SmartSimple's Best Practices and Lessons Learnt on... the Grant Application Process

By -
We know that every organization is unique.

Based on years of feedback, we have learned several valuable lessons on how to create and maintain grants and research management solutions that are truly authentic to the needs of our clients.

We're publishing a series of blog posts to share these best practices and give you a better understanding of how your SmartSimple system works. This week, we're taking a look at the grant application process.

SmartSimple's Best Practices and Lessons Learnt on... the Online Grant Application Process

 1. Use of a strong applicant profile greatly simplifies the information-gathering needs around a specific grant application.
It also greatly reduces the need for duplicate data entry. For instance, allowing the applicant to store all of their contact and organization information in the system means that their eligibility can be determined right away. Going forward, the only information entered relates directly to the actual application.

The above image shows how an applicants profile information is automatically attached to a grant application.

2. Always keep the results of eligibility questionnaires for each applicant.
By keeping results, you can analyze all applicant responses and determine how well the program fits against the community. This way, you can ensure that the eligibility criteria do not cast to wide or narrow a net.

3.Seeing the applicant’s draft application allows you to mentor the application process. 
By allowing all stakeholders to access relevant parts of a application and specific stages, feedback can be given at any point and not only when the application is submitted.

The above image highlights notes functionality that is used to facilitate communication during the application process.

4. Use an incremental application.
The use of an incremental application (i.e. an expression of interest that expands to a full application if approved) reduces work for the applicant and foundation staff.

Want to learn more about our grants and research management systems, GMS360° and RMS360°? Email us at sales@smartsimple.com or call 1-866-239-0991.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing 24/5 Technical Support

By Anonymous -
Image
Real technical support from a real human, at any hour. We’re launching round-the-clock technical support 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. From Sunday at 4pm Eastern Time to Friday 9pm Eastern Time, our clients will have access to live support. GMT: 9 pm Sunday to 2 am Saturday EST: 4 pm Sunday to 9 pm Friday PST: 1 pm Sunday to 6 pm Friday AEST: 8 am Monday to 1 pm Saturday “When you have to burn the midnight oil to get your job done it’s important to know you won’t have to wait till the morning to get answers. You can call us up and talk to a real human being any time of the week, day or night”.   — Mike Reid, Co-Founder of SmartSimple We take support seriously, which is why we’re pioneering this model as the first in our industry. We’re in the empowerment business, and as such, it’s part of our responsibility to help our clients to get the most out of the SmartSimple platform every step of the way. We at SmartSimple take pride in our delivery of excellent service to o
Read more

SmartSimple Attends the Conference Board of Canada’s Corporate Social Responsibility Conference

By Anonymous -
Image
On October 29 th and 30 th , the SmartSimple team took part in the very first Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Conference. Hosted by the Conference Board of Canada, the event took place at the Hilton in Toronto, Canada. The theme for this inaugural event was Delivering Meaningful Impact. Sarah Jane Nicholson and David Resnick welcome participants. “We really enjoy attending events like this,” says David Resnick, Director, Strategic Initiatives and Product Placement, “We always appreciate the opportunity to share the power of SmartSimple with organizations looking to easily manage and run their CSR activities. Plus, it’s great to speak to our existing clients and hear about how well SmartSimple is working for them.” Also in attendance from SmartSimple’s Toronto team were Sarah Jane Nicholson, Relationship Manager, and our new Inside Sales Manager, Alvin Thompson. This summit gave participants the chance to learn, explore and discuss best practice strategies for compan
Read more

Dedicated vs. Non-Dedicated Servers – What’s best for me?

By Anonymous -
Image
More and more business today is being done in the cloud. While this offers amazing flexibility and accessibility advantages, everything you use in the cloud still needs to be physically stored somewhere, and that’s the role a server plays in your system. There are two types of servers you can use; a dedicated server or a non-dedicated server. Google's server farm in Douglas County, Iowa What’s the Difference? A non-dedicated server means your server is “hosted” in a shared environment with other, separate organizations.   A dedicated server is your organization’s own server and only contains your data. Why would my organization choose one option over the other? The answer to this question really depends on the classification level of your data, the governance rules of your organization and your country’s data sovereignty laws. That’s really not as complicated as it sounds. Data classification is all about how sensitive your data is and, therefore,
Read more