Scholarship directors have rather a lot to handle. They need to work with development groups to grasp 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 had been utilized.
Organizations used to trace their donors, scholarships, and college students in a wide range of disjointed instruments akin to spreadsheets, e mail, homegrown databases, and paper recordsdata. Sadly, a disorganized course of means college students don’t discover obtainable scholarships, awards get delayed or go unused, and knowledge turns into disorganized, resulting in inaccuracies and safety considerations. That’s why fashionable scholarship workplaces depend on award administration methods.
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 complete lifecycle of scholarships—from purposes to committee evaluations, awarding, fund disbursement, and donor stewardship. The proper software program can streamline processes and get rid of paperwork, improve fund utilization by figuring out and fascinating 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 right now’s wants just isn’t sufficient. Your new system ought to evolve alongside your establishment and be subtle 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 here are 5 steps to get began:
- Discover your folks. Choosing an award administration system must be a bunch effort together with folks throughout your group who will work together with the software program, akin to scholarship admins, assessment committee members, and IT. You may contemplate asking a scholar or latest graduate to get their perspective. Search for a spread of expertise and technical skills to make sure the system you select will work for everybody.
- Know what’s necessary on your establishment. Selecting an award administration system is about matching a system’s capabilities along with your group’s wants. Understanding your crew’s processes, challenges, and objectives will enable you make the very best choice.
- Ask for opinions and referrals. Many establishments have already cast this path and can gladly let you know the professionals and cons of the system they selected or what they could do in a different way, offering invaluable recommendation and perspective. Attain out to your community with questions and ask potential software program suppliers for consumer referrals from similar-sized establishments.
- Choose a strategic accomplice, not only a vendor. An award administration system is a years-long funding. It’s crucial to decide on an organization that wishes to develop into your strategic accomplice. Choose a corporation with confirmed expertise in larger training that’s invested in your long-term success. They need to decide to your partnership with specialised assist groups, studying sources, adoption and enablement steerage, and proactive product growth primarily based on person wants and business adjustments.
- Change administration is essential to success. Most individuals are nervous about change, and a few could also be cautious of latest know-how. Recurrently sharing details about the method and mission will go a good distance in the direction of incomes belief and making certain profitable software program adoption. Take a look at How one can Encourage Scholarship Reviewers to Undertake New Expertise for some suggestions.
What are the important thing components to contemplate?
Whereas completely different award administration methods could have comparable options, they’ll range enormously in how strong, configurable, and versatile they’re. Listed here are the important thing components to contemplate when deciding on an award administration system, making certain that it meets your establishment’s present wants and might adapt to future challenges.
Person Expertise
Your new system ought to present a centralized portal the place college students can discover all obtainable scholarships and simply apply for a number of awards. It ought to enable scholarship directors to trace all purposes with one login, facilitate assessment committee duties and workflows, and supply configurable utility questions and essay prompts. Moreover, the system must be mobile-friendly to be used on smartphones and tablets and routinely match awards to college students.
Adaptability
A contemporary award administration system ought to present utility choices for directors to offer them flexibility in assembly various wants and complexities inside packages. It must also assist the addition of third-party scholarships, allow qualification adjustments on open awards, and supply customizable rubrics for reviewers and role-based workflows. Ask the software program supplier if their system affords an open API for higher extensibility.
Integration
One of the best award administration methods auto-populate every scholar’s utility with knowledge out of your scholar data system (SIS) so college students don’t should manually full redundant fields throughout awards. It ought to will let you ship advert hoc emails from throughout the system and synchronize knowledge along with your donor administration CRM and fund accounting methods. Moreover, it must be versatile sufficient to perform as stand-alone software program or as a part of a turnkey bundle that covers different features wanted by your establishment.
Information & Reporting
Does the system have built-in stories and dashboards? You want correct, on-demand knowledge to simply establish actionable objects or subsequent steps. A top-tier system affords customizable dashboards and stories, permitting directors to entry scholar, donor, and reviewer knowledge throughout the platform. Moreover, the system ought to acquire and supply the information you should steward donors, assist scholar retention, and empower scholarship groups to audit obtainable funds, what was awarded, and the way winners had been chosen.
Safety
Guarantee potential software program distributors preserve business knowledge 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 primarily based on a person’s function.
Vendor Partnership
How lengthy has the seller been in enterprise? Stability is crucial, as is a confirmed observe file 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 on your wants. Guarantee you may 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 neighborhood.
What are the subsequent steps?
Selecting the best award administration system is a crucial choice for any establishment trying to streamline its scholarship processes and improve scholar engagement. An efficient system not solely simplifies the applying and assessment course of but additionally supplies 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 can assist you make an knowledgeable choice.
