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Financial documents requested on grant applications
Courtesy post on behalf of Seth Baker at the Van Wert County Foundation: What financial documents do you require from applicants? How does that information factor into your review of funding requests ? How do you handle applicants that submit the wrong documents?
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Grant Funding Types & Amounts
Hi there, Just wanted to start a general conversation around the types of grants folks offer and what the max funding amount is for each of the grants you offer. I am curious to start this conversation because our organization provides what I consider very small grants and hoping we can increase the amount we give per…
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Scholarship Application Abandon Rate?
Hi everyone, Do you look at your scholarship application abandon rate? We are looking at historical data on how many scholarship applications are started but not completed. I'm wondering if others have done this and what percentage of students do not finish their applications? Is there any average or national data on this?…
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Scholarship Evaluations and Committees
We have several committees that review multiple scholarship applications for different scholarships. Many of the applications for the different scholarships are the same students in each group. This year we had one student come out on top for a group of 5 scholarships the committee was evaluating. Does anyone have…
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Do Other Sources of Funding Impact Your Grantmaking Decisions?
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…
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Application Review Process - Best Practices
Hi everyone – my questions relate to the overall grant application review process / workflow and the assignment of reviewers for applications. Some background first: We launched a one-cycle grant program earlier this year. We had an LOI stage and have gotten back to applicants on whether or not they advance to the full…
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Final Grant Reports, Making Available to the Public
We haven't yet figured out a good way or know of any software available to help us make grant reports searchable and available to the public. We are in need of this, especially for past funded research projects. Thank you!
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Grant Follow-Up Reports
Does anyone else struggle getting their follow-ups back from nonprofits? What are your tips and tricks?
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Grant Type Categories
We're looking to streamline the Categories for Grant Types, i.e. Arts and Culture, Health and Human Services, etc. Would love to hear what categories all of you are using? Thank you.
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Award Displacement Language
I was on a coffee talk yesterday Re: WORKING WITH COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES, and someone mentioned that they use Award Displacement Language in their check letters. I would really appreciate if someone could share that verbiage. Thanks😊
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Loan forgiveness or Reverse scholarship programs
Coming out of our Summit conference there have been a few scholarship clients expressing interest in the concept of loan forgiveness or reverse scholarship programs. Loan Forgiveness (also known as Reverse Scholarships) is a process of awarding scholarships after the expenses have been incurred. These funds pay back loans…
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Administering Grants for County Commission
We have been approached by a county commission in our region for assistance in administering their annual grant process. They would like us to build the application, answer applicant questions, conduct a preliminary review, and oversee follow-up reporting for awarded grants. The county commissioners will make the final…
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Best practices - Evaluating Grant Applications
Being new to Foundant Grants - this is our first year - I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for doing an informative and useful application evaluation process for the reviewers? We've always used a simple worksheet. Going online with our grant applications, we changed up the application. I want to develop a process…
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Cohort Model Scholarships
Greetings from The Miami Foundation! We are beginning to explore cohort scholarships and would love to learn more from anyone who currently oversees any. I am new to the world of philanthropy and scholarships. If you're available, I would love to connect and pick anyone's brain about cohort scholarships (or scholarships in…
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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
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Assignment of grant reviewers
Hi everyone - would appreciate hearing your thoughts on the following, but some background first. We launched a one-cycle grant program earlier this year. We're about to wrap up our LOI stage and get back to applicants on whether or not they advance to the full application stage. My question is: When you assign reviewers…
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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…
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Quick Survey: Receiving feedback from applicants on our grant application process
Has anyone posted a quick survey at the end of an application to gain feedback from grant applicants on how they liked the application process and suggestions for improvement? If so, what type of questions did you ask, and did you find the survey helpful?
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Scholarship Room & Board/Potentially Taxable Expenses
Hi everyone, We have a new scholarship in which the donors want the scholarship to have the option of the student being allowed to use funds for room and board; specifically, assistance with off campus apartment rent or living expenses. All our scholarship payments are made to the student's tuition account at his/her…
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Let's talk scholarships!
At the Summit 2022, we had a great opportunity to have scholarship-based discussions with peers all over the country. I've tagged scholarship professionals who attended this year. Do you have any topics you'd love to continue to chat with your peers about? Please add some ideas in the comments, or continue on one of the…
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Scholarship Evaluator Survey
We have over 100 volunteers serving on our scholarship selection committees and would like to get their feedback on the review process. Has anyone created a survey to collect feedback from scholarship evaluators? If so, would you be willing to share your form/questions? Thank you!
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Travel Grants/Scholarships
Are any Foundations managing a scholarship process for travel grants/awards? We've been approached by someone who is interested in supporting individuals who desire to travel to other countries for work, educational opportunities, and/or cultural exchanges. We have awarded scholarships to high school students for mission…
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Could you share your Universal Scholarship Applications?
We're building out a universal application for our 2021 scholarships and I'm looking for examples of universal scholarship applications. Would anyone be able to provide me with a copy of their application? The question list pdf version would be great. Thanks!
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Storytelling Questions on Final Report
I attended the Storytelling Webinar yesterday featuring the City of Muskogee Foundation. It was mentioned that the Storytelling questions they use on their final report would be posted on Compass. Where can I find those questions? Thanks! Additional, related discussion here:
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A little MORE conversation around grants management!
**I really hope you are singing this title with that signature Elvis drawl.** Hello! It was great seeing so many of you in Elvis's town last week at Summit 2022! As @AshleyHarper and I mentioned in our session, we are hoping to bring a little MORE conversation and a little more ACTION to grants management (we want to avoid…
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Donor's Legal/Criminal History
Recently, a question was raised re: a scholarship donor's legal/criminal history, which has caused us to wonder: If any of you do some kind of background check into your donors before setting up a fund? How much of the scholarship awardee student's personal information (if any) do you share with the donors of the…
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Medical Research Grant Application Example
Hi! We are going fund medical research for the first time. Would anyone be willing to share examples of relevant grant applications they have used? Thank you so much!
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Follow Up Forms (Share the Story)
In response to some of the comments regarding the webinar, Connecting Your Impact Reporting To Your Community Through Storytelling, I wanted to share the City of Muskogee Foundation's Follow Up Forms where I add a required question for grantees to share their story in narrative form with the option to upload additional…
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Please share your best videos
Hello- we are informally looking at how other community foundations use video to inspire and educate. Does your community foundation have a brief video that helps introduce a specific grant program, address how you are working DEI into your grant making, or serve as a tool to educate the public about endowments? If you…
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How are you fostering relationships with your scholarship donors?
In today's Coffee Talk we discussed how Scholarship Managers are connecting with their donors to communicate the impact of their generosity. How are you using social media to connect with your students?
