I help governments and funders design grant programs that are fair to applicants, safe for decision-makers, and accountable for the public money they spend.
I’m Geoffrey Clow. I came to grants from an unusual direction. Decades of senior leadership in design and creative industries across the world, then hands-on work inside government-facing grant programs.
The through-line has always been the same. Understand what people actually need. Build structures that hold up when the stakes are high.
Grant programs are not administrative systems. They are human, political, reputational, and ethical systems. They should be designed that way. And designed to finish what they came to do.
With my late partner, Georgie Bailey, a deeply respected Australian grants management expert, I co-created a managed services division for a major Australian grants management platform and social enterprise.
We built it from nothing. Guideline design through to acquittals and ongoing oversight, for programs distributing many millions each year. All of it under audit, scrutiny, and political pressure.
I designed assessment frameworks, training that calibrates assessors, and quality assurance that catches problems before they become public ones. Many of those structures remain in active use today.
I led the full lifecycle of programs such as Australia Day Community Grants. Detected fraud that would have become headline risk. When COVID shut down face-to-face training overnight, I built a secure online platform in weeks. We trained more than 2,000 people. Programs kept moving.
Before grants, I ran multi award winning design consultancy in Sydney with global clients. Worked at executive level in visual effects. Became Australia’s first member of the Visual Effects Society. Held senior roles at Richard Branson’s Rushes in London. Different industries, same work: making systems dependable when failure is not an option.
With my late partner, Georgie Bailey, a deeply respected Australian grants management expert, I co-created a managed services division for a major Australian grants management platform and social enterprise.
We built it from nothing. Guideline design through to acquittals and ongoing oversight, for programs distributing many millions each year. All of it under audit, scrutiny, and political pressure.
I designed assessment frameworks, training that calibrates assessors, and quality assurance that catches problems before they become public ones. Many of those structures remain in active use today.
I led the full lifecycle of programs such as Australia Day Community Grants. Detected fraud that would have become headline risk. When COVID shut down face-to-face training overnight, I built a secure online platform in weeks. We trained more than 2,000 people. Programs kept moving.
Before grants, I ran a multi-award-winning design consultancy in Sydney with global clients. Worked at executive level in visual effects. Became Australia’s first member of the Visual Effects Society. Held senior roles at Richard Branson’s Rushes in London. Different industries, same work: making systems dependable when failure is not an option.
The steampunk-inspired imagery on this site isn’t decorative. It’s a visual metaphor for the work itself: intricate systems, built with care, where design choices have real consequences.
I’d rather have one honest conversation than six polite ones that don’t get anywhere.
I don’t pad recommendations. If the evidence isn’t there, I’ll say so.
I’ve seen too many grant programs designed for the announcement that fall apart at delivery. I design for what happens after.
I get stuck in and get it done. Whatever it takes.
