Channeling My Inner Streamlining Superhero

Last week, I attended the PEAK Grantmaking Convening in St. Louis. It was a great conference, with lots of interesting and useful sessions.

One of note was “Streamlining Avengers, Assemble” led by my friend, colleague, and fellow National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers (NNCG) member, Jessica Bearman, MSOD, along with Dan Gaff and Kyrstin Thorson Rogers. Jessica was part of the team who developed “Project Streamline,” and she wrote the report “Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose” which was published nearly 20 years ago. I remember when that came out, and I still have my copy of the report! (Yes, that is my actual copy in the picture. And the mask is one of the fun "props" shared by Jessica during the session last week.)

Jessica, Dan, and Kyrstin’s remarks focused on how there are still things grantmakers can do to follow the prescriptions offered by Project Streamline even today. A lot has been accomplished in making grantmaking (and grant seeking) less burdensome, but there is still work to be done.

Last year I had the opportunity to develop a new grant program for a family foundation. It was an exciting opportunity to develop a grant program’s elements from scratch – application, workflow, information requirements, rubric, etc. And while attending the “Streamlining Avengers” session, I realized that in creating that new program, I had been channeling my inner Streamlining Superhero, and I didn’t even realize it. For example:

• The program was for current grantees, which meant applicants didn’t need to provide a lot of basic, due-diligence information which the foundation already had.

• In developing the application, we reached out to current foundation partners and asked for their opinion; and their feedback prompted useful adjustments.

• Only applicants selected as semifinalists were asked to provide a detailed project budget as well as other supplemental materials.

After the pilot round of grants, we surveyed applicants about the process, and their feedback confirmed that we had gotten a lot of things right. In fact, nearly all applicants agreed that the time it took to complete the process was appropriate, given the size of the grant.

Next month, I hope to keep channeling my inner Streamlining Superhero as I lead a session that explores the types of questions we ask grantees and how we ask them during PEAK’s online convening April 22-23. I’ll be joined by fellow PEAK member Jessica Plummer, and we will walk through ways funders can make sure they are following the spirit of Project Streamline. Click on the link above to learn more about the Online Convening and to register.