Lessons in Evaluation:
How Serving on Grant Panels Could Make you a Better Writer
by
Jennifer L. Phelps, CFRE

Early on in my fundraising career, when I was still but a student in a burgeoning arts administration program, I had the opportunity to attend a state arts council grant review session. It was the first time I had ever been witness to such a process and, little did I know, that experience would have a major impact on my grant-writing and, later, my grant-reviewing skills.

I attended the session with the executive director of the arts organization I was interning with that summer with the intent of staying just long enough to hear the review of our organization's submission. We arrived at the council's offices with plenty of time to spare and quietly took our seats in the "audience." There before me sat a panel of approximately eight individuals, each with large notebooks and copious amounts of paper spread about them. They were in the midst of discussing a grant submission from a religious group with an established arts education outreach program. "I'm confused," said one panel member, "these folks intend to reach an audience of over 500 children, and yet their budget figures don't seem to reflect that kind of scope. If you'll take a look at page..." and she proceeded to lead the panel members to the appropriate page of the grant application where the budget could be found. The members moved on to another organization's submission and methodically continued to raise various points of contention as they systematically evaluated each one. I was mesmerized.

Sure, I had been writing grant proposals, using the same tried and true formulas my colleagues used: background, needs statement, goals/objectives/outcomes, proposed solution, etc. But I had never really stopped to think about what might be missing from my funding requests. If someone completely disconnected from my project read my grant what areas would raise the most questions? Would my budget be completely clear? My objectives measurable enough? This was a turning point for me. I suddenly realized that, in most cases, we are writing for an uninformed audience and it's our job to inform them. As I listened to the panel review applications that day, many of the same questions were surfacing from proposal to proposal. There were trends developing -- areas that were frequently neglected by many of the grant writers. "If I could only obtain a copy of those applications," I thought, "I'm sure I could learn so much!"

Fortunately for me, it turned out that one of the panel members was also colleague of my boss's. When the panel broke for lunch, I had the occasion to ask her a few questions, including what happened to all of the applications when they were done reviewing them. She responded that they could either keep them, or they would be shredded and disposed of. You see where I'm going here.... I left the review session that day with a binder weighing no less than five pounds, full of great ideas and a wealth of opportunities from which to learn. And this got me to thinking: if you can learn this much by listening to a review panel or reading through a host of grant submissions, imagine how much you could learn by serving on a panel!

I have since taken every opportunity possible to serve on local review panels. From the arts council to organizations offering achievement awards, volunteering for these groups has made me a far better grant-writer. These opportunities have provided me with a chance to develop a more thorough understanding of the grant-seeking process, my audience, and what it really is that reviewers are seeking. Sure, it varies a bit from grantor to grantor, but there are some steadfast constants that apply.

I have provided you with a list of the most common thoughts to consider from the reviewer's perspective at the end of this article, but I want to encourage all of you: do not stop there! Seek out opportunities in your own communities to serve on a review panel. Perhaps you work for a university that offers its faculty members research grants, and you can become involved that way. Or, perhaps, you have an interest in the arts and your local arts council or arts commission has opportunities for volunteers like yourself. Regardless of the opportunity you seek, serving as a member of a review panel will help to solidify your ideas about the grant-writing process and will help you to become a more effective writer. Besides, with all of the time we spend asking for money, wouldn't it be nice to help give it away for a change?! Happy reviewing!

Common Questions Asked by Grant Reviewers: