For those of you who have never watched the BBC Saturday
night show, The Voice, it is a talent show where celebrity coaches get to pick
singers for their team to then battle it out to be the top singer. The twist is
that the coaches don’t get to see the singers and so judge their performance by
‘The Voice’ only. If they want the singer, only then do they get to swing their
chair around and see them.
So what has this got to do with grant making? Well,
the selection process on The Voice reminds me of decision making panels. For
starters, all the applicants are good. The Voice is not one of those shows
where people are encouraged, only to be humiliated on TV. Funders also approach
applicants with respect and those with no chance of success are made aware of
this at as early a point in the process as possible.
Then there is the case
where one of the coaches picks the good singer. Or the panel is happy that the
application is a good fit with the criteria and should be funded. So far so
straightforward.
But then there is the situation where the power shifts. In the
case of The Voice it is when all the coaches turn around. The singer is that
good that they really stand out. In grant making this is the rare occasion when
the charity you want to fund is not just good enough to be funded, but is one
that you really want to fund and often wish you had more money available to
give them.
What makes the difference is both obvious and hard to describe. The
Voice coaches talk about connecting, of feeling the emotion, that there was
something that made them push the button. I like to think that funders are more
objective than this but there are still stand-out charities that you just want
to support. It will be different for different funders and it is that magic
something that all bid writers are trying to convey. Yes, there is the strong
fit with programme aims. Yes, they are strong on all aspects from finances,
governance, budgets, project planning, evidence and outcomes. And then there is
the elusive something – perhaps some added drive or ambition that comes across;
or that they are having success in a particularly challenging area; or just
that quality shines through in everything they do.
Funders may not have
spinning chairs but there will be something that grabs us. And it is a good
reminder that the power is not really with the funder but what we are able to
achieve through others.
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