Best Of

Hi @GracieMaxwell, we used to have this problem but changed a couple of things to make sure we get a timely response. In the grant agreement we have grantees agree to the following: "The Grantee shall furnish to the Foundation a detailed written report on the use of the grant, to be submitted via the organization's Online Grant Account. This report will consist of both narrative and financial sections. The Foundation reserves the right not to award further grants to the Grantee until all reporting requirements for all previous grant awards have been satisfied. A final report may be submitted prior to the final report deadline if program/project is complete."

We have had to reduce or remove future grants to organizations that did not complete follow ups for us.

I also usually send out two emails through Foundant before follow ups are due. If a follow up is due June 30th, I'll send a reminder email on June 1st and then another one on June 15th to organizations that have not yet submitted. Then, on the day after a follow up is due, I'll look on Foundant to see when they last logged on and how much of the follow up has been done.

Hope that helps!

I'm curious on this one too! As a Foundant employee, I've seen many surveys administrators have asked their organizations, typically at the bottom of the application form. Most are on the shorter side, all questions optional, so that the nonprofit doesn't HAVE to feel like they need to fill it out. Typically I'll see a generic comments section, how can we improve, and how long did it take you to fill out this application - things like that! And then the foundation staff would use reporting to get these answers out in order to make informed decisions about improving their grant program year over year.

Hope this is helpful. I would love to see additional clients examples of surveys!

Best,

E.C. Pollick Byrnes

Support Consultant, Foundant Technologies

Following!

Hi, I work for a Community Foundation in Vero Beach, Florida and we have a quarterly grant cycle process. Throughout our county we have about six other funders (our local United Way and several philanthropic neighborhoods) who have annual grant cycle processes.

Do you have a similar network of local funders? Do you typically ask if your applicants are receiving funds or are currently applying for funding from other sources? Does this impact your grantmaking decisions?

Sorry to chime in late but I have a follow-up question for @StephanieSYoung. Stephanie, if you pay directly to a student and she/he/they use some of the money for a non-qualified expense, does that create any issues for your organization (e.g., having paid a non-qualified distribution)? Does that make sense? We're trying to learn about the pros and cons of paying directly to a student vs. paying their institution. Oh, and we are a private foundation with IRS approval to make scholarships (in case that is helpful info to know).

Thanks,

Randy

These are great responses, thank you!

@KatieMcConville, would you be willing to share your survey for students? I would also be interested in hearing how the roundtable goes, great idea!