Make a New Year’s Resolution to Streamline!
Streamlining has gained such momentum in the field that we’ve focused the theme of the Grants Managers Network’s Fifth Annual Conference on streamlining and have a learning track dedicated to streamlining grant application and reporting practices. Sessions will include budgets and financial reporting, right-sizing your requirements, implementing robust online application and reporting systems, developing and building buy-in for a streamlining process, and much more!
In addition, Project Streamline is moving full-steam ahead on a series of resources and tools to support your streamlining efforts. Read further to learn how these tools can help you in your work.
Guide to Streamlining
The Guide to Streamlining was developed by grantmakers, for grantmakers, to help grantmakers apply Project Streamline’s four principles (see sidebar).
Project Streamline Principles
Principle 1
Take a fresh look at information requirements
Begin with a rigorous assessment of what kind of information you really need to make a responsible grant.
Principle 2
Right-size grant expectations
Ensure that the effort grantseekers expend to get a grant is proportionate to the size of the grant, is appropriate to the type of grant, and takes into consideration any existing relationship with the grantee.
Principle 3
Relieve the burden on grantees
There are many ways that funders can reduce the burden that grantseeking places on grantees. By minimizing the amount of time, effort, and money that nonprofits spend getting and administering grants, funders can increase the amount of time, effort, and money devoted to mission-based activities.
Principle 4
Make communications clear and straightforward
Good communication is critical to a streamlined process and essential for fostering a mutually respectful relationship between grantmakers and grantseekers.
The Guide will be released as a set of tools and resources on the Project Streamline website, www.projectstreamline.org. Sections of the Guide will be released as soon as they are ready. The online format will allow quick updates to the Guide as grantmakers use and provide feedback on the resources.
The release schedule is:
Available Now on www.projectstreamline.org
Online Applications and Reporting (Relieving the Burden)
Identifies the essential and “gold standard” features and practices of online systems to help your grantmaking organization select and implement—or retrofit—a system that is user-friendly and designed to help grantseekers succeed.
Grant Budgets and Financial Reporting (Relieving the Burden)
Many nonprofits find that specialized budget and financial reporting requirements are some of the most time-consuming and burdensome aspects of grantseeking. This guide can help your organization streamline its grant budget and financial reporting requirements in ways that benefit your organization and your grantees.
Released by March 15:
Online Grant Applications: A Review of Vendors
A comparison of the features offered by some of the most widely-used grants management products.
Released by April 15:
Making Streamlining Stick
A guide to starting and developing buy-in for a streamlining process at your organization.
Right-sizing Guide
When grantmaking is right-sized, the information and due diligence requirements are proportionate to the size of the grant, appropriate to the type of grant, and take into consideration prior relationships with grantees. This guide will help your organization think through the opportunities to right-size your own process.
Take a Fresh Look at Information Requirements: Due Diligence Guide
This guide will help grantmakers think through what information is really needed to make a grant, and clear up some of the confusion surrounding what materials are truly “required.”
Released by May 15:
Communications Guide
This guide will share ideas and suggestions for improving grantmaker/grantseeker communications to make sure your organization gets the best possible results with the proposals it receives and the grants it makes.
“How to Streamline” Workshops
Join us for interactive and fast-paced Project Streamline workshops that explore practical ways to reduce the cost of your grant application and reporting practices for both your organization and your grantees. Workshop attendees will:
- Revisit assumptions about what kind of information is necessary for effective and responsible grantmaking,
- Share past streamlining experiences,
- Learn how to assess and rethink application and reporting systems that may place an unnecessary burden on grantmakers and grantees,
- Identify barriers to streamlining and how they might be overcome, and
- Create an action plan for making concrete changes to current practices.
We are currently working to schedule additional workshops with interested regional associations, GMN chapters, and other host organizations. Click here for more information and to view any scheduled events.
Assessment Tool
In partnership with the Center for Effective Philanthropy, Project Streamline will launch an online assessment tool that allows grantmakers to measure their current practices against the flaws identified in the Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose report. It will provide a report that grantmakers can use to advocate internally for change and track their progress over time. This product will be released in late 2010.
Thank You
The Grants Managers Network would like to thank the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers for their recent and generous financial support of Project Streamline. Click here to view a list of all Project Streamline funders and to find out how you too can support the project.