Member Experiences: The Selection Panel
In this post, TFN Member Ruth Mantle describes her experience of sitting on a Selection Panel.
The Funding Network is passionate about supporting social change projects which make a real difference. There are always more project applications than there are slots available. TFN uses a selection panel, made up of members, to evaluate and select projects.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of contributing to the network by sitting on the Selection Panel for the May event of TFN London. With the other six members, our remit was to discuss, evaluate and score ten projects. Within two hours, we had to choose five projects to go forward to funding. With 50 minutes of telephone interviews and 25 pages of project applications, we had a lot of information to absorb.
As with other funding organisations, the Selection Panel is held in private and due to time constraints is only able to give simple feedback to unsuccessful projects. Applicants and their member sponsors can sometimes left feeling let down and wondering. Why didn’t we get through?
With this in mind, here are a few words of advice if you are considering submitting an application.
The first is the easiest to remedy. Provide the panel with everything they have requested. It sounds simple and it is. Proposals without key information, such as a budget, are being evaluated against proposals which do. The ones without the important information are a step behind already and that’s not a good place for your project to be.
The second is explain your project so all levels of knowledge can understand. The six members of our panel had diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. The one thing we didn’t all have was a strong understanding of the intricacies of each of the subject areas. If your charity works with a controversial or niche issue, this is even more important.
Finally, you can’t work alone. An understanding of where you fit in the field, support for your project and buy-in from those who you will be working with is important. As one of the panel members succinctly put it, you see a gorgeous man/woman across a crowded room. You think it would be a great idea for them to go out with you. Sadly, it is not a good idea unless they also agree!
After an intense two hours, we had our top five projects. Together they demonstrate the diverse range of fields supported by the nework – solar schools to supporting AIDs Orphans. One thing is for sure – at the May Event there will be something for everyone.
If you are submitting an application for a future event, good luck!
Useful advice Ruth, thank you.