Grant Application Scoring Rubric
CameronWood
Posts: 40 ✭✭✭
Hi everyone,
Just curious to know how you all score your grant applications. We have specific questions on our application that are worth up to a certain number of points and displayed on the application for applicants to see the weight of that question. The Board then scores the responses to get a total score for an application, which then ultimately determines how much they award an application. The problem? They are scoring but don't know what they are looking for when scoring. It doesn't make sense to me to implement a scoring system if you have no rubric to guide how you score each question.
So, my question to you all, what are you currently using to score your applications? Do you even use scoring to guide your decisions? Just looking for recommendations on best practices because I prefer to implement a rubric for our Board to use but not getting much support to do so because "it's always been done this way and we don't want to overcomplicate the process."
Thanks in advance for your input!
-Cam
Comments
Hi @CameronWood.
I've attached the scoring system we currently use. We are in a constant state of change to keep up with trust based values and any other goings on in our communities. Keep in mind this evaluation scoring is not the final deciding factor to how we evaluate our applications, but it does come in handy when we are unable to decide between a few of them. It also helps our Granting Committee members to know what we're looking for within an application.
Hope this helps a bit. I'm always watching for new ways to upgrade our applications . Happy Tuesday!
Thank you so much, @RhondaReichert!! This is very helpful and a very good start for me to present to my manager and our Board. I don't want it to be the very thing that decides the outcome of a grant but more as a tool to guide discussion and comments regarding a request we receive. I am essentially trying to eliminate any bias in the process and using a rubric to guide what we are looking for in a request and responses, but also welcome insight through discussion that the rubric might not tell us. Very much appreciate you sharing this with us!
Happy Tuesday! I hope you have a great day!
We also use a similar rubric with the same goal you mentioned. We use it to guide discussion and ensure that we have an objective method to record feedback from our Council to the grantees.
I like the little bit extra explanation and may have to incorporate some of this into my evaluations for next year!
@JulieWright Thank you for sharing your evaluation form. Can you please tell me more about the question "How strongly do you feel about awarding this request?" (if you're still using this form or similar). This reminds me of what we currently call "Bonus Points." It gives the evaluator an opportunity to bump up an app's score completing at their discretion; there are no other parameters given. We're currently reevaluating our evaluation process and are reconsidering this category - or perhaps renaming it. I really like how you've phrased your question. Would like to hear your thoughts on the merits of this scoring question. Thank you!