Tips from a grant review panelist

Good afternoon everyone.

I wanted to share a recent experience I had as a panelist/grant reviewer for the Arts Build Communities grants funded by the Tennessee Arts Commission and administered by the Arts and Culture Alliance of Greater Knoxville.

Here are some observations and frustrations from that day. We reviewed 29 grants. Organization representatives had a chance to answer our questions before we scored the grants.

1. Make sure the grant is a good fit for your organization and the project for which you seek funding. The goal of this grant was to promote the arts to the community. That doesn't necessarily mean the community-at-large, but the community your mission serves.

2. Make sure your project matches your mission. One of the strangest grant applications was for a non-arts group asking for funds to produce a video about the history of their building. Nothing in the project touched on their mission or reached out to their community. It didn't even promote the arts in any way, shape or form.

3. If the grant application includes evaluation criteria, make sure to address each criteria thoroughly and clearly. The criteria for scoring was very straightforward for this grant. It included arts advocacy, evaluation methods, marketing and promotions and budgeting. The stronger these points, the stronger the grant application.

4. Be prepared to answer questions about your budget, especially if there is a deficit. You should be familiar with the project and organizational budget and be ready to defend each expense and explain each revenue source. Things have to make sense. Saying you are going to spend $3000 on two local bands when the previous group is going to spend $1500 on three local bands makes me wonder if you are able to carry out the project or spend the grant money wisely.

5. Pump up your evaluation process. Out of 29 grant applications, there were only 2 or 3 organizations that had strong evaluation methods. Most groups mentioned the basics- attendance, ticket sales, staff comments. What about feedback from participants, sponsors, guests, board and vendors? More importantly, discuss how you are going to use that feedback to make the project better.

6. Lastly, have someone who knows very little about your organization and/or project read the grant proposal. Never assume the grant reviewers know anything about you, your community, your issues and your challenges. And make sure you check the grant for grammer.

I hope these tips help you as you write your next grant.

Happy grant writing!

Kristina