Behind the Scenes: What Happens After You Submit a Grant Application
After weeks of preparation and work, you’re finally on the last page of the grant portal. You’ve worried over deadlines, you’ve bothered your co-workers about the financial reports, you’ve double- and triple-checked all your attachments. You’ve read and reread the narrative until you’re blue in the face, and could recite the funder’s guidelines from memory. (In fact, did you have a dream about this grant last night? Couldn’t be.)
After you press “submit,” you know you can’t go back. Here goes nothing! SUBMIT!
[crickets]
What happens after you submit a grant application, anyway?
Ah, I know that anticlimactic feeling very well. Especially if you’re submitting close to the deadline, the adrenaline dump after the application is in can be big. But what happens to your application when it’s submitted? Does it go into a black hole? Because I know that’s what it feels like sometimes, especially when there’s no confirmation page, confirmation email, or any other verification that you did it all correctly.
Every funder handles their decision process differently. Some take weeks, some months. Some have rubrics and panels and public meetings. Others seem to be all cloak and dagger, with only those on the inside knowing the process. And some funders may not even give you a denial, just leaving you to assume that you haven’t been funded.
What gives?
How government grant applications are reviewed
As I mentioned when I explained public versus private funders, grants administered by any level of government (local, state, federal) aim to maintain transparency. They often serve as many of the government’s constituents as possible in an equitable fashion.
Many times, you can expect that a government funder’s Request for Proposals (RFP) will include a rubric or some other form of scoring criteria to help communicate what is most important to the agency in the grant process. From the beginning of your application preparation, you’ll be reviewing those documents in detail to put together the strongest proposal. But remember that these documents also exist to guide decision makers after the application is submitted.
After an initial passover by the agency staff to be sure your application is complete and your nonprofit is eligible to apply, your application will likely be reviewed by a panel of your peers, plus some laypeople. You can even request to join these in your area! Whether that’s a federal panel like the National Endowment for the Arts, your state arts agency, or your local city arts council, government agencies are typically looking for panelists to complete this important work each year. They usually receive a small stipend for their work. It’s also an invaluable opportunity to learn more about what happens “behind the curtains.”
Sometimes, your government agency might host a public meeting where panelists discuss their thoughts about your application. If you have a grant application up for review, I’d suggest listening to a few of the organizations being reviewed before and after yours. It can provide some important context about how the panel is making its decisions, and where you can strengthen your future applications.
How private funders make grant decisions
Foundation funding decisions can run the gamut from very organized and transparent to submitting by mail and never hearing anything back. Some of this is determined by whether the foundation is staffed and how well. If the website lists many staff members in addition to its board of trustees, there’s a good chance that your application will get a pass or two from staff before moving on to the board. Generally, though, the board gets the final say on grant funding.
If the funder doesn’t discuss their decision-making process on their website or in public forums, you can approach this as part of your relationship-building. Ask your contact for more information about how applications are reviewed and whether there are particular parts of the application that seem to resonate the most with decision makers.
Corporate foundation decision processes can also vary widely depending on how the giving mechanism is set up. Sometimes, funding decisions are made on the national or regional level, while in other cases (as with many national banks), decisions are made on the local level, sometimes by a committee of local employees. Having relationships with your local corporate representatives can be very important in the latter case.
Tip: request application feedback from the funder
Regardless of the type of funder or the outcome of the application, it’s helpful to request feedback from funders after you receive your funding decision. Government funders might share all panel comments and your application score, while private funders are more likely to demur. Especially as grantseeking becomes more competitive, foundations might say they have too many applications to provide feedback. No matter what, this is a good way to continue the conversation with the funder.
Conclusion
So, what happens after you hit submit a grant application? A lot, actually, and not all of it visible. While it may feel like your application has vanished into the void, trust that it’s part of a larger process (even if you can’t always see the gears turning).
If the funder gave you a decision timeline (e.g., “by September 1” or “90 days after submission”), set a reminder for yourself to check back. Otherwise, go celebrate having submitted another fantastically prepared grant application! Then get started on the next one.
Cover photo by ChatGPT with prompting by yours truly