“Grant operations are key to envisioning change, making effective updates, and working toward equity in philanthropy,” said Michael McAfee, President and CEO of Policy Link, during a keynote address at PEAK 2021’s annual conference. And it’s true. PEAK’s 5,000 members hold unique power as leaders in grants operations and, perhaps without realizing it, are in a position to effect impactful change in the sector. How, you might ask. Well, thousands of nonprofits have an answer for you, and it might not be what you expect: technical fixes to grant applications.

First, some background. In the spring of 2020 I was one of three people who read through more than 2,500 reviews of foundations written on GrantAdvisor.org, an anonymous review site of grantmaking foundations. We sought to learn what the major opportunities were for strengthening philanthropy according to honest nonprofit feedback. When online grant portals and forms emerged as a consistent theme, we were shocked and motivated.

Building on these findings, Laura Solomons, a brilliant fundraiser and grantmaker based in London, and I teamed up to launch #FixTheForm, a survey that dives into 16 of the most commonly cited pain points in grant applications. We sent out an open call to participate in the survey and asked respondents to rank their top three and describe the severity of impact on their lives. We hoped for 200 responses. In less than four weeks, we received 500 responses from nine countries.

Consensus from the field was clear: Technical time wasters were the biggest problem areas, chief among them being unable to see the full application ahead of time. We also learned that these pain points come at an immense cost for the sector. Nonprofits consistently report that 20 to 30 percent of their full-time work is spent navigating poorly designed forms. That’s hundreds of thousands of hours lost every year that could have otherwise been invested in mission-advancing work. Beyond efficiency and effectiveness, these pain points also pose barriers to equity in grantmaking: only nonprofits large enough to afford staff who can invest the time in navigating the forms can compete for grant funds. (Read the full results here.) As one #FixTheForm survey respondent said, “For many organizations, especially ones that are Black- or Brown-led and far more likely to be chronically under-funded, these are particularly harmful [practices].”

Read the full article about changing grantmaking form practices by Kari Aanestad at PEAK Grantmaking.