GrantsMagic U

Getting meaningful feedback on your proposals from grantmakers can be frustrating - to say the least! How do you ask for it? How do you make sense of it? -- And what do you do with it when you get it?

The two-word answer? "It depends" -- on the grantmaking organization, on what happens in the grants decision-making process - and on how you ask!

In this one-of-a-kind session (recorded with a live audience), veteran grantmaker Maryn Boess puts on her Magic Grantmaker Hat and shares a lot of straight talk and real-world experience about asking for - getting - and making sense of funder feedback.

• We'll start with a unique behind-the-scenes tour "Inside the Grantmaker's Black Box," tracking your proposal as it makes it way through the 8 "checkpoints," or qualifying rounds, of the typical proposal review and decision-making process.
• We'll bust three big myths about how grant decisions are made. Sneak peek: "It's a competitive process." [It isn't.] "It's an objective process." [It isn't.] "An A+ proposal should beat a B- proposal, every time." [Nope!]
• We'll talk about the three biggest mistakes people make when it comes to getting feedback on their proposals - and the lessons you can learn from them.
• You'll eavesdrop on a simulation of what really happens in the final decision-making process - warning: it isn't (always) about the points!
• You'll learn why you can't always expect feedback - why many funders won't (or can't) provide it - and the WRONG question practically everybody asks!
• You'll learn the RIGHT questions to ask - in the RIGHT way - to increase the chances you'll get results you can use.
• And you'll listen in to robust real-world conversation about your fellow students' questioons, challenges, and experiences during our post-session Q&A.