PEAK Grantmaking: PEAK2026 Annual Convening

Proposal and Report Exchange Lab

Presented by: Annie Zhou, Associate Director (TCC Group), Lauren Maloney, Director (AmeriHealth Caritas Foundation)

When’s the last time you had an objective look at your grant proposal and report templates? Whether you review them regularly, or haven’t updated them in years, this interactive session offers fresh eyes and new perspectives to ensure that your forms are effectively centering equity and trust-based practices.

During this session, we’ll share best practices in designing accessible, equitable grant materials that reduce burden while gathering essential information. Then, you’ll take part in several rounds of peer feedback, where participants will bring their own proposal and reporting templates to workshop collaboratively with other funders. You’ll identify confusing language, unnecessary requirements, and opportunities to reduce grantee burden and embed trust-based principles into your processes.

Through structured feedback exchanges and group reflection, you’ll discover what resonates across different funding contexts, from question design to inclusive language choices. Leave with concrete revisions for your forms, a list of equity-focused design principles, and insights from fellow funders navigating similar challenges in making their grantmaking more accessible and streamlined.