Change Up Your Questions: Exploring and Shaping What You Ask Grantees and How You Ask Them -- February Thought Leadership Discussion

Ray Borkman

Hello all!

Here's this month's Webinar details!

I invite you to ask questions that you'd like answered here or in the webinar; as well as to share any experiences you have relevant to the subject! I'll be inviting the speakers to join us here in the discussion both leading up to the webinar as well as for a post-webinar Q/A.

The February Blackbaud Grantmaking Thought Leadership Webinar is:

Change Up Your Questions: Exploring and Shaping What You Ask Grantees and How You Ask Them
Thursday, February 22 at 11:00 a.m. ET (Registration here)

This webinar will review how changing times, shifting ecosystems, and an evolving understanding of philanthropy are encouraging funders to review their application and decision-making frameworks.

Finding a balance between knowing enough about an organization and reducing the burden on potential grantees can be a challenge. The goal is to gather information that focuses on the factors most important to you as a funder and do so in a way that builds relationships rather than checks the boxes. Material you collect should actually be used to make decisions. And you should ensure that what you ask actually addresses critical attributes you seek in a potential grantee. Explore guidelines and filters through which you can assess the questions you’re asking, how those questions are asked, and in what format. Review how to examine components of your process, including site visits, grant reports, and decision-making conversations, to ensure that grantees are engaged equitably and respectfully. Using mock scenarios, you will have the opportunity to discover how you might respond to specific situations that require a strategic rethinking of your process, questions, or both. Discuss how grantee feedback and input from board members can help you to promote learning as the impact of these changes are evaluated.

Marshall Ginn

@Ray Borkman
I'm grateful for the opportunity to address this important topic! Questions are one of the most important tools that a funder has to ensure that their relationships with nonprofit partners are the best they can be. Questions are not only a integral part of the applications themselves, they are also a critical tool through which staff, program officers, or trustees can explore issues that are important to them as well as to learn more about their grantees. But it isn't easy. Questions have to be clear, they have to be relevant, and they have to be asked in ways that support inclusivity and equity.

For example, if it's important to you as a funder that your nonprofit partners are “learning” organizations and that they build their understanding of issues both through success as well as adversity, what questions might you ask of grantees to explore this? You might consider these:

“Tell us about your history in sustaining new initiatives.”

“In the past, when something hasn’t gone according to plan, how have you approached and learned from such situations?”

What would you do? How would you explore topics like this in your conversations with current or potential grantees? These are the kinds of ideas we'll explore in the webinar!