Grantmaking & Foundation Management

TCC Group develops both tools and processes to ensure successful grant program operations, including:

• Grant guidance documents and operational blueprints;
• Application materials, such as letters of interest, requests for proposals, processes for proposal submissions, and various non-traditional tools to ensure access;
• Due diligence and evaluation processes;
• Identification of prospective grantees and key stakeholders;
• Adoption and management of information systems and technology;
• Development of grant review committees, including roles, responsibilities, structures, and training; and
• Payment processes.

For established foundations, we are often called upon to review and improve existing tools and processes to enhance grantmaking transparency, clarity, and effectiveness.

Our experienced staff members ensure responsible implementation of grant programs. Our full range of services includes:

• Serving as outsourced program officers on a time-limited or long-term basis;
• Assessing needs in areas of interest;
• Conducting feasibility studies to understand the potential of a grantmaking program;
• Managing grantmaking and program budgets;
• Liaising regularly with grantees and grantseekers; and
• Benchmarking grantmaking strategies and processes against best practices.

As needed, we also coordinate with your program partners and stakeholders such as lawyers, accountants, capacity-building consultants, event-planning teams, and evaluators.

If you’re bringing implementation of your grant program in-house, we’ll create a blueprint and guide you through it.

Funders often engage us to conduct a “point-in-time” evaluation on the impact of their programs in relation to their goals.

Grantmakers also partner with us to evaluate their grantees, specific grantee projects, or cohorts of grantees. An effective assessment during or following a grant measures outcomes that may inform future grantmaking decisions.

We believe insights gleaned from evaluations must benefit both you and your grantees. We also help you build evaluation systems and foster a culture of learning for continuous improvement and stronger partnerