Tracks to Success
The Role of the Board of Directors in Grantseeking: A Conversation Between Peers – Part 6
by Cynthia M. Adams and Alexandra Peters
The Time Continuum Cycles, Calendars, Matrices
Cindy: Grant awards take many shapes and forms. There are large federal awards that can be hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, as well as $5,000 awards from the local bank. But as a board member, what would you say is critical for board members to be aware of, regardless of the profile of the grant?
Alexandra: Good question. The board’s most important job is often forgotten, if not downright ignored, and that is monitoring the mission impact. The board is, ideally, always looking to be sure that the mission is working, that the organization is actually having the impact it wants.
Cindy: So, as it relates to one grant award, should the board be asking if the organization is fulfilling the purpose of the grant?
Alexandra: Exactly – but I’m not talking about the dreaded micromanagement. The board’s perspective is to take the long view ahead to the vision the organization wants to reach. The mission is the way that vision is accomplished. The board’s job is to constantly be asking, no matter what the size of the award, how well are we doing in staying on track with our mission to achieve our vision? When you’re monitoring a grant award, this shouldn't be too difficult, because the outcomes already had to be defined in your grant application. It just needs to be condensed, to create measurements that can be monitored.
Cindy: Speaking of grant awards, a little used tool in grant applications is the graphic that illustrates the Organizational Life Cycle Phase. I’ve always though that the board and the grantmaker should be aware of how far the organization has progressed in the standard life cycle phases of nonprofits. Here’s a simple example.
Alexandra: I like the regenerative nature of this life cycle – the way it is always moving back towards the vision. Perhaps you could change the color of the arrows to reflect where you are in the cycle?
Cindy: I like that idea! I usually just note where an organization is located in this cycle, but I have never demonstrated it so clearly. Again, it’s the idea of creating a visual that says it all in a glance.
Alexandra: Another tool comes from something I learned from you, Cindy, and I realized that it would be of great use for governing boards as well as in the grantseeking process. You often talk about the importance of a grants calendar for planning and organizing. The only calendar that boards usually see is a list of upcoming events, or maybe the year’s meetings. But what they need is the sort of grants calendar you talk about, which spells out what will happen in the next two or three years.
Cindy: I very much believe that a detailed grants calendar – electronic as well as a wall calendar – can really guide a grants development program. I think of this tool as not just a set of dates and tasks, but as an overall strategic approach to grantseeking. I have my own little tricks for doing this, but how would you create a good visual calendar for the board?
Alexandra: What I like to do is to take several large sections of paper and put them up on the wall, with a horizontal line drawn across the middle, for the timeline itself. Then I use a ruler to measure out time spans. (Each month is 6 inches, for example.) Simple stuff - this doesn’t need to be anything fancy - and again, everyone understands immediately how it works. Having the calendar up on the wall, where different people can come up and draw on it, is surprisingly powerful. I see people staring at it during meetings, and referring to it often, because it creates a compelling picture of the future.
Cindy: Oh, I get it. It’s almost an interactive calendar where important dates can be logged before, during, or after a meeting to reflect the board and staff discussions. I really like this idea because you truly capture the essence of what might have been a complex board discussion in a few scribbled notations. But don’t you lose it once the meeting is over?
Alexandra: You can take a photo of it afterwards (I just use my cell phone) to send out to everyone. Doing a big wall picture makes it interactive: people can get up during a meeting to make revisions to it, or to point out a time period. You can just keep adding and deleting more sheets as time goes by.
Cindy: Clearly you could do this on those wall-size post-it notes. I suppose you could also do this on a white board, so you could erase and add easily. Then, if you meet somewhere else, you can use the cell phone trick. This depiction provides a running dialogue, if you will, on the status of the organization, and all grant awards. This is an interesting idea. Almost a running commentary generated from board meeting to board meeting.
Alexandra: What the working calendar/timeline demonstrates is the big view ahead. It’s a way to see the larger picture: when grants begin and end, when big events are happening, (in the example above, the retirement of the Executive Director) when changes will predictably occur (here, a promised raise, a new program will start). Boards tend to spend a lot of time looking backwards (especially with financials) and they often have a tough time envisioning what is coming up. But vision, and envisioning what lies ahead, is the board’s job. Here’s that board’s eye view, again: being able to see down the road to what’s coming.
Cindy: I wonder if this information could be fed into a general operating request or a capacity building grant request? A snapshot of this type of working timeline adds credibility and demonstrates strategic thinking on the part of the board and the organization, and could be woven into a grant request. Actually, a good place to use a visual such as this is on the title page of a grant application. It sets the stage for the reader.
Alexandra: Cindy, in your Building a Grants Calendar series you have a step by step guide on how to build a decision matrix. How does that work?
Cindy: The Decision Matrix is a simple, analytical tool that can help you make decisions about which grantmakers to pursue, and which grant opportunities should be skipped. Once built, the matrix can be applied to Requests for Proposals or grant application guidelines, and can help you make quick, effective decisions on whether you should apply for a particular grant.
The basic idea is that it can be difficult to make decisions on grant opportunities that come across your desk unless you have established basic criteria for judging each opportunity – criteria the leadership has approved. This is where the matrix can be a great help.
Alexandra: Right – and that’s the board’s job. How often have you heard a board or staff member talk about a grant that they think the organization should apply for? Perfect funding opportunities can be few and far between, and you want to be sure that you’re expending your energy on one that is really going to work for you. Unless there is a process in place, and the board has already established criteria, a lot of time can be wasted chasing irrelevant options. That’s why the matrix is such a great idea.
Cindy: Well, Alexandra, I feel as if we could talk about this whole issue of the board of directors’ role in grantseeking and grants management for a long time, and continue to uncover new ways of approaching the issue. I want to thank you so much for participating in this discussion, and to ask our readers to share with us any specific tools or resources they may have regarding this critical convergence between boards and grantseeking.
Please send your ideas to: cadams@grantstation.com, or Alexandra@boardseye.com.Cynthia M. Adams
Cynthia M. Adams has been a fundraiser for over 35 years. Working directly for nonprofits and as a fundraising consultant, Ms. Adams specializes in building bridges between funders and grantseekers. She strongly believes that successful grantseeking requires a thorough understanding of the funders and sound knowledge of the playing field. Her life's work has been to level that playing field, creating an opportunity for all nonprofit organizations to access the wealth of grant opportunities throughout the world.
Alexandra Peters
Alexandra Peters joined her first board 30 years ago and has been fascinated with how nonprofits work ever since. She has served on 13 boards of many sizes and budgets, and has chaired 5 of those. She holds a masters in Developmental Psychology from Columbia University, and has never stopped studying nonprofit governance and leadership. She is a passionate advocate for the meaningful work of nonprofit service, and her real life experience as a board member has given her hands-on expertise in all parts of the nonprofit process.
Other articles in this series:
Main Page
Part 1 – Board Myths... and Misconceptions
Part 2 – The Accepted and Expected
Part 3 – Introducing the Unexpected
Part 4 – Oversight and Continuing Support
Part 5 – Boards and Dashboards
Part 6 – The Time Continuum Cycles, Calendars, Matrices
This article was edited by Julie Kaufman. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, useful tips, or are interested in writing a series for us, please email our Research team, or call our toll-free number: 877-784-7268.