Eurofunding 2015 - ToolBox

Author: Abigail Faure

Updated: March 5th 2015

APPLYING FOR FUNDING - PREPARE YOUR APPLICATION

Identify the right grant programme

All professional organisations of the public, voluntary, and private sectors are eligible for a
European grant. Whether you are an association, a company, a university, a public body, a
research centre, or a trade union, there are certainly several European funding programmes
in your activity sector that are suited for your project. There are more than 450 European
funding programmes, with each one having been designed for specific themes or policy
areas. Setting up a specific approach will help you identify the right European funding and
verify that your organisation is properly eligible to it.

Welcomeurope reminds you that this document is a reference model and has to be adapted to your own particular
circumstance. The use of this document is under the general conditions. Welcomeurope can not be held
responsible for the consequences of its use.

SUMMARY
SETTING UP INFORMATION SURVEILLANCE

2-4

SETTING UP YOUR SURVEILLANCE

CHOOSING YOUR FUNDING PROGRAMME

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SETTING UP INFORMATION
SURVEILLANCE
Define your project
A project is not designed in response to a European funding
opportunity! Answering a call for proposals requires a significant
investment in time and human resources. Do not waste your
resources by presenting a project that does not comply with the
strategy and internal dynamics of your organisation. You effectively
risk spending too much energy for poor results and little motivation
from your team. If your project does not conform to the objectives
specified by the funding programme, you have little chance of
succeeding.
To more easily identify the right funding programme for your
projects, we recommend that you formalise your organisations
project as a project sheet.

Putting together the information environment

A good application pack depends in great part on the quality
of the information initially collected by the project initiators.
An organisation that wishes to regularly respond to European
Commission calls for proposals must know all of the current
funding programmes that are coherent with its activities.
On the one hand, this can be done by consulting the compendia
(which lists all the projects that have already been funded by a
given programme) and gathering all documents related to the
programmes i.e., the programme decision (legal basis), the
annual work programme, the guide for applicants, etc.. On the other
hand, it is also important to implement an efficient information
surveillance system for European policies, Community action
priorities, and funding programmes.

Operational or strategic surveillance ?

Above all, it is necessary to define your surveillance goals. Why are
the objectives of the surveillances implementation?
Funding surveillance
This operational surveillance targets European funding programmes
for setting up cooperation projects or finding partners.
Your funding monitor will cover
funding programmes
calls for proposals
calls for tenders
potential partners

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To make your search

easier, the site www.
welcomeurope.com
will give you quick
access to all the
latest information
about the European
programmes, calls
for proposals,
and European
institutions.
The nature of
the collected
information
will always be
operational.

Policy and legislation surveillance

This helps you monitor strategies/policies that will position your
organisation with European institutions or influence the policies.
Your policy and legislation surveillance will cover
European policies
the activities of European institutions
European conferences
public consultations on the future of policies
the legislation and decision-making process
the calendar of European events
Find pertinent sources
There are many sources of information, with the Internet probably
being the best. Still, it is necessary to know how to best handle the
different sources.
For a funding surveillance
The first websites to be consulted should be official websites,
such as the European Commissions, and sites of institutions such
as the Directorates General (DG), national agencies, and each
programmes information office in each of the Member States.

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Site of the European Commission

http://ec.europa.eu
Site of the Directorate General Horizon 2020 (ex-Directorate
General of Research)
http://ec.europa.eu/research
On the Directorate General websites you will find the funding
opportunities and the compendia that list the projects that have
already been funded.
All Directorates General of the Commission
http://ec.europa.eu/about/ds_en.htm
Transparency Register of the European Commission (register of
interest representatives), an interesting source for the search for
potential partners
http://ec.europa.eu/transparencyregister/info/homePage.
do?locale=en#en
For a policy and legislation surveillance
Consult the websites of European institutions and notably:
European Commission Newsroom:
http://europa.eu/newsroom/index_en.htm
Latest news of the European Parliament:
www.europarl.europa.eu/news/public/default_en.htm
The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU):
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/homepage.html?locale=en to access the
electronic Official Journal (OJ).
Latest news of the Council of the European Union:
www.consilium.europa.eu/press?lang=en
The website of the rotating presidency of the Council of the
European Union
Latvia, from January 1 to June 30, 2015
http://eu2015.lv

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SETTING UP YOUR SURVEILLANCE

Gather the information
Set up a database of information sources and create a source
consultation system according to their frequency of publication.

