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KEY LESSONS FROM GRANT MAKERS
As you think about whether to undertake a scan and how it can be a helpful exercise to undertake, it might be useful to bear in mind these brief lessons that contributors have identified:
- It's not just for new grant makers: Scanning is about understanding how the different parts of a field work together, and figuring out where your grant making is most likely to make a difference. A scan can be useful at different points in your career as a grant maker — when you're just starting out, when you're beginning to work in a new program area, or when you are looking back on grants that you have already made.
- A scan can help connections. In addition to helping you to inform yourself about what's happening in the field, the methods you use to conduct your scan can help you build your own connections to other people in the same field, as well as strengthen ties between people working on similar issues.
- Find a method that works for you. There are all kinds of ways to conduct your scan, ranging from methods as simple as one-on-one conversations with knowledgeable people to more complex approaches such as facilitated group discussions. Scanning isn't just for large organizations — there are many simple and inexpensive ways to learn about a field.
- It's about what you don't know. A scan is an opportunity to hear from people with diverse perspectives and who represent skills, areas of expertise, and networks that may be missing from your own experience. You may find that you discover new opportunities and ideas to support that you didn't expect, or that your assumptions are challenged by what you hear.
- Make your intentions clear. It is inevitable that the process of scanning will lead potential grantees to form expectations about what you will be funding. If your resources or funding programs have limitations that you're already aware of, it is a good idea to be clear up front about them. If you don't know yet where the scan will lead, it is important to communicate that, as well.
- Use what you learn in more than one way. Your scan can help you rethink your grant-making ideas, make a case for a new program direction with senior managers or trustees, or help build new working relationships in a field. Even before you begin your scan, it is important to think through how you are going to share what you learn with the broader field — through publications, presentations, or other communications products.
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