The SmartSimple Blog

No two granting organizations are alike, and this is especially true for government agencies. The levels and layers of funding that move from federal government departments down to state agencies and out into local communities is a complex trail that is challenging to track, validate and report on. How are they currently coping with these challenges? What are the key concerns for government granting agencies at the state and federal level? We had the opportunity to sit down with one of our partners, and expert in software implementation, Kenny Lew. Lew is the CEO of the Innovation Network , a D.C. based provider of cloud-based software platforms for organizations looking for flexible automation solutions. “Our team has been working with government granting since our inception 12 years ago,” says Lew. Lew and his team of experts are keenly aware of the unique challenges facing government granting agencies and the organizations they support at the state and local level. “Tracki...

In an industry that’s been careful not to play political favourites, it’s not hard to guess who Silicon Valley will be voting for in 2016. With the exception of Peter Thiel, “The Donald” is scaring Silicon Valley leaders . A lot. It should be a good match. After all, Donald Trump is the poster-boy for capitalism and less government. And the new philanthropists from Silicon Valley (while reportedly much more generous with their wealth ) aren’t averse to the wages of capitalism. And frankly, they just want to be left alone to go about their business. But that’s where the similarity ends. Republican Party nominee Donald Trump (left) and Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton (right)  Silicon Valley unites against Trump Trump’s vocal anti-immigration stance is the prime reason he has the tech industry worried. In particular, his claim that the H1-B visas have to go has alarm bells ringing up and down the valley. It’s estimated that each H1-B salary offers a savings of $3...

SmartSimple is proud to announce that we are now a Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 compliant organization.  SOC 2 is the most recognized and relevant standard for cloud security in the world, and it’s a reflection of our dedication to maintaining the highest level of security standards for our clients. “SOC 2 is the standard many organizations hold their vendors to. It shows we’re on the leading edge of governance practices,” says Cameron McLean, President of SmartSimple. “We’re also currently the only Software as a Service (SaaS) provider in the grants and research management space that has achieved this level of certification.” SOC 2 builds on top of our compliance frameworks and concentrates on non-financial reporting controls as they relate to the security, availability, and processing integrity of the SmartSimple system. These reporting controls are commonly known in the industry as the  Trust Service Principles , and outlines the standards needed to qualify f...

SmartSimple’s July 2016 upgrade takes the Arcadia X user experience to the next level, giving you even more reporting and communications options. We’ve introduced new On-Demand features that bring life to your reports and dashboards. And, our enhanced email offering makes it easier to add contacts and quickly edit your communications based on specific, pre-filtered records already in your platform. List View Charts (On-Demand Feature) SmartSimple empowers you to create dynamic and impactful charts directly from your current list view without needing to use Report Builder . List View Charts instantly aggregate your data into easy-to-understand, vibrant charts. This flexible new feature requires next to no effort to use, maintaining the current columns and filtering the information you want to share directly from your list view. There’s no need to re-input any details. Seven descriptive and colorful chart types are available to display your data in a meaningful way. This f...

With the final results of the Brexit Referendum of 52% to leave the EU and 48% to stay, the majority of UK citizens have voted - albeit by a small margin - to leave the EU. A surprise to many, the result has lead to not only the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, but created a great deal of turmoil in the country, leading to massive speculation about the future. News articles abound on the impact of Brexit on the automotive industry, energy and climate change, investments , and technology . But what about philanthropy, or, as it’s commonly known in the UK, the third sector? After all, more than 732,000 people are employed in this industry by an estimated 162,000 organizations that spend approximately £38 billion annually on initiatives to assist people in need. 1. Economics and Funding for Philanthropy It’s no surprise that the initial reaction of the global markets was panic; financial institutions never cope well with change. Not only did the pound plun...

The SmartSimple team is excited to announce that Amazon Web Services (AWS) has selected SmartSimple to their newly launched AWS Government Competency Program . This brand new program includes a number of well-known organizations like Accenture , Trend Micro , Lockheed Martin and Unisys . A mazon Web Services powers hundreds of thousands of businesses in the cloud. Their customers are located in 190 countries around the world and include a wide array of businesses, including entertainment, travel, manufacturing and IT companies. The AWS Competency Program recognizes Amazon Partner Network (APN) partners who have shown not only a high level of technical proficiency, but a proven track record of customer success in specialized solution areas. “By achieving recognition in this prestigious program — and as the only Canadian organization to do so for Government Competency — SmartSimple has demonstrated we’re an organization that offers mission-critical solutions to gove...

Enter the term “trends in granting” into Google and you’ll get back 38,700,000 results. You’ll find a wide range of documents, including reports from well-respected organizations, blogs written by grantmakers, case studies and fact sheets. That’s a lot of information, and few have the time to sift through it all. Yet grantmakers need to keep up to date on the latest trends to learn what will be a short-term fad and what’s going to impact how they award funding in the future. How is the granting space changing? We did some digging ourselves and discovered three major topics of note that all revolve around the predominant theme of transparency in the granting industry. This is thanks to a range of factors, including the prevalence of smart technology and social media that has lead to the growing use of digital media to share outcomes. This topic is heavily influenced by the millennial generation moving into more senior, decision-making roles. We’re also seeing an increasing f...