b) as you win more bids:

It is useful to monitor this ratio as it tells you:

• the value of bids you should identify, and submit, in order to secure a certain amount of funding: over time, your Member Association can use this to measure your win rate
• how much you are investing in Resource Mobilization – to ensure that your investment is paying off
• if you identify a lot of funding opportunities but only apply for a few – this could mean you lack resources or capacity
• if you identify a lot of funding opportunities, and apply to a lot, but only win a few – this could mean you lack skills or capability

4. How do you maintain a Bid Pipeline?

You will find the information you need for your Bid Pipeline and Go/No Go Decision Briefs through publicly available sources, for example, list serves, donor websites or portals, and informally, through your own intelligence gathering while you are networking and building relationships with donors and partners. Key tips include:

• if you have just found out about a big opportunity by seeing a call for proposals, it is probably too late to submit a serious bid; when you hear a rumour, or have informal discussions about possible funding – that’s when it should go on your Bid Pipeline
• each funding opportunity should have a named person responsible for tracking it, keeping the information up to date and preparing a Go/No Go Decision Brief
• if you hear new intelligence about an opportunity, you may need to reassess the Go/No Go Decision
• it can be helpful to keep a brief record of why your Member Association decided not to bid or why a donor did not approve your proposal

Find more information about mapping donor interests in Stage 3: Relevance of the Funding Formula.