Name: Blackbaud Grantmaking™: Year End Tips & Tricks
Uploaded: 2025-11-06T17:30:31.746Z
Duration: 25 min 48 s
Description: Blackbaud Grantmaking™: Year End Tips & Tricks

Transcript for "Blackbaud Grantmaking™: Year End Tips & Tricks": Hello. Hello, everyone. Welcome. Welcome to today's session for Blackbaud Grantmaking, year end tips and tricks. I see you all joining joining our session. Happy to have you. Just gonna give you a minute to load up here into the session. Yep. Year end review is today, and I've got my colleague and friend, Ryan Turner, in, backstage ready to answer some questions and, monitor the chat. So we'll get started in thirty seconds. I see you all joining. I see the count head count rising and, don't wanna start prematurely. So we'll give you another couple minutes. I can start with, the warm up, which is our housekeeping webinar housekeeping. Those of you who have been to, several of our sessions will be familiar with this. But for anybody who's new, just, to help you along, the audio is broadcast through your speakers. We find that if you have any technical issues refreshing the browser, will take care 99% of any issues. Otherwise, you may have to, reboot or, you know, rejoin if the refresh doesn't work. Just to orient you to the page itself, you're looking obviously at the main page, which is the slides. And then over to your right, you'll see the chat. The chat's a great place to say hi with to each other, to me or Ryan, but the q and a is a great place to put your questions. If you need any follow-up on, if there's any follow-up needed on the questions, that's where we track them. We don't always track the chat. It can get busy in there. So pop your questions in the in the, in the q and a, and, Ryan is monitoring that. Anything we can't answer today, we'll follow-up. The middle, section there are the docs tab, and in there, you'll see some resources, that we'll be walking through as part of this presentation. And I will direct those to you and let you know when we come upon them. So I think we'll just get started with introductions. My name is Kathleen. For those of you who don't know me, I work, primarily with community foundations, private foundations, independent family foundations, and I am located in the beautiful Lakes regions of New Hampshire, where we are approaching, some, possibly, some snow. There was snow up in the mountains last night. I'm in the Lakes regions, which is center of the state. And, so, yeah, we might be looking at some snow. I've been with Blackbaud for six years. Just had my six year anniversary. Before that, I worked in a family foundation for eleven years in the grants management group as the grants director, using Blackbaud grant making, in fact. Okay. So that's enough about me. Let's start. Let's take a look at year end preparations. Let's just take a look at an overview here, and I'm not telling you guys anything that you don't already know as grants managers. You know that it's a critical time to review what you've done this year, organize, and organize and prepare for what's coming up next year. I've always found in my experience as a grants manager that adopting, the checklist mindset really helps me stay focused, provides consistency, and and really sets an expectation with your colleagues, with your partners in your office as to what you will and won't get done, at year end and in preparation for next year. So, following that structured approach, I found has been is very successful in helping me stay organized, right, as well as your stakeholders. So what we'll, walk through with the remainder of our time together is, first, getting organized. Second is, what what are the tasks involved with maintaining your data integrity, and reporting? What are some system maintenance tasks that you may wanna tackle as part of your year end, progress or project, and then finalizing grant records. To me, that was always one of the more important of the features that I've, functions that I worked on, and then planning ahead. What do you wanna do to prepare for next year? Right? There's there's a lot more, in my opinion, involved with year end. But in the time we have together, these felt like the major highlights that we wanted to address. So let's take a look at getting organized. First off, you wanna ask yourself who needs what. And these are just kind of three common areas or three common, functions within your foundation that will always ask, I need this, that, or the other thing. So the first one to me, was the tax department anyways. And, I worked with the tax department, in the foundation that I worked in and, and providing them the information they needed, obviously, to fill out our annual tax forms. And that typically was the September report. This the report called schedule of appropriations and payments. It's always you know, it's a big report, takes time to run. It's something that I would like to, you know, kind of get that done as soon as my grants were closed out, get that report run, and hand that off to the tax department. That's one example. Secondly, the board. Okay? So at the end of the year, you you may have just had a board meeting, say, in November, or maybe your board does, does their, annual meetings at the end of the year, or perhaps they do quarterly meetings. To me, the board, the board reports are probably number one, things on my list that I would wanna get organized, for the end of the year. So I would, run a final grant payout