Grant round, week three
The council has a small community grants budget and invites applications twice a year. The form is a Word document on the website. The youth football club sends it back as a photo of a printed page. The village show committee filled it in but did not attach their accounts. The bowls club sent their constitution but it is from 2009 and they have since changed their name. The new litter-picking group has no bank account in its own name yet.
The clerk emails each group to ask for what is missing, keeps a spreadsheet of what has arrived, and then types a summary of every application for the grants committee, because councillors cannot be expected to read a stack of different documents in different formats.
Why grant rounds are so fiddly
Grant schemes have eligibility rules, required documents and a decision process, all of which the council sets. The form just asks questions; it does not check anything. Everything that makes an application complete is checked by hand afterwards, one group at a time.
- Required documents such as accounts, constitution and bank details are not enforced.
- Groups describe their project and costs in very different ways.
- The clerk rekeys every application into a summary for councillors.
- Previous grants to the same group are in a different spreadsheet.
- Decisions and conditions are recorded in the minutes but not against the group.
What the manual round costs
Smaller and newer groups, often the ones the scheme most wants to help, fall at the paperwork hurdle. The clerk loses weeks to chasing. Councillors make decisions from summaries of uneven quality, and it is hard to be consistent between groups. And when the council's accounts are reviewed, the file for each grant can be hard to assemble.
Eligibility, the council's power to make grants and any conditions are matters for your council and its advisers. The system follows the rules you set.
An online application with a decision pack
- An application form on your website with the questions your scheme uses, including a simple project budget table so every group presents costs the same way.
- Required uploads are enforced: the form will not submit without the documents your scheme asks for. Groups can save a draft and come back.
- Eligibility questions you set, such as being based in the parish, are asked up front, with a clear message if a group does not qualify.
- Each application is checked on a clerk's screen with a checklist, and the clerk can send it back to the group with a note about what is missing.
- The group's history of past grants and any outstanding reports is shown next to the application.
- When the round closes, a decision pack is produced for councillors, with every application in the same layout, the amount requested and the budget remaining.
- Decisions, amounts and conditions are recorded against each application, and award letters are drafted from your template.
| In the decision pack | Taken from |
|---|---|
| Group name and purpose | Application form |
| Project summary and costs | Form, in a standard table |
| Documents checked | Clerk's checklist |
| Previous grants and reports | Grant history |
| Budget remaining this round | Your grants budget |
A grant round with the system
Groups apply online and cannot forget the accounts. The clerk checks applications as they arrive and sends back the incomplete ones early, not after the deadline. When the round closes, the decision pack is ready. After the meeting the clerk records decisions and sends award letters from templates. Next year the history is already there.
The small edge cases are handled rather than left to the clerk's memory. A group that is not yet constituted can be marked as applying through a sponsor organisation if your scheme allows it. A group that applied for more than the round has left can be flagged to councillors for a partial award. And a group whose application was sent back for missing documents gets a reminder a few days before the round closes, so it does not simply run out of time because the treasurer was on holiday.
Is your grants scheme hard work?
- Applications arrive on Word forms, paper or photos.
- Groups regularly forget accounts or bank details.
- The clerk types up a summary of every application.
- Past grants to a group are hard to find.
- Award conditions are only in the minutes.