If you’ve decided to add grant management to your social impact repertoire, you probably know firsthand just how many factors there are to consider. The choice to offer grants is simple – but choosing who, how, when, and what to offer can be trickier. Below, we cover all you need to know to learn how to design a grant program that aligns with your values and supports your larger social impact initiatives. Let’s dive in!
No matter why you choose to build a grant program, it’s important to do so with strategy in the back of your mind. Even if the goal of your corporate grant program isn’t necessarily to drive profits, it’s still crucial to embed the values and mission your organization holds into it.
Whether you set out to do so or not, you’ll inevitably sway public opinion of your organization through grantmaking. After all, organizations that benefit their consumers and communities are seen as more trustworthy and positive.
A strategic approach to designing a grant program takes things to the next level, allowing you to achieve certain goals – like boosting brand recognition or reputation – within target communities.
Designing a new program can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Here’s how to design a grant program from scratch in a few simple steps.
Before you can flesh out your grants program, you’ll first need to build its skeleton. Start out by considering the initiatives that could benefit your organization or community. As you do so, try to narrow down and decide who will ideally receive your grant funding.
A good way to approach this step of designing a grant program is by defining some impact areas. An impact area, or focus area, will be a specific and targeted cause that aligns with your overall mission.
Determining what those impact areas should be is largely up to you. Conducting local community needs assessments and talking to partners in your industry is a great way to get started. The goal, ultimately, is to establish the needs and pressing issues that your grantmaking program will attempt to resolve.
This is also an ideal time to talk to key stakeholders within your community. Conduct interviews, surveys, and data analyses to gather the insights that will help you pave the road ahead.
As your impact areas begin to take shape, make sure that each aligns with your organization’s broader strategic goals and values. A collection of three to four impact areas should be plenty. You can also narrow impact areas down further into sub-areas to make it clear how you’ll achieve your goals.
For example, if sustainability is an impact area, you might break it down into subcategories like environmental preservation, reducing emissions, and green energy research.
Thinking about and establishing grant restrictions early in the design process will help you make awarding funds stress-free and effective. So, take some time to think not only about what your grant program will do but also what it won’t do.
While establishing your impact areas, clearly outline what, specifically, your grant will cover within them. You may decide that you only want to award grants for research projects, for example, or you might take a more open-ended approach.
Choosing to restrict your funds to certain areas, communities, or activities allows you to prioritize giving resources to those opportunities that maximize your impact.
In other words, restrictions help you optimize your program’s effectiveness, even if they mean you can’t offer grants to as many people as you’d ideally like.
As you ponder restrictions, jot down key details like who can apply for grants – nonprofits, schools, individuals, etc. – and what their required qualifications should be. You may also want to begin thinking about the reporting requirements you’ll hold for grantees so that you can ensure only those who can meet those requirements can apply.
Here are a few factors to consider when determining restrictions for grantees:
Of course, it never hurts to leave some room for flexibility, especially if this is your first time designing a grant program.
As the pieces of your program begin to fall into place, it’s time to lay out a timeline. Your grantmaking timeline will be based on the grant lifecycle, which means it will have three distinct stages:
Calculate roughly how long each stage should be based on your team’s capacity. Your timeline might also depend on the complexity of your grant.
For instance, you might assign one to two months for applications, then two to three for review and awarding. Be sure to also establish a clear timeline for project implementation so that you can accurately forecast when you’ll be ready to focus on reporting.
As you create your schedule, sync your timeline with your fiscal year, and don’t forget to consider holidays or major events that could shake things up.
Your application will ultimately be what stands between worthy grantees and the funds that could change the world. So, it pays to make sure the application is easy to complete and designed strategically.
Even once you know where your funds should go and have limitations in place, you’ll need an application to narrow down the organizations or individuals you have to choose from.
To get started with designing your grant application, ask yourself these key questions:
Craft an application with questions that support one or both of these ideas. Try your best to keep the application concise and focused so that it’s simple for applicants to provide thorough and accurate details.
While you may not be certain about what the future of your grant program looks like, you can make some educated guesses. Consider the sustainability of your grant program as well as your ultimate goals for it. Doing so will help you shape your program around your needs.
With a rough idea of what your program will look like, you’re ready to iron out the little details. As you do, keep tips like these in mind:
Congratulations – you’re well on your way to designing a grant program that will help you maximize your impact! All you need now is the technology to help you bring your vision to life.
Groundswell Grants is the first grantmaking platform to centralize corporate giving, donation matching, volunteerism, and grantmaking in one unified platform. That means you can manage each aspect of your social impact programs in one place – no hopping between software or paying for multiple services.
Once you’ve mapped out your vision for your program, hop onto Groundswell’s user-friendly platform to get started. Build your program and launch within minutes, and enjoy hands-off disbursement of your funds to their recipients.
Our mission is to democratize philanthropy and make opportunities like grantmaking accessible to organizations of all sizes – because the right to change the world belongs to all of us.
Ready to learn more and kickstart your grant program? Book a demo with us today.
