2009 Grants Education Wrap-up
Thursday, December 17, 2009 | 3:35 PM
Labels: Google Grants Blog, Grantees, Grants Program, Program Alerts
2009 was a big year for educational resources and support! We implemented major changes to our existing support model, while providing new content and additional resources. Email Support For direct support requests, we instituted categorized webforms where you can identify your issue prior to contacting our team. This way, your inquiry will be sent to an expert who specializes in troubleshooting the specific issue. Our webform system is designed to increase the efficiency and accuracy of the support you receive. Help Center In 2009, we also focused on increasing the content in our Help Center. We identified common themes in your emails and frequently asked questions, and formulated them into more than 10 new Q & A's in our Help Center. Now you can quickly find an answer to your question by simply searching the Help Center. Discussion Forum We found that one of our most valuable educational resources this year was our Discussion forum. The learnings gained from other non-profits shed a different light on the Google Grants program. Not only can you post questions and learn from others' experiences, you can gather tips and best practices based on the success of other nonprofits. In the past 12 months, the forum has grown immensely in number of users. People are coming back to regularly to ask and answer questions, like: How can we tell how our application is progressing? Any suggestions for goals to track other than donations?
Looking ahead
As the year comes to a close, we are strategizing on different forms of educational materials for 2010. Here is a sneak peak of what we are working on:
The image depicts the lifecycle of a Google Grants application, describing each step in the application and account activation process. Visit our Help Center next month to see this visual graphic in more detail.
Thanks for a great year and we wish you the happiest of holidays!