NEAR Foundation has given away $45M+ in funding to 800+ projects through a grant deployment program that we automated.
“The Efficient team is completed <span class="text-highlighted-black">an overhaul of our organization's workflows by building automation and connecting software</span>.
Alex and Andra have been incredible throughout the process, helping to scope out work, and implementing the automation/integration in a quick turnaround. We have been really impressed with the Efficient team!”
“The Efficient team is completed <span class="text-highlighted-black">an overhaul of our organization's workflows by building automation and connecting software</span>.
Alex and Andra have been incredible throughout the process, helping to scope out work, and implementing the automation/integration in a quick turnaround. We have been really impressed with the Efficient team!”
“Awesome company to work with! They are super efficient and I truly recommend them. <span class="text-highlighted-black">They know the ins and outs of their work and always provide valuable advice!</span>”
NEAR Foundation has given away $45M+ in funding to 800+ projects. Projects apply to NEAR's Grant Program and go through a six-week review process before they are successfully given a grant. The Grant Team receives hundreds of applications and needed a cohesive way to track all applications in one place, while ensuring only the best projects receive funding.
Prior to Efficient App, the team was using three different products as their core solution: Submittable to receive applications, Copper as their CRM, and Ironclad for contract workflows and creation. None of this was connected though, so applicant information was siloed within each place. Without a proper single-source of truth, it made things difficult for the grant team to work together in a cohesive way.
The team was manually adding applicants to the CRM from Submittable, and then again manually adding successful projects who'd receive a grant to Ironclad (contract software). This was taking valuable resources away from more meaningful work, like reviewing applications and interviewing applicants.
Siloed data resulted in confusion among team members, making it difficult to get a full picture on a projects journey. It was becoming increasingly difficult to answer basic questions like "Why did a project qualify for a grant?" or "What are the agreed upon milestones?" and "Is a project hitting their milestones?" High level reporting was also difficult as there wasn't a single source of truth for all the application data.
We saw an opportunity to give NEAR a clean and streamlined process that would allow for all applicant data to be in one place. We recommended removing Submittable from the software stack (saving $10k+/yr) and replacing it with Airtable as it would act not only as an application submission form, but also a full-fledged database.
An integration between Airtable and Copper was built so that when a Project filled out the form, a Lead was automatically added to Copper. This integration also passes along just most important applicant information for a quick and easy qualification process that could be done from all right within Copper. When more granular information is needed (like pitch decks, long essays, and more granular information that would messy the CRM), the full application link to Airtable is just a click away in Copper to see the full application.
Instead of logging into different software each morning, the team can now start their workflow from right within Copper, where all applicants show up in a single view. Upon qualifying each project, team members are able to progress them to the next stage with just a few clicks.
Airtable allows for custom interfaces that act as an extension of Copper. Using Airtable, we are able to create a unique set of screening questions for each stage of the review process.
Using the help of Outfunnel and Efficient Communication, we setup automatic emails for initial outreach upon form submission, as well as regular application status updates. These additional touch-points greatly improve the applicant experience with NEAR Foundation.
For creating contracts with the agreed upon Milestone Dates & Payments, the team was previously painstakingly copy-and-pasting this information into Ironclad (contract software) from Submittable and Copper. Now, with a custom integration, all the team needs to do is move the Opportunity in Copper to the next stage in the process, and they are done. This triggers all relevant data-points across Airtable and Copper to seamlessly populate the Ironclad contract, before automatically sending off to the project owner for signature.
With a clean pipeline dedicated to grants, the entire organization is now able to see projects progress throughout their journey and get stats on how much money they are distributing to various projects.
Because data is now being added to the CRM through automation (reducing human error), we were able to create reporting dashboards, giving the team unique insights into their grants process.
Insights such as conversion rates, project categories, distribution of countries applying, and more. All visible with just a click from the custom built dashboards.
⏱️ Hours are saved each week by using automation and integration
🤖 Automation and integration reduced siloed data within different software, giving the team more transparency across the entire grant process
🥇 NEAR Foundation now has a repeatable, clean, and easy-to-use grant process, allowing them to scale without limits
📈 Clear top-level reporting now accessible to the C-Suite team
Inspired by NEAR and want our help upgrading your business processes? Whether you've been a long-time Copper user, or you're just trying to figure out which CRM is best for you, we're here to help! Schedule an audit to get started.
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