Grant making is changing because charities want to deliver more digital services. This has big implications for traditional grant makers.
I’d like to ask you, please, about how funding tech for good projects is different to funding traditional human powered services?”
That’s what I asked Martha Young and Ali Macfarlane, Comic Relief’s Tech for Good Programme leaders.
Then I opened my ears wide and listened. Here’s my report.
And hey, just to make it clear that by ‘tech for good projects’ we mean ‘digital services’. OK?
1. Tech grants tend to be shorter
A 3 year grant? No way. More like 6-9 months.
Shorter grants work better for tech. They reflect the speed and momentum required to research, design and develop a minimum viable product. It’s enough time to build an early stage solution.
This can be a bit of a shock for grantees who haven’t run a TfG project before. It pushes them to move quickly and build rapid momentum.
Of course this leads to a more intense grant period for the funder too. But working at speed accelerates learning ready for the next programme.
“Funding projects for longer than 9 months isn’t necessarily better. When grantees move slowly they tend to waste money”
Advice for charities
“Plan for a short quick project. Be ready. Get things in place before you go. When you begin the grant be thinking about the next steps”
2. Reporting is lighter
As a funder implementing a new programme it’d be easy to slap on some heavy reporting and try to control it.
But lighter reporting is actually what’s needed in a short, rapid programme. Projects won’t have time to report in-depth and won’t be generating many outcomes yet because they won’t have any beneficiaries until after grant end.
“Fit your reporting to the style of grant.”
This lighter reporting can be uncomfortable for charities too. They’re used to reporting on beneficiary numbers. So let them know its OK to write ‘zero’ in the ‘Beneficiaries’ box at the end of the grant. Remember that evidence of potential is more important.
“The best funding applications show a strong sense of realism. For example they say ‘this will benefit the 12 people involved in the pilot or testing phase’. It shows they understand the stage they expect to get to by grant end.”
3. You’re funding on ability to solve the problem, not solution quality
You don’t know how the solution will look or behave. The best early stage Tech for Good projects are good at solving the problem and testing out solutions.
So it follows that a good application won’t have a clear solution. However it should describe a good solution-finding process.
“Assess on the ability to solve the problem, not the proposed solution“
As a funder you’ll be asking your trustees to fund projects that don’t have a clearly defined output. So unlike a traditional project they can’t assess the application by the quality of its proposed solution. Instead they need to assess by the quality of its proposed process for discovering a solution.
That’s what agile methods and user-centred processes are good for.
Advice for charities
At application stage don’t present a solution that you are wedded to. It makes you look like you’re not interested in running a user centred process.
Show your understanding of problem, need, context. Remain open-minded about possible solutions.
4. Funder+ support programmes are needed
At least for now, while we’re all learning this new funding game.
“I’m not from a techy background, I’m a grants manager who works in tech. So bringing in specialist support means we can run more forward thinking programmes than we would otherwise”
If you’re a funder it’s OK not to have the expertise and confidence to run this game on your own. Support programmes:
- Minimise the risk – because you’ve got experts watching out for all the things they’ve seen go wrong before
- Provide you with access to technical advisers – they can help you understand what your grantees are doing and make assessing and monitoring easier
- Upskills you and your team – leading to more confidence in making tech grants
- Gives grantees a critical friend to help them through these new processes
How to setup a Funder+ Support Programme
- Talk to a funder who already uses one (get in touch)
- Make sure you feel positive about having external help. It’s not a cop out!
- Work out what you have, what you need and what you can afford
- Go out to tender or talk to existing providers
Advice for charities
“The Funder+ model will support and challenge you. If you get funded you’ll be expected to receive advice, to do more user research and critique your proposed solution. Don’t be too wedded to it. Remember this when applying.”
5. Grantees come with a tech partner (usually)
Just like funders need a funder+ partner, grantees need a tech partner
At application stage tech partners are assessed as part of the team. So if a project gets invited to interview they are expected to attend.
This can be challenging for new funders. How do you know what is good value for money? And how do you know that the partner and charity will work well together? After all they come from different worlds.
A little knowledge here goes a long way. Ask ex-grantees and ask funders. Ask Funder+ providers too. Learn to spot the difference between web developers who like to do social impact projects versus those who build CRMs for multinationals. Use the conversation menu to learn the lingo.
Advice for charities
- Present your partner clearly
- Be clear about your relationship with them
- Describe roles and responsibilities and provide timelines
- Show how they will be good value for money
- Provide evidence of previous teamwork, or at least good reason to believe you will work well together
What do you need?
If you’re a funder and would like advice on setting up a Tech for Good grant making programme get in touch.
