What happens once a proposal is submitted? How are funded proposals selected?

Funders apply a variety of strategies to select the proposals they are going to fund, including using scoring matrices, internal review staff, external reviewers, and members of their boards.

Public funders use a different system than private funders. Federal grants, for example, provide scoring criteria and include point values for those criteria. Private funders have greater flexibility and may even require all members of their board of trustees to have conversations about the applications. Their decision-making process may seem more “personal” and could include back-and-forth communication with the applicant.

In preparation for this Discussion, carefully look at any “review process” information included with your RFP and/or funding source information. With this in mind:

Address the following in a Discussion board post:

• An outline of the review process of the funding source/RFP you selected 
• What criteria are used? 
• What do you see as the benefits and challenges of this review process? 
• How can you use this understanding to better prepare your proposal?