Blue Ridge Foundation describes its responsive grantmaking process

Expert-in-Residence at the Blue Ridge Foundation wrote a piece on the organization’s responsive grantmaking program, on GrantCraft, for its Digital Prototype Opportunity, which we wrote about in September. The writer was Parker Mitchell, former Co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders Canada.

The Digital Prototype Opportunity is a chance for nonprofits to get funding and in-kind support for creating some sort of custom software that improves its work or broadens its mission.

Mitchell’s piece functions as a bit of an update on the grant’s process through the foundation, which will announce its two recipients in December, and a narrative of lessons learned. A few notes:

• More than 70 organizations took up the organization on its offer of a 25 minute conversation with Mitchell about their applications.
• 130 individuals from nonprofits took part in a workshop with a design strategies expert, graduate students from the Parsons School of Design and ThoughtWorks engineers, who were able to give them feedback on ways that their process could benefit from technology.
• The Digital Prototype Opportunity was designed for programs that could benefit from bespoke software. The Foundation saw many applications that would benefit from existing software and is working to find ways to serve those organizations.
• Ten finalists have been determined from the grant. The Foundation has determined that it is worth it for them and the Foundation to go into a deeper consultation with these final ten, so that the eight organizations that aren’t able to receive funding may be better positioned to seek it elsewhere.

Technically Brooklyn is in touch with the Blue Ridge Foundation and will cover the final recipients of the grants and support when they are announced.