Mini-Grants for Outdoor Learning
In 2020, the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) received funding from family foundations to make small grants to support outdoor learning in public schools in Maine. To solicit and review grant applications and distribute grant funding, I designed and engineered an in-house system for grant review, awardee communications, and reporting requirements
Highlights
Intuitive Data Flows
To manage and review 300+ applications, I built streamlined interfaces for the reviewers to quickly read and score applications. To facilitate internal review and decision-making processes I developed a collaborative interface that helped ensure funding distribution across the state and based on school needs.
Community Informed Grantmaking
Program design included community involvement in the review of grant applications. We brought in teachers and community partners to review grant applications, helping balance bias from staff review.
Emergent Programming
This programming need was in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic and I was able to develop effective, nimble, and robust solutions for getting funding to schools for outdoor learning.
Trust-based Giving
To avoid burdensome reporting requirements and extra work for grant recipients, I also developed a simple system that allowed us to track reports, build impact models, and communicate with funders.
As an intermediary funder, this system allowed us to take the burden of communicating impact to larger funders and communities