Best Of
Big THANK YOU to the Foundant Help team
I didn't know what category to put this in so I thought a testimonial might be best.
I want to publicly thank the Foundant Help/Support team, engineers, software people, whomever was involved in resolving the reporting issue on Thursday, May 19.
Nebraska was in the middle of a live panel review process when the system stopped showing scores and reports. I made one call to support, one chat and it was fixed before the panel ended. We only had to rescore for one grant and no issues on our final tally.
I am amazed at how fast the Foundant team addressed the issue, how professional (AND CALM when I wasn't) they were with my frantic "We are live and they are voting and using the system now".
You guys are amazing and deserve a public shout out. Thank you again!
Scholarship event activity?
Hi everyone!
We are bringing back our scholarship event this summer after a two year hiatus. In the past we have called each recipient up to the front and handed them a certificate, similar to a graduation. This year, we are hoping to make it less formal and more fun, providing time for the students, donors, and committee members to meet and mingle.
Anyone have ideas for activities/ice breakers to facilitate engagement between donors and recipients? We are planning for about 40 minutes of open time and want to prompt meaningful discussion with attendees.
Thank you in advance!
Dara
Re: Best Practices for using ACHs
We have been doing grant payments via ACH since last May 2020. We process approximately 200 payments in bulk twice a year so our system is pretty straight forward. We utilize DocuSign to obtain banking information (post board approval) which is ultimately pulled out and transferred to our online banking portal. There is no manual entry on our end. We find that most grantees respond quickly (within 5 days) and after a gentle nudge, all but a couple (out of 180 payments) have everything in a few days after. Those payments are delayed as to not hold up everyone elses. Email reminders and strong language are helpful. :) I utilize the bulk functionality of DocuSign and our banking portal to do the heavy lifting; which in many foundation's cases, bulk isn't possible as payments are on going. Happy to discuss further if someone is interested in learning more about our process and happy to share documents.
Congratulations Letter/email
Anyone care to share their congratulations letter? I'm looking for some not just basic ways to say what we have to say.
Also, when you award a scholarship, do you send an email or paper letter? We're first timers using SLM this year.
Thanks all,
Marsha
Virtual Site Visits
Hi! I'm new to Foundant and new to the funder side of the non-profit world. I work for several foundations which fund around the country/globe and which have board members scattered about. We are investigating doing virtual site visits.
Does anyone have experience with Virtual Site Visits? What worked? What didn't? Any pitfalls to avoid?
On a separate but related note, has anyone used GLM for site visit evaluations? I think I have it figured out but would be interested in hearing if anyone else has done this.
