A colleague just shared with me an application she’s now working on where the funder doesn’t share the application questions until you’re into the app. There’s no view to what to expect in terms of the depth and breadth of what the funder will want to know. There’s no advance notice to prep responses — or even to decide if the questions make applying make sense!
For this funder, once you open up the application, only then can you START the work of figuring out and inputting your final answers. This definitely puts the applicant at a disadvantage. Sure, it puts everyone on a level playing field, but why use a practice that has the potential of ending up with poorer submissions?
Being able to view application questions ahead of deciding to apply gives the potential applicant a lens to the difficulty level, and intricacy, of what lies ahead in terms of work to complete an application. It gives the applicant a chance to gauge what will be expected from them in terms of man hours. It lets them see whether other team members need to be involved: if it’s heavy into finance questions, for instance.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD:
The weeks before I submit an application are precious. I pull the application questions, go through them with my client, divide and conquer as necessary, go through drafts and re-drafts, add and edit and tweak, until we are all pleased with what we are turning out. THEN, I submit.
Without that time and that opportunity, the team dynamic is disrupted and can’t be taken advantage of nearly as elegantly as we otherwise would be able to. With a live application hanging out there, the opportunity to think over, strategize, and devise the best possible answers gets really awkward.
The best practice is to gather the application questions well ahead of deadline, go through them with your team, decide who is best situated to address each one, work independently to answer each one, and then come together to have leadership review the application in its totality and add any insights they may have. Several passes may be necessary to include all the best possible angles to address each question. This is what is necessary to create a strong application that shines the best possible light on the applicant’s organization.
WHY HIDE?
I’m wondering what the motivation is to not leave their application open to review. Does the funder not giving the opportunity to view their questions think that grant writing is that easy? Do they think that their application is that easy? Do they ever wonder why the applications they receive seem hastily written or organized? Do they think opening up their application ahead of time leads to more (too many?) applicants unnecessarily and they want to limit who submits?
I have submitted a few applications where the funder actually surveys the applicants after the submission process for feedback on that process. It’s not common, but I wonder if the “hidden application” funder seeks feedback at any point along the way. If they did, I know what I would say!
WHAT I WOULD TELL THEM
Hidden application questions don’t give your applicants a chance to prepare adequately; provide strong, strategic, and organized responses to your questions; and get the best possible application to you for you to review. You are handicapping them all and cheating yourselves of what could be better submissions. Grant writing is a team sport, and as such, the team needs a chance to learn what their objective is, figure out what their strategy will be, and coalesce the best possible responses that appropriately answer, as in depth as possible, what it is you are asking of them. To deprive them of that only limits what they are able to produce for you.
Give us a lens to what is expected of us! It will play to ALL our advantages!
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