Processing and interpreting information

Analyse the impact of the information for your organisation and
classify it by priority. E-mail information letters contain more generic
information than those obtained at a seminar or information day.

Organise and formalise the survaillance tool

The processed information must be succinct, and must always
provide the opportunity of finding out more (through an external
link to the source). They must be distributed to the right people in
the organisation and should never be too long.
It is also possible to choose to publish the information with
push technology (piece by piece), or by assembling all pieces of
information in a single document distributed on a regular basis.
A weekly distribution is usually the best, given the frequency of
publication of the calls for projects and the often short response
period.

CHOOSING YOUR FUNDING

PROGRAMME
In order to choose the programme that better suits your project, it
is important to take into consideration the following points:
How to optimise your surveillance?
- Who? Define who will be the surveillance operator, trusting
this task to only one person of your organisation.
- How? Define the methodology and create a specific e-mail
account.
- Choose a professional subscription service, since these are
often more efficient and less expensive than an internal
resource (e.g., www.welcomeurope.com).
- Sign up to information letters: choose a maximum number of
newsletters that you believe to be pertinent, and progressively
reduce their number according to the provided informations
quality and relevancy to your projects.
-
Regularly verify the information: all information obtained
by an online source must be validated contact the source
directly!

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Verify the eligibility of your organisation and

project
All types of organisations may be eligible for European grants:
associations, companies, national administrations, regional
authorities, SME, NGOs, training centres, universities As such,
the first assessment of eligibility is based on the status of the
applicant organisation and its partners.
In the vast majority of the programmes, the European Commission
opens its programmes only to legal entities, which must be properly
registered and constituted.
Outside tender procedures, in accordance with Article 165 of the
Financial Regulation, commercial companies are eligible to grants
under the condition that the grant does not result in profit.
The awarding of a grant to a natural person remains a rare exception.
In such cases, this person must accept individual responsibility for
the funded operation.
Article 165 of the Financial Regulation
The grant may not have the purpose of effect of producing a profit
for the beneficiary. Profit shall be defined as a surplus of receipts
over the costs of the action in question when the request is made
for final payment of a grant for an action.

Verify your projects eligibility

Make sure that the intended final target beneficiary corresponds
to the programmes expected beneficiaries.
Also, verify if your projects actions correspond to the programmes
priorities, and, on a broader level, fit into the logic of European
institutions.
You may then detail the content of your project in conformity with
the programmes constraints.

Verify the practical modalities

Consult the funding modalities and the amount of money allocated
to them. This information changes from one programme to the
next and may influence the final choice.
Review the procedures constraints notably the selection
and eligibility criteria and negotiation calendar. This may have
consequences on the execution of your project.
Finally, the project must be viable in terms of funding and dates.
Deadlines imposed by the call for proposals procedure must be
taken into account. In terms of the budget, programmes usually
include a minimum and a maximum threshold.

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Our knowledge becomes yours

WHO WE ARE?
Established in 2000 by French and Dutch partners, Welcomeurope acts as an independant
organisation under french law (SAS Simplified Joint Stock Company), and provides its
services all through Europe.
Founded by Lorraine de Bouchony, Mireille van der Graaf and Nicolas Gerschel,
Welcomeurope is the first and direct bridge between the European institutions providing funds
and the potential beneficiaries on the ground.

FUNDING REVIEW
Do you need assistance in identifying the The process takes place in three steps.
right opportunities for your projects?
1. You provide us an outline of your project
2. We evaluate its consistency regarding
Welcomeurope identifies
the
relevant available funds
funding programme for each of your projects.
3. We identify the right funding programme,
we guide you in the project optimal
structuring, and we alert you in the case of
potential risks.

CONTACT
EUROFUNDING MANAGER

premium@welcomeurope.com

CHIEF EDITOR

editorial@welcomeurope.com

TRAINING DEPARTMENT

training@welcomeurope.com

CONSULTANCY DEPARTMENT

consultancy@welcomeurope.com

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