Scholarship directors have quite a bit to handle. They have to work with development groups to know scholarship funding, discover college students who match donors’ particular necessities, shepherd these college students by the applying course of, handle scholarship assessment committees, disburse awards, and report again to the donors how their funds have been utilized.
Organizations used to trace their donors, scholarships, and college students in a wide range of disjointed instruments resembling spreadsheets, e-mail, homegrown databases, and paper information. Sadly, a disorganized course of means college students don’t discover accessible scholarships, awards get delayed or go unused, and information turns into disorganized, resulting in inaccuracies and safety considerations. That’s why trendy scholarship places of work depend on award administration programs.
What’s an award administration system?
A scholarship award administration system is software program designed to arrange and streamline the processes and workflows of a school or basis’s scholarship program and to make scholarships extra accessible to college students.
A contemporary award administration system helps directors handle the total lifecycle of scholarships—from purposes to committee critiques, awarding, fund disbursement, and donor stewardship. The best software program can streamline processes and get rid of paperwork, improve fund utilization by figuring out and interesting college students, and supply actionable insights to steward donors.
How do you select scholarship software program?
Evaluating and deciding on an award administration system might be sophisticated. Selecting one which meets immediately’s wants is just not sufficient. Your new system ought to evolve alongside your establishment and be refined sufficient to adapt and alter as you streamline and hone processes. Whereas adopting new know-how might be difficult, having a predetermined framework will assist get rid of a lot of the guesswork and uncertainty. Listed below are 5 steps to get began:
- Discover your folks. Deciding on an award administration system needs to be a bunch effort together with folks throughout your group who will work together with the software program, resembling scholarship admins, assessment committee members, and IT. You would possibly contemplate asking a pupil or latest graduate to get their perspective. Search for a spread of expertise and technical talents to make sure the system you select will work for everybody.
- Know what’s essential in your establishment. Selecting an award administration system is about matching a system’s capabilities along with your group’s wants. Understanding your group’s processes, challenges, and targets will enable you make one of the best choice.
- Ask for opinions and referrals. Many establishments have already solid this path and can gladly let you know the professionals and cons of the system they selected or what they may do otherwise, offering invaluable recommendation and perspective. Attain out to your community with questions and ask potential software program suppliers for shopper referrals from similar-sized establishments.
- Choose a strategic associate, not only a vendor. An award administration system is a years-long funding. It’s important to decide on an organization that desires to turn into your strategic associate. Choose a company with confirmed expertise in larger schooling that’s invested in your long-term success. They need to decide to your partnership with specialised assist groups, studying assets, adoption and enablement steerage, and proactive product growth based mostly on person wants and trade adjustments.
- Change administration is vital to success. Most individuals are nervous about change, and a few could also be cautious of latest know-how. Commonly sharing details about the method and mission will go a good distance in the direction of incomes belief and guaranteeing profitable software program adoption. Try The right way to Encourage Scholarship Reviewers to Undertake New Expertise for some suggestions.
What are the important thing components to contemplate?
Whereas completely different award administration programs could have related options, they’ll fluctuate tremendously in how strong, configurable, and versatile they’re. Listed below are the important thing components to contemplate when deciding on an award administration system, guaranteeing that it meets your establishment’s present wants and might adapt to future challenges.
Consumer Expertise
Your new system ought to present a centralized portal the place college students can discover all accessible scholarships and simply apply for a number of awards. It ought to permit scholarship directors to trace all purposes with one login, facilitate assessment committee duties and workflows, and provide configurable software questions and essay prompts. Moreover, the system needs to be mobile-friendly to be used on smartphones and tablets and robotically match awards to college students.
Adaptability
A contemporary award administration system ought to present software choices for directors to provide them flexibility in assembly various wants and complexities inside applications. It must also assist the addition of third-party scholarships, allow qualification adjustments on open awards, and provide customizable rubrics for reviewers and role-based workflows. Ask the software program supplier if their system provides an open API for higher extensibility.
Integration
The most effective award administration programs auto-populate every pupil’s software with information out of your pupil info system (SIS) so college students don’t must manually full redundant fields throughout awards. It ought to mean you can ship advert hoc emails from inside the system and synchronize information along with your donor administration CRM and fund accounting programs. Moreover, it needs to be versatile sufficient to operate as stand-alone software program or as a part of a turnkey package deal that covers different features wanted by your establishment.
Information & Reporting
Does the system have built-in stories and dashboards? You want correct, on-demand information to simply establish actionable objects or subsequent steps. A top-tier system provides customizable dashboards and stories, permitting directors to entry pupil, donor, and reviewer information inside the platform. Moreover, the system ought to accumulate and supply the info that you must steward donors, assist pupil retention, and empower scholarship groups to audit accessible funds, what was awarded, and the way winners have been chosen.
Safety
Guarantee potential software program distributors preserve trade information safety requirements and certifications, prioritize accessibility and different compliances, and have a catastrophe restoration plan in place. The software program ought to use Multi-Issue Authentication and permit customization of entry based mostly on a person’s function.
Vendor Partnership
How lengthy has the seller been in enterprise? Stability is important, as is a confirmed observe document with larger ed establishments. You need software program constructed particularly for scholarship award administration, not one thing utilized by firms that has been poorly tailored in your wants. Guarantee you will get in-person and on-line coaching throughout implementation, ongoing coaching and assist, and collaboration instruments to attach you with the seller’s larger ed person group.
What are the following steps?
Selecting the best award administration system is a important choice for any establishment seeking to streamline its scholarship processes and improve pupil engagement. An efficient system not solely simplifies the applying and assessment course of but additionally offers priceless insights for donor stewardship and fund utilization.
Whether or not you’re simply beginning your search or want to improve your current system, obtain our information that will help you make an knowledgeable choice.