SmartyGrants Muster rides into the Sunshine State

Grantmakers travelled from across Queensland to attend the recent day-long Brisbane event in May, covering best practice, grantmaking tools, help for grantseekers, impact measurement and the all-important chance to network with peers.

Scores of grantmakers from local and state government were keenly interested in discussing “standardisation”, in which grant programs employ standardised processes to boost efficiency, transparency and fairness. The idea is to increase the capabilities of grant managers, while also better supporting grant applicants.

SmartyGrants managed services project officer Josh Presser explained that grants standardisation was becoming far more common across governments, the corporate sphere, and the philanthropic sector.

And he said there was also a strong global push to “fix the form” and slash red tape. He said there was great potential to standardise many other aspects of the grantmaking process too, including forms, guidelines, assessments, outcomes, reporting and feedback.

“There’s a lot of work goes into good standardisation, but some of the ingredients are strong leadership and stakeholder support, clear communication, great planning, being realistic in your planning, having the right tech, and being prepared to pilot and learn as you go.”

SmartyGrants customer care director Sarah Richardson said one of her strongest impressions from the day was of the desire by grantmakers to share their experience and knowledge freely.

Along those lines, the muster heard from a panel of expert grantmakers from Glencore, Brisbane City Council, and the Queensland Government, with each speaker discussing their diverse programs, how success is measured in government, and how each had used tools such as the SmartyGrants Outcomes Engine to measure the effectiveness of their programs.

During discussions one grantmaker exhorted others “not to underestimate the power of a flowchart in your guidelines, particularly around eligibility”.

And there were nods of recognition when another advised fellow grant nerds to attach acquittal forms to successful applicants’ payments at the start. “As the recipients are getting their invoices, they can fill it in [the acquittal] while their project is underway, rather than at the end,” she said.

A delegate from an arts organisation told others they were happy to share their workings when it came to standardising their application forms to make them more accessible to CALD applicants.