A. GRC members spend approximately 20-25 hours preparing and meeting during the grant review cycle. The following is a summary of the meetings and corresponding time commitment:

Virtual training (January) – 1 hour

GRC meetings

• Meeting #1 (end of January) 4-5 hours total; 2-3 hours preparation (reviewing preliminary grant applications for applicants assigned to your committee) and 2 hours for the meeting
• Meeting #2 (end of February) – 3-4 hours total; 1-2 hours preparation (reviewing full grant applications for the five applicants that your committee has selected) and 2 hours for the meeting
• Meeting #3 (mid-March) – 3-4 hours total; 1-2 hours preparation (reviewing the Grant Application Review Documents for the five applicants and preparing for the meeting) and 2 hours for the meeting
• Meeting #4 (beginning of May) – 3-4 hours total; 1-2 hours (reviewing updated Grant Application Review Documents for three remaining applicants and preparing for the meeting) and 2 hours for the meeting

Virtual Insightful Visits (3 Visits in mid-April) – 4 hours and 30 minutes total (each Visit lasting 1 hour plus 30 minutes of post-Visit discussion)

Reviewing emails from the committee during the grant cycle – approximately 1 hour

 

A. Unfortunately, we do not have the requisite technology to allow our GRC members to participate virtually in an in-person GRC meeting. We provide the dates of the GRC meetings at sign-up, so if you know that you are unable to attend one of the in-person meetings, we recommend that you sign up for a GRC that meets virtually.

 

A. Although we do have several members who live in the western and northern suburbs of Chicago who have expressed interest in forming suburban GRCs, the Board has discussed the logistics and has determined it is not feasible at this time. We believe it would be difficult to find 20+ suburban members from the same area, all willing to sign up for a GRC meeting on the same day at the same time. Additionally, we would need to find two GRC Chairs and FRC Leaders from the same area.

 

A. We ask the nonprofit applicants to self-select one of our five focus areas (Culture, Health, Education, Family & Sustainability), but we receive uneven numbers of applicants for each area. We believe it would be inequitable for some committees to review most of the applications, leaving other committees with too few to review. When we allocate the applications to the GRCs, we consider the size of the organization and their focus area before we divide them equally among the GRCs. If an applicant has applied the year before, we ensure it goes to a different GRC for review, so that the women who join the same committee each year can review different applicants.

 

A. After the sign-up deadline, we have to complete several tasks before the meetings begin. First, members’ meeting time preferences and conflicts of interest are checked before they are assigned to a committee. We then create email rosters and send out welcome letters to our committee members. Finally, we give our members access to the grant application software so they can review the applications during the week before the meetings begin.

 

A. The FRC is tasked with performing financial due diligence on the nonprofit applicants to ensure that only financially stable organizations advance in the grant review process. The Financial Review Committee, which works in conjunction with the GRCs, is composed of FRC Members who are responsible for the document review and reporting for 1-2 nonprofit organizations. Women who are new to the process will be assigned a “buddy” to answer questions and provide support throughout the process. If desired, new members can choose to be a Reviewer, and simply observe and learn our financial review process their first year.

 

A. FRC members should be comfortable reviewing financial statements and analyzing general financial performance. They should have access to, and be proficient using, Excel and Word. While experience in accounting and finance is helpful, a solid general business background will also provide the necessary skills.

 

A. Overall FRC Members put in 10-15 hours between February and early May. The process starts in February with a virtual training session and a review of the applications to make sure all of the required financial documents have been submitted. The heart of the financial review process starts in March when each FRC member performs their financial review of applicants. This review includes a simple spreadsheet, an informational outline (with short bullet point responses) highlighting key findings from the documents provided, and a 2-4 sentence summary of the basic findings. In April, the full committee has one virtual meeting to discuss the reports as a group. Members also attend virtual Insightful Visits and participate in the final GRC meeting to select the grant finalists. FRC Members are only required to attend the last GRC meeting, but are invited to all of the GRC meetings, and encouraged to participate if their schedule permits.