5 essentials to streamlining scholarships
Looking for the 5 essentials to streamlining scholarship programs online? Good, you’re in the right place! As a scholarship or program manager you likely wear multiple hats, and managing your companies scholarship program is just one of the many.
In this conversation, we sat down with Jennifer Hendrickson, a Senior Account Executive at Glatz Management Services, to discuss ways to streamline scholarships to free up valuable administrative time so you can focus on what you do best, making an impact!
In this webinar we discuss:
- Who is Reviewr?
- Reducing the legwork to apply.
- Why Data is king.
- How to avoid overworking the review committees.
- Thinking about your awards, grants, and scholarships as an experience.
Reducing the legwork to apply
It’s 2020 and time to ditch the physical paper based submission process and embrace the digital experience as an essential to streamlining online scholarship programs. While you may enjoy receiving 3-ring binders in the mail from the applicants, I can ensure you that the applicants don’t.
Leverage technology to work smarter, not harder.
- Avoid manual offline workflows that consist of paper and folders
- Utilize scholarship management software such as Reviewr to consolidate the entire entry process into one place.
- Think of the entry process as a “profile”. This profile should include the submission form, supporting documents, communication, and evaluations.
Split the process
- If you are managing an online scholarship program, consider splitting the entry process into two parts.
- The nominee process: The nominee will submit a basic nomination with The Who, the what, and the why. By simplifying the nomination process you will lower the barrier to nominate and increase volume.
- The nominee process: Use Reviewrs dedicated nominee recipe to notify them of their nomination and provide a link to join the nomination. They will then submit personal and more time consuming information instead of the nominator. This will ensure data accuracy as well as a more consistent experience.
Don’t overdo it.
- It’s easy to ask for too much data.
- Think about what the review team will review and focus on that. Cut out the clutter to avoid overcorrecting and overworking.
Clear and concise
- Begin the process by outlining the expectations from the nominator or nominee.
- This allows the applicant to work offline and prepare for the task at hand before beginning.
- Make sure they have a way to save and rejoin their nomination later for a better user experience.
Streamline scholarships by making data king
We’ve all been there. Weeks after an award, grant, or scholarship is complete we are asked to generate a report just to find out that the data needed was never captured. An easy way to streamline scholarships is to do your future self a favor and plan out the data workflow prior to collecting submissions.
What data is being collected?
- Try to think about the future and the reporting you will want to generate.
- A good starting place is to think about what data the review committee will need to do their evaluation.
- Don’t overcomplicate things.
- Use Reviewr recipes to collect third party data.
- Automated letter of recommendation – a notification is sent to the writer with a link to upload their letter. Once uploaded it will get attached to the applicants profile.
Consider multimedia
- What’s more engaging, blocks of text or personal video?
- No fluff – just value.
- Consider collecting video testimonials, video interviews, image galleries, and video nominations.
- Great for long term marketing collateral or for content on the public celebration page.
Avoid overworking the review committee
As award, grant, and scholarship managers it’s easy to overwork ourselves and “power through it”. But what about the others involved? The review and evaluation team is often a volunteer and it’s critical to ensure they have an engaging experience.
Virtual scholarship review
- Check out these best practices by clicking here.
- Leverage the Reviewr dedicated review and evaluation portal.
- This will consolidate the entire review and evaluation process under one umbrella.
- This includes accessing the submissions, the online judging process, uploaded documents, and collaborative notes.
- Provide the review team the ability to work at their own pace by saving and returning later.
- Reduce human error by automated the results reporting.
Virtual review team collaboration
- Gone are the days of all day in person meetings.
- Utilize tools like Zoom to conduct virtual review team deliberation meetings.
- Ensure that the review committee is prepared for their deliberation by pressuring evaluations and notes for virtual collaboration.
- Combine both the quantitative scoring process with the subjective deliberation.
Build a digital experience
Theres many ways to run award, grants, and scholarships – but there is only one right way: The Reviewr way. Reviewrs dedicated recipes help you streamline scholarships so you can spend less energy on administrative tasks and more time making an impact.
Increase operational efficiency
Increased administrator efficiency saves time and money that can be better allocated to other high impact activities.
Boost participant and volunteer engagement
More engaged users lead to increased participation rates, better quality submissions and reduced support.
Create a thoughtful evaluation and judge experience
Professional and time conscious judging experience results in higher quality reviews, feedback, and increased year over volunteers.
Confidence through data driven integrity
Creates program integrity and confidence through accurate, transparent, consistent, data driven decision making.
Build your brand
The Reviewr experience is a mindset. It’s a never settle mentality of doing things the right way. Reviewr clients are innovators embracing technology and striving for perfection.
Because we care
Reviewr becomes an extension of your team. leverage best practices and highly personal support services guided by years of experience and insights. We’ve got your back.scholarships
