Project Streamline benefits grant writers, grant makers
Project Streamline , an initiative of the Grants Managers Network and eight other organizations including the National Council of Nonprofits, seeks to improve grant application and reporting. Its new online newsletter features updates, critiques, provocative opinions, and information on the Project.
The group commissioned a study, Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose, that found that the current relationships between funders and nonprofits have resulted in “an effectiveness paradox.”
“Foundations are beginning to discover that some measures they’ve adopted to ensure strategic and accountable grant making might be backfiring, resulting in a system that creates significant burdens on time, energy and ultimate effectiveness not only of nonprofit practitioners but foundations themselves,” the Project said in a news release. “It is no exaggeration to say that the current system of application and reporting has grant seekers and grant makers alike drowning in paperwork and distracted from purpose.”
The Project is now seeking input, an open dialog about the grant application and reporting system. The report recommends four core principles and a range of ways grant makers can adopt them to relieve the burden on nonprofits. These are:
- Begin from zero. In a zero-based approach to information gathering, grant makers begin with a rigorous assessment of what kind of information they really need to make decisions.
- Right-size grant expectations. Grant makers should consider whether the effort that grant seekers expend to get the grant is proportionate to the size of the grant, the type of the grant and the existing relationship with the grantee.
- Relieve the grantee burden. By minimizing the amount of time, effort and money that nonprofits spend getting and administering grants, funders increase the amount of time, effort and money devoted to mission-based activities.
- Ensure that communication and the grant making process are clear and straightforward.
You can sign up and learn more about the next phase of the project on their website.
