The Catalyst Grant Program, a collaboration between the Urban Institute and the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative, supports nonprofit organizations using data and technology to advance racial equity in the criminal legal system. Grantees are locally embedded groups at the forefront of change in the criminal legal system that have deep knowledge of the issues affecting their communities. Many of these groups, however, are smaller and may have less experience writing grant applications. The Catalyst Grant Program team seeks to make our grantmaking process as accessible as possible for these smaller groups, and we have learned from early grantees how to better tailor the process for community-based nonprofits. The learning is never done, but we have identified a few promising practices for centering a grant program on community-based nonprofits that could benefit others designing and implementing similar grant programs.
Be transparent during the application period
Applying for a grant is time consuming, especially for small organizations. We try to be very clear about the intent of the Catalyst Grant Program so that organizations can assess whether their projects are a good fit for the program. In addition to describing the allowed topics, we provide a list of areas the program will not fund to avoid any confusion. Applicants are given interactive opportunities to ask about requirements through webinars on the program and on the Microsoft technology support available through the program. We record the webinars and publish FAQs that are regularly updated based on questions received during the application period to ensure all applicants have access to the same information. All applicants can also email our team to ask whether their project topics are eligible under the grant. We also preview the general criteria we will use to judge the applications and provide brief guidance in the application about “what we are looking for” that aligns with the scoring instructions used by the reviewers. We do this to increase transparency and reduce guesswork by prospective applicants.
Ask only for necessary and relevant information
Because applying for grants is time consuming and resource intensive, we limit application questions to those we will actually use when evaluating applications. Our scoring criteria align with each application question. Over the course of the three rounds of the program, we reflected on the application questions and the responses we received and eliminated questions that were not useful. We do still require grantees to provide relatively simple project budgets because they have proven helpful for reviewers when assessing whether projects are achievable and for applicants as they plan their project activities.
Encourage and monitor applications from people most affected by racial inequities
To award grants to a diverse set of organizations, we try to reflect on our process from beginning to end. Outreach is an important and challenging part of that process, and we can only select grantees from the pool of applicants that hear about the opportunity and choose to apply. Many small, grassroots organizations may not already be part of Urban’s or Microsoft’s direct networks, so we ask those in our networks to actively share the opportunity so we can reach new groups. We ask all applicants to tell us how they heard about the grant opportunity to assess and refine the outreach strategy and see whether we are reaching groups beyond those already in our networks.
People of color, particularly Black people, are the most affected by inequities in the criminal legal system and they bring critical expertise to the reform of that system. Organizations with leaders of color have historically been excluded from many philanthropic opportunities. In response to this, the Catalyst Grant Program strives to prioritize funding for organizations that have leaders of color and organizations with trusted relationships with communities of color.
As part of operationalizing this goal, we ask organizations to share information on the racial and ethnic diversity of their leadership. We also ask whether leadership or key staff self-identify as having been incarcerated, arrested, convicted, or affected by the incarceration of a loved one, because people with this lived experience bring critical expertise to criminal legal system reform. Importantly, we do not use these answers to evaluate the quality of an application and do not show them to reviewers during scoring, but they do help the core program team consider leaders’ demographic information, along with other factors, as it selects finalists and decides on the awardees. They also help us judge how well our outreach is reaching grassroots groups with leaders of color and staff in key positions with lived experience.
In addition, the application asks organizations to describe how they maintain connections and trust with the communities of focus for their proposed work; this information is included for the reviewers. Applicants may mention having staff or board members of color who live in the community of focus or ways in which they have community members set the organization’s priorities.
Include diverse perspectives in reviewing applications
The core Catalyst Grant Program team asks other Urban and Microsoft experts to review applications and uses their assessments as key inputs in the final selection of grantees. When recruiting reviewers for the program, we ensure there is racial and ethnic diversity and diversity in people’s disciplines and areas of focus. Applications are reviewed by multiple people, which allows the core program team to consider each proposal from multiple perspectives and reduce bias. The reviews are key inputs to the final decisions, but we also aim to build a diverse portfolio of projects in each cohort. We are explicit in the request for proposals that we want a mix of topics, types of projects, and regions.
Recognize nonprofits’ financial constraints
Many funders want to fund project activities without also funding administrative activities. The Catalyst Grant Program team understands that nonprofit organizations, including Catalyst Grantees, must have adequate staffing and infrastructure to pursue their missions and undertake the projects they propose. To support this, Catalyst grantees can allot 20 percent of their total project budgets toward overhead costs, such as rent, administrative positions, and so forth. We try to keep the program’s administrative requirements, like financial and progress reports, to a minimum so grantees can stretch their existing resources further. We also describe in the request for proposals what will be expected from applicants if they are awarded the grant so they are aware of the time required for participation and reporting. And because many smaller organizations do not have ample cash reserves, all funding is paid at the beginning of the project period. This gives grantees the financial flexibility needed to implement their projects.
Support grantees with flexible training and technical assistance
To help the Catalyst grantees succeed, the program team offers flexible training and technical assistance. Urban offers support on data, policy, and community engagement, while Microsoft provides technology support. In addition, the program brings grantees together for regular peer-learning opportunities on various topics. Most groups are enthusiastic about participating in the one-on-one help and learning from other grantees, but activities are not all mandatory. Community groups often have small staffs and are juggling many priorities. To respect this reality, each grantee can avail themselves of the supports and activities most beneficial for them, allowing them to prioritize how they spend their limited time. The Catalyst Grant Program team also helps grantees problem-solve whenever local reform efforts encounter unexpected challenges. These may include changes in local government, delays accessing data, or staff turnover. We help grantees adjust plans within the scope of the program to make the most of the new circumstances.
Conclusion
Our team has found that creating a grant program that is accessible and beneficial for small, community-based nonprofits is an iterative process and requires ongoing reflection and learning from applicants and grantees along the way. We hope other groups running grant programs can learn from our experiences. As a start, we think it is important to be transparent with applicants about requirements and expectations, to reflect on and improve how we prioritize diversity throughout our program processes, to recognize and accommodate grantees’ financial constraints and specific challenges, and to respect applicants’ and grantees’ time and resources during the application and grant periods. We look forward to learning more from grantees about how the Catalyst program can continue to improve, and project staff are also sharing lessons from this experience to benefit the Urban Institute’s other grantmaking programs.
Visit the Catalyst Grant Program Insights page for more resources and stories about the grantees.
