Grant Making System

Impact 100 Seattle is a women's grant making collective launched at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The team created a series of tools to enable their grant making, but after several years realized these tools did not scale. Practicing trust-based philanthropy meant that many tools used by other organizations were not flexible enough to meet Impact 100 Seattle's needs.

Over the course of two grant cycles, we tested and adapted three systems:

1. Application Directory: In the earliest years, all applications were managed via Excel, trapped on one computer and inaccessible to the rest of the organization. The application directory now allows the leadership team and interested members to review any past applications to learn more about the community.

2. Grant Application: The grant application is simple and streamlined with clearly communicated expectations and unlimited word length. The latest iteration allows organizations to track their application through the review process with unique logins and updates.

3. Grant Review System: Impact 100 Seattle has over 20 reviewers each year. Each reviewer has their own unique list, reducing bias. While most off-the-shelf systems are highly structured, the system we built allows each reviewer to view their own unique list and work through the reviews using their personal process. We also incorporated a layer of AI to streamline some elements.

Using primarily Softr and Airtable, Impact 100 Seattle has a robust set of interrelated applications that make the work of the volunteer team much easier.