Your association or nonprofit membership program likely offers many perks members can take advantage of simply for their own edification and enjoyment, from special events to newsletters to discounts. However, there may also be aspects of your program that require members to submit applications to receive something in return. The end result could be the opportunity to present at one of your conferences, an award to recognize someone they think is going above and beyond, or a grant to fund work they’re doing in their industry or community.

No matter which of these application-based offerings your membership program includes, the right software simplifies management for them. But how do you know which application and review platform is the right one to add to your nonprofit or association tech stack?

To help you make the best decision for your organization, this guide will cover five essential features you should look for in software designed for managing abstracts, awards, and grants. Let’s dive in!

1. Streamlined Form Creation

Naturally, the first thing to consider in an application and review platform is whether you can create user-friendly application forms. Your solution should allow you to:

  • Incorporate your organization’s branding, such as your logo, color scheme, and fonts, to make your forms look professional and reassure applicants that they’re in the right place.
  • Publish detailed background information covering eligibility, submission materials, steps, deadlines, and how to contact your team if questions arise.
  • Keep forms clear and concise by only including the fields necessary to collect essential details from each applicant.
  • Accept uploaded attachments in multiple formats, such as PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, ZIP files, and any other multimedia content you might request.

These forms should be easy to use on the creator’s side, too. As you browse different solutions, note whether they describe their form builder as “drag and drop,” since this functionality provides lots of customization opportunities without requiring coding knowledge.

2. Efficient, Comprehensive Review

According to OpenWater’s awards management guide, consistency and fairness should be your top priorities during the review portion of application and review processes to ensure you choose the most deserving recipients of awards, grants, or speaker slots. Choose software that supports equity by looking for capabilities like:

  • Standardized review form creation. When judges know exactly what to consider in each application and have a numerical rating system to evaluate them, it’ll reduce subjectivity and make it easier to compare submissions.
  • Applicant anonymization. While you should vet potential reviewers carefully to weed out personal and professional biases before they start judging, removing the names from each application in your solution helps safeguard against partiality even more.
  • Multi-round evaluations. Solutions that allow multiple judges to rate each application and average the scores allow you to base your decisions on several different perspectives. For example, if only one reviewer read a grant proposal and gave it 14 out of 20 possible points, you might dismiss it. But if two other judges also reviewed that proposal and gave scores of 18 and 19, the average score would be 17 out of 20, and it would look like a better contender to you.

Ensure your solution also compiles all scores in one place for easy comparison as you choose award recipients, grantees, or conference presenters from your complete pool of applicants.

3. Data Analytics & Reporting

Besides just offering scoring capabilities, your application and review platform should also help you collect and analyze data on your full processes. Some metrics to track with this solution include:

  • Total submissions for each award, abstract, or grant opportunity
  • Percentage of approved applications
  • Most common reasons for rejection (not following instructions, off-topic submissions, etc.)
  • Form abandonment rate (i.e., how many users start filling out an application but don’t submit it)
  • Conversions from each marketing channel (website, email, social media, etc.) you use to promote applications
  • Applicant feedback, collected via surveys and reviews

While securely storing all of this information in one place is an essential first step, your software should also visualize your data for you and let you generate relevant reports. That way, you can better understand what’s working and where you have room to improve your processes. Plus, it’s helpful for justifying the importance of application and review to organizational stakeholders.

4. Integration Capabilities

Application and review don’t happen in a vacuum. Rather, these processes are intertwined with membership management, event organization, operations, and many other essential functions at your association or nonprofit.

To ensure all of your activities work together seamlessly, choose an application and review platform that integrates with your existing solutions, especially your:

Additionally, your platform should either integrate with your existing email marketing solution or have an email tool built in so you can easily communicate with applicants. These integrations generally allow for automatic data transfer between solutions, saving your team time and ensuring nothing falls through the cracks.

5. Process-Specific Features

We’ve been discussing abstract, awards, and grant management as three facets of the same overarching activity of application and review. However, each of these processes has unique nuances that you’ll need to consider as you select software to manage it.

Here are a few process-specific features to look for based on which activities you want to use your software for:

  • Abstracts:
    • Conference session builders so you can organize approved abstracts by topic or presentation style
    • Public-facing calendars where attendees can browse your lineup in advance and read abstracts for presentations that interest them
  • Awards:
    • Recognition tools like online galleries to showcase award winners
    • The ability to track multiple types of award applications, such as organization vs. individual awards, contest entries, and peer and leadership nominations
  • Grants:
    • Fund tracking to help you stay on top of disbursements and maximize your organization’s grantmaking budget
    • Progress reporting for multiple rounds of applications and post-award activities

If your organization incorporates more than one of these application and review processes into its strategy, find a solution that offers the specific features you need for all of your activities or leverage integrations to manage everything in one system, which saves time and money.

The features above should give your association or nonprofit a solid foundation for selecting the right application and review software for its needs. Just remember that, as Strategic Association Solutions explains, “All [of your organization’s] goals should ultimately put the member experience at the forefront.” Consider applicants’ ability to use your platform effectively just as much as your team’s, and keep the why behind the what of your awards, grants, and abstract review—member engagement and satisfaction—in mind as you shop for a solution.