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IAC Shortens and Streamlines Major Grants Process
The IAC’s major project grant applicants will now find out about funding one month after the application due date! In a week-long kaizen event in July, staff and citizen participants carved six weeks out of a 10-week process.
Kaizen
is a business model that Iowa state government is finding increasingly useful
as we attempt to make complex processes more standardized and streamlined. Kai
is a Japanese word indicating change, and zen means for the good of all. In this
kaizen event, IAC staff and outside participants focused intensively
on the steps required for major project grants, from pre-application to award
notification. With clear objectives, a team process, and tightly-facilitated time,
the group created a new process that requires 38 percent fewer steps, nearly 100
percent fewer delays, and 60 percent less time from application deadline to grant
notification.
The
linchpin in the new process is a revolution in how grant applications are reviewed.
In the current process, five panel reviewers are recruited for each of two annual
deadlines. These reviewers receive 2-3 boxes of materials (representing 60-80
applications) to be read at home three weeks prior to a 1-day panel review meeting.
In the new process, IAC will recruit a larger pool of reviewers and bring them
to a three-day Panel Retreat. No reviewer will read more than about 20 applications,
and no advance reading will be needed—all grants will be read and reviewed
during the course of the Panel Retreat. With this and other internal changes,
the amount of time required for the process (as well as the amount of stress for
reviewers) is considerably shortened.
Other changes include a shortened, modified grant application form for Mini Grants, modifications to the Major Grant form and a streamlined process for final approval of panel recommendations. As IAC moves toward having an online e-grant submission procedure for both Major and Mini Grants, the process will become even smoother.
Participants in the kaizen event included IAC staff members Sarah Ekstrand, Mary Sundet Jones, Lara Kramme, Linda Lee, Riki Saltzman, and Bruce Williams; non-staff participants Staci Nevinski, Vinh Nguyen, Nora Garda Marcos, and Mark McCusker, and team leader Julie Chang from the Department of Natural Resources’ Kaizen Office.
