Reading Funding Calls

Slides from the second session of the Seeds to Systems cohort, run by OLS (https://we-are-ols.org/seeds-to-systems).

In this session, participants reflected on how to read grant calls and practised this skill through guided analysis of real examples. Taking project impact as a starting point, they explored how funders framed what they were asking for and learned to distinguish between what a call stated explicitly and what it implied. Participants also approached funding calls as part of a wider network of documents, such as the funder's website, evaluation criteria, and guidance for applicants, which shaped how calls should be read. The session closed with an example of how AI tools could be used to read funding calls.