list, give that to whomever is putting the board book together. If that's you, then then, obviously, you would insert that into your board book. And then, the third area of getting organized with my colleagues was always around the program officers. Right? So program officers might say, oh my goodness. I know I have, you know, these 10 requirements that are due in order to make this final payment on this grant, commitments that I made. What are those things? Right? So, so I would always make sure that my program officers had their reports ready, that their dashboards were updated. Right? If your program officers were more inclined to use their dashboard than a than a a manual report, then that's the other way that I would deliver it. So I think the point here around getting organized and who needs what is around collaboration and coordination. Right? That proactive communication and the coordination, it really minimizes the last minute requests and the kinda panic that people might feel as a board meeting comes up or as program officers are looking for information to reach out to their to their grantees. And it just helps align everyone on the year end goals, and it keeps you from going crazy as the as the grants manager. Okay. So that's getting started. Let's take a look now at data integrity and reporting. So I'm not telling you anything you you don't already know that maintaining these accurate rec records is really essential for reliable reporting and your strategic planning going forward. But you can't manage what you can't measure. So the first thing, I always did as I was preparing to pull out some data was establishing my baseline numbers. Right? So, first off, using the dashboards for visualization was always the best way of doing it. And, really, dashboards will show you key trends. Changes or visualizes, year over year changes in your key metrics, like things like the number of organizations, number of requests, and any other relevant records that that you find helpful. A a useful tip that I always found within the grant making system is in your search function. Right? If you search for organizations, by typing in that little percentage code that's here on the slide, it to reach that will retrieve account. And that can be repeated for other record types like number of requests. Right? So number of organizations, number of requests, number of payments, That always establishes that baseline number that you've got in the system at that point. And from there, you can see the trends going forward. It gives you a snapshot of your activity, identifies trends, anomalies, and areas for improvement, and it really helps the entire foundation for evaluating performance and then making informed decisions moving forward. So that's your establishing baseline numbers. Let's take a look at some system maintenance, which is basically cleanup. Right? That's what, one of my favorite parts was always doing the cleanup in my database. So what what are the types of things we wanna clean up? I think, essentially, you really wanna clean up, number one, your duplicate records. So any duplicate records that turn up in the system can be in, organizations. It can be in contacts. Right? So what you're gonna wanna do is run those, reports, the automated reports for duplicate reports that identify and merge duplicate records, including organizations by name. Right? So you'd run that one by name And duplicate contacts, you'd run I typically run run those by last name, or you can run it by SSN, but that can get a little, confusing. So I would run it by last name. Then and then the text status verify tool is also a great way to find organizations that are missing their text status ID. It happens. Believe me. You wouldn't think it it would, but it does. So you can find those that are missing. There's lots of other cleanup functions that we can do. Right? A good example of some of these are looking for missing codes or unscheduled balances. Those things, you're probably gonna wanna address those, to make sure that your reports and your dashboards moving forward are accurate. So those are the three areas, and there's lots more, in the in my checklist that you'll find in the docs. There's lots more suggestions around what other areas in your system do you want to clean up. Okay. That's clean up. Let's see. Alright. Now let's take a look at finalizing records. I call this closeout. Right? What do we want to close out in the system? The first thing I'd really wanna do is take a look at open grants and requirements. You wanna ensure that all those obligations have been met. If the dates are past due, obviously, those are the ones that you'd focus on first. Grants and requirements that are fulfilled, should be closed, and payments can be marked as paid. I've always found also that outdated pending requests really can, clutter up my database. So, and and, you know, sometimes your program officers or or your grants administrators may enter, like, placeholder, requests in the system, not necessarily coming in through the application portal, but something that they just wanted to keep their eye on. It's a good time end of year is a good time to look at those, outdated pending requests and and evaluate them for validity. Maybe, you know, go sit down with your program officers and say, hey. Are these really valid requests that you're gonna follow-up on next year? If so, let's get them in the system correctly, or let's close them out, right, so that they're not cluttering up your database. So those are great decisions that you wanna make to approve or decline them or move them forward in some way, shape, or form. The actions that are often overlooked but they're essential for maintaining your database and keeping it up to date and making sure that when you move into next year, you're not dealing with bad data. It can you know, you can do this anytime of the year. You can do some of this cleanup anytime of the year. I found that, getting it started at least during year end helps prevent the backlogs, and it ensures that your organization starts a new year with a clean slate. Alrighty. So what would we do next? Everything's cleaned up. My system is my system codes are all updated. My program officer's records are all up to date. What do I wanna do now? Well, I you wanna start planning ahead. Right? You wanna start really taking a look at what your plans are, how you ended this year, and what your plans are for next year and getting ready for that. So, for those of you with the, what's called the budget module, It's a a great opportunity to oops. Sorry. I didn't need to click that. The budget module is a great process for, four key steps. Number one is planning the budget. So you plan the new budget for next year, and you've probably had meetings with your staff at this point that are really kind of driving what next year's granting budget looks like. And then in the system, you create a new budget year and allocate those funds, say, among all the various programs. Most of you have multiple programs, whether it's your health and welfare program, your education program, whichever one it is. You allocate the funds according to your programs. And then you when you're ready to start opening grants against those programs, you would open the budget year. That that's the budget module. For those of you who don't have the budget module, you may be doing this, you know, in an Excel spreadsheet or however however you're keeping track of it. So now if you don't if you don't have the budget module, tracking your actual giving and payments against what you've paid really ensures your financial accountability and strategic alignment. At the end of the fiscal year, the budget should be closed to finalize those records, and then these preparations will help you really manage your resources effectively and support the decisions that your team is making moving forward into the new year. So get that new budget ready to go. Alright. Few more minutes left here. Just gonna take a look at and you're probably saying to yourself, well, that's all fine and well and good, Kathy. But how do I do all this? Well, here are some resources for you. Support engagement is so important, when you're working, especially at a at a rapid pace at a year end. You're trying to close out your books. You're trying to satisfy your board with board meetings coming up, your program officers. Here are the places for you to go to help with your system. You can access additional support and learning materials through, these primary areas, through our grant making on demand resource library. We have many, tutorials, videos, little clips in there that we find are helpful. Also, I will be putting the year end checklist, we which you can see in the docs tab, in that, in that on that web page as well for you and anybody else who hasn't attended here today, to access. I highly recommend our Blackbaud University. The they really do a wonderful job in navigating through all of the different ways in which you can accomplish these tasks, through on demand learning, through live instructor led training, through, what they're calling trending topics or little micro learnings that are, like, five or six minutes long, that focus in on a particular subject. Wonderful wonderful way to leverage these tools, enhancing your proficiency and promoting continuous improvement through your organization. What other reasons do we have? Well, we have the community. The Blackbaud grant making community is a wonderful place where, we all pop in every so often, and I'd love to see that you all share some wonderful tips and tricks around. Well, how do I do that? Right? How do you, run your year end reports? Right? What are some great suggestions that you all have for each other? That's really a wonderful place for you to engage with the community, provide opportunities to share your insights, learn from each other, contribute and contribute to the collective knowledge. I find myself going in there and, you know, searching for certain subject areas sometimes. And then, you know, interacting with each other. It fosters collaboration, supports your professional development, and strengthens the network of of grant making professionals who we're we're so delighted to to work with. Okay. So that's the community, and now that, link is in the docs tab as well. Actually, I'm gonna look quick in the docs tab. So the first, well, link that you find in there is the, checklist that I just referenced. And the checklist has several several other I'm just gonna grab a quick look at that. It has several other areas, for example, in the system that you may wanna take a look at. For example, how to update reports and dashboards. Right? If any if you have any reports that are hard coded to a date, say, you put in the, you know, 12/31/2025, that's something you wanna take a look at changing, if you're looking for next year's data, obviously. There's some information in there around templates and reminders, how to update those reminders, particularly the ones for automated reminders. Take a look at your users, users and permissions. Right? Have you had staff turnover, and and perhaps your user list is not updated yet? The permissions have changed. Right? You may have promoted somebody to a to a higher level of access in grant making. That's something you wanna take a look at. Your views and searches is another great area, to take a look at. Are there, outstanding tasks in there, missing information, and your views and search. And just cleaning up and organizing those lists is helpful as well. And then as I said earlier, continuous improvement, schedule regular reviews and updates, not just annually. I was always, the person who was doing that last minute at the end of the year. But I think that, you know, maybe scheduling quarterly updates around your system, around your closeouts, and all that, is great. And keep the checklist going. Keep it alive, alive, a live function that you guys want. So, anyways, that checklist is the first one in the docs, and then you'll see a list of links under that. The resource library that I just mentioned, the, the, Blackbaud University is in there as well. And what's coming up in two weeks is the product update briefing. Highly recommend that you guys register for that. That link will take you right to the registration page. Okay. I'm getting ready to to close out here. I've done enough jabbering. And, one last thing. Just, you know, as I said before, collaborating in the community is a great thing, but there are several other places that you can collaborate with both Blackbaud staff as well as with your colleagues, and those are in these three programs that you see listed on your page. The Blackbaud champions program is a great place for you to provide feedback to Blackbaud, participate in professional development opportunities, and more. And my understanding is there are gifts involved. I have not seen those gifts, but I understand that there are there are some gifts involved with the Blackbaud champions program. The reference program is another wonderful, area. We we love for you to share your experience, with other prospects and customers that we hear from. You you can do that as little or as much as you want if you sign if you're interested in signing up for that. My favorite program is the Spotlight Your Success program where, someone from Blackbaud, typically, one of our marketing folks will interview you, and that person, will help write up an, an article about the wonderful work that you do at your organization and really, you know, toot your own horn. You guys do so much work out there in the world, and we're happy to to, to spotlight that for you. So that is the end of my presentation. I see Ryan joining me on stage. Ryan, good to have you. We've got a couple minutes. If you have any questions or any other comments you'd like to make, this would be a great time to do that. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Thank you, for all this information, Kathleen. We did field a couple of questions, some generic. If is this being recorded? It is. If as long as you were registered, you'll get a link to the recording of this within about a day. And we had some good questions from Monica about, sort of cleaning up some constituents in her organization. And, Monica, I do suggest I've provided some guidance. It sounds like you've already taken some of those steps and are still having some trouble. So I do suggest, going to support with that. But you'd mentioned it earlier, Kathleen, in this conversation, the product update briefings are happening in a couple of weeks. I noted in the chat that the registration link is available in that docs tab. I could not more strongly urge everyone on this call and everyone with Blackbaud grant making to sign up for the product update briefings. That's great. Thanks, Ryan. FYI, guys, I just, launched the survey. If you would be so kind as to fill that out, That really helps us understand, you know, how we did and what you'd like to see going forward. We'd love your ideas around additional topics for next year as Ryan and I plan plan out our sessions for the next few months. I know we'll be having some sessions around the applicant portal as new features and functions roll out into that. But beyond that, what else are you guys interested in? Let us know in that survey. We'd love to hear from you. Or in the chat or in the q and a, or call us, or email us. You know how to reach us. We're always around. Anyone who I don't know if any of you will be at the upcoming exponent, philanthropy conference next week. I will be there with my colleague Ray Borkman from marketing. If you are gonna be there as well, stop by and say, hey. We're about to meet face to face. Assuming no flight disruption. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I'm flying from I was telling Ryan I'm flying from Manchester, New Hampshire to Washington, DC, which is one of the affected airports, and then out to Columbus, Ohio. So you you all can, fingers crossed, say a little prayer for my flight next week. Okay, guys. Well, thanks so much. It was great to have you all here, and thanks again, Ryan, for manning the backstage and popping on stage. It's great to see you all. And if I don't get a chance to speak with you all, have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'll see you all real soon. Take care.