Grantmaking Overview

These questions are to help your grantmaking organization determine if Nonprofit Cloud (NPC) Grantmaking may be a good fit for your organization and can set the stage to move toward NPC Grantmaking.

Who is your organization and what do you do?

NPC Grantmaking is inherently flexible to align with your organization’s needs and goals. Below are a series of questions to help think through your organization’s structure and process as a first step in considering NPC Grantmaking. If your organization is unable to clearly answer the majority of these questions, your organization may need to step back and clarify your processes before moving into Grantmaking configuration.

**The overarching question is: Who is your Grantmaking organization? **

  1. What type of grantees does your organization fund?

    • a. Organizations
    • b. Individuals
    • c. Both Organizations and Individuals
    • d. Fiscally Sponsored
    • e. All of the above

  2. What type of relationship building does your organization utilize to initiate the foundation of grantmaking? Examples of different kinds of relationship building may include:

    • a. Inquiry Management
    • b. Alumni Engagement
    • c. Board recommendations
    • d. Background research
    • e. Open/Responsive grants (no relationship building required)

  3. How do grantseekers express interest in your funding? Examples include:

    • a. Invitation: The organization only accepts applicants via invitation, whether from alumni, board, direct outreach, etc.
    • b. Letter of Intent (LOI): The organization reviews letters of intent from applicants before moving to an application process and needs a process to review and filter LOIs.
    • c. Open/Responsive: The organization allows anyone to submit eligibility / application inquiries.

  4. What type of funding does your organization utilize for grants?

    • a. General Operating
    • b. Restricted
    • c. Capital
    • d. PRI / MRI
    • e. Loans
    • f. All of the above

  5. What information or outputs are you collecting from grantees?

    • a. Programs / Actions: Grantees are expected to participate in some level of programming, or utilize funding for a specific utilization / use case.
    • b. Reports: Grantees may need to submit various reports on varying cadences, i.e. monthly, quarterly or annual reports.
    • c. None: Grantees are not responsible for remaining in communication with the grantmaker.

  6. How (if at all) are funding disbursements to grantees connected to any of the above grantee actions?

  7. What audiences do you have to report to?

    • a. IRS
    • b. Funders
    • c. Board members
    • d. External Partners
    • e. Internal staff members

  8. What level of approval processes and permissions should various stakeholders in your organization have?

    • a. What information should grantees be able to submit? Are grantees allowed to update their information during the application process?
    • b. Are approvals required in order to launch a grant to open eligibility and/or the application process?
    • c. Who should be involved in the awarding process?
    • d. Do people outside of the organization, like board members or partners, need access to specific grantee information for either reviews or reporting needs?