When your grantmaking group first began, you didn’t want quite a lot of performance to handle your single program and a handful of grantees. However as your grantmaking has gotten extra advanced, you want a system that may evolve with you.
With the a number of mergers occurring within the grantmaking area, understanding the GMS panorama is trickier than ever. That can assist you navigate this transition, listed here are some key questions to think about, ensuring your new vendor meets the wants of your grantmaking group.
1. What’s the vendor’s roadmap?
Earlier than selecting a brand new vendor, assessment its product roadmap. Search for sources or webinars that lay out future developments and enhancements. This gives you perception into the seller’s priorities and dedication to steady enchancment. Guarantee the seller plans for continuous product enhancements and main performance upgrades that align along with your long-term wants.
In case you can’t discover a publicly dealing with roadmap, that must be trigger for concern.
2. What vendor assist and coaching alternatives can be found?
Consider the extent of assist and coaching the seller gives. Will they provide complete onboarding and ongoing assist? What does their GMS implementation appear to be? Examine if they’ve a strong data base, consumer communities, and accessible customer support—by a number of channels, like e mail, telephone, and chat. These sources are important for a clean transition and ensuring you’re getting what you want from the system.
3. Do you might have the best individuals in place?
Be sure you have the best individuals in the best roles to handle the swap. This features a grants supervisor to deal with day-to-day implementation duties, in addition to constant management to assist the change. In case you don’t have the best individuals in place, it’s possible you’ll take into account suspending the transfer to a brand new grants administration system.
4. Are you aware what wants to vary—and what wants to remain the identical?
Conduct a radical wants evaluation to establish the options and functionalities important on your group. Dive into your present grantmaking processes and decide what’s working effectively and what isn’t. This could embrace enter from all stakeholders, together with database managers, program workers, and IT personnel. Prioritize these must information your choice course of.
Know the important thing duties that need to be accomplished and the way they could change with the brand new software program. For instance, the Heart for Catastrophe Philanthropy is required to test organizations towards the Workplace of International Property Controls (OFAC). What was a handbook course of is now automated with the best grant administration software program. “It’s one click on and accomplished—an enormous timesaver for our workers. We actually recognize the recordkeeping as a result of now we will truly present proof that we ran a test and it got here again clear.”
5. Is your knowledge prepared to maneuver?
Use the time earlier than you progress to wash up your knowledge as a lot as attainable. Establish duplicative knowledge or info that must be archived or deleted. Clear, well-organized knowledge and robust knowledge administration practices will make the migration course of smoother and extra environment friendly.
Think about if the seller gives any providers to assist with knowledge migration. Will you might have the usage of customized fields and templates so you may personalize types? How will you reap the benefits of that? Will it’s essential transfer knowledge presently saved exterior your system to populate these fields?
6. How are you going to concentrate on the applicant expertise?
Take a detailed have a look at your functions to establish locations to simplify and probably eradicate questions. Perceive the instruments out there in your new system to see if there are methods to streamline your software process, corresponding to by conditional logic, which might make the applying course of extra environment friendly on your grantees.
7. What integrations can be found?
Decide how effectively the brand new GMS integrates along with your current programs, corresponding to accounting software program, fundraising platform, and different important instruments. Seamless integration will save time and scale back the chance of errors. Ask distributors about their API capabilities and assist for third-party integrations.
The Headwaters Basis for Justice streamlines their cost course of between grant program managers and finance workers members by auto populating expense request knowledge and attaching grant agreements to expense requests, simplifying the audit course of.
8. How will you want the system to scale?
Select a system that may develop along with your group. Make sure that the GMS can deal with a rise within the variety of grants, functions, and customers with out efficiency points. Scalability is essential for long-term sustainability and might forestall the necessity for future migrations.
9. Does the seller have a concentrate on safety and privateness?
Guarantee the brand new GMS complies with all related laws and trade requirements. This info must be publicly out there on their web site. Security measures corresponding to knowledge encryption, consumer entry controls, and common safety audits are important. Your grantees’ knowledge have to be protected, and compliance with laws will mitigate authorized dangers.
10. Have you ever talked with individuals who use that system?
Earlier than totally committing, learn case research and speak with organizations that use the system you’re evaluating. Be sure you perceive the system’s efficiency in a real-world situation that appears like how you’ll use it.
Discover a System that Will Evolve with You
In 2014, the Endowment for Well being started shifting their grantmaking philosophy to a field-building method. This included constructing new partnerships to advocate for kids’s psychological well being within the state’s 10-year plan, an introduction of Speedy Response cellular psychological well being disaster models, and the creation of a middle of excellence to advertise high quality providers and evidence-based practices.
“I by no means imagined our grantmaking system and processes would look so completely different as we speak than they did 20 plus years in the past,” mentioned Sue Fulton, Chief Monetary Officer for the Endowment for Well being. “In partnership with Blackbaud, we’ve got been capable of reap the benefits of revolutionary applied sciences to implement streamlined processes and be as environment friendly as attainable.”
Are you prepared for a grant administration system that has a transparent plan for innovation and gives the flexibleness to fulfill you the place you’re in your grantmaking? Try Blackbaud Grantmaking in motion with our on-demand product tour.
