Who is tired of the grant application game?
The allocations process is an important step in building strong relationships between funders and grantees, yet it is often a time-consuming investment for all involved. Applicant organizations spend hours planning and discussing their strategy; staff may work overtime pulling together data and evidence that shows how meaningful their work is to the community; and grant writers sleep, sweat, and dream about their proposal for days prior to the submission deadline. And then you wait. And your organization may engage in this cycle many times a year to fundraise for various programs.
Grant making and contract development work is a necessary, yet time consuming investment for all involved. Applicants want to put their best foot forward and show their capacity for driving real impact. Funding organizations want to attract and facilitate the start of strong, healthy partnerships.
At St. Louis County Children’s Service Fund, we’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years assessing our operations and implementing process improvements to make our funding opportunities less burdensome and more accessible to prospective partners. We haven’t been perfect, but we care about doing better.
This year, we will roll out two major funding opportunities – one in the spring for the Grassroots Funding Opportunity and one in the fall for the Core Funding Opportunity – and we have made even more adjustments with the hope of continuing to reduce barriers, strengthen relationships, and promote the values we know we share with many organizations applying for our funding.
One way we’ve changed our applications is by partnering with Candid.
Integrating Candid Into Our Applications
Let’s get right to it. This year, both of our funding applications will require all applicants with nonprofit status to have a Gold Seal profile on Candid.
Candid is a nonprofit that collects and shares data and insights about the social sector. Formed in 2019 when Foundation Center and Guidestar merged, Candid offers a platform for nonprofits to report information on their finances, staff, impact, and more. It also offers a way for funders and nonprofits to find each other.
There are three main reasons why we’ve chosen to partner with Candid and integrate it into our application process:
- To simplify our application process.
- To encourage and promote transparency.
- To keep equity at the center of our collective work.
Simplifying Our Application
The information in an organization’s Candid profile can be pulled directly into our grant application platform (Salesforce), so we don’t have to – and won’t – ask for it on our application. We know that some funders already use Candid to pull information about an organization, and we hope that by joining them we will continue momentum in that direction. Our intent is to help support the shift toward a more streamlined approach by funders that doesn’t require applicants to duplicate their work each time they apply for funding.
Prioritizing Transparency And Equity
Candid encourages transparency and equity by providing options for nonprofits to share demographic information about its staff and leadership, finances, and more. As a publicly funded organization, transparency in how we invest tax-payer dollars is a key component of how we hold ourselves accountable to the taxpayers of St. Louis County and to our partners. Candid makes it easier for all of us to participate in that.
Why A Gold Seal?
Candid has several seal levels ranging from Bronze to Platinum. We chose to require a Gold Seal from our applicants because it requires sharing information about board, leadership, and staff demographics.
At CSF, we strive to hold equity at the center of our work, and we know many nonprofits in the St. Louis region share that goal. While the makeup of an organization’s board and staff will not play a role in our funding decisions, it will give us a clearer understanding of who is and isn’t represented among the organizations we fund.
We also view transparency around staff demographics as an important tool for promoting equity and inclusivity, and for better awareness and understanding of how demographics can correlate with impact and how we all show up for and relate to our community. Candid also offers an easy-to-use survey that can be sent out to your staff so they can self-report or choose not to identify.
What If You’re Organization Is Not A Nonprofit?
Creating a Candid profile is not possible or practical for all of our funding applicants. For government agencies, organizations that are part of a healthcare or hospital system, and those part of a university system, we’ve created an alternative process. In lieu of a Candid profile, these organizations must complete our Candid Substitute Workbook in order to apply for funding.
How Our Applications Will Change
The simple answer is that our applications for both Grassroots and Core funding will be shorter. Because information from Candid can be pulled into our grants management system (Salesforce), our application will not ask for any information that is already available on an organization’s Candid profile.
How It Benefits St. Louis County Residents
When we have more information about the organizations we fund, it means we can share that with our constituents so they can have a clearer picture of where their tax dollars are going. By streamlining our application process, we also hope that the time and energy put into our application decreases, minimizing staff overload that could detract from important services being provided. With a more intentional focus on equity, we also hope it helps shape a behavioral health landscape in St. Louis that prioritizes transparency and equity in who we serve and how.
How We Hope Candid Benefits Our Funding Applicants
We know that many nonprofits share our goals of being transparent in their practices and centering equity in their work. Having a Candid profile is a great way to keep working toward that goal. We also hope that having a Candid profile will not only save our partners time and resources, but that it will also help connect applicants to more funders who are looking to invest in organizations that share their values.
We hope this is a welcome shift in process for those applying for our funding. We look forward to getting Candid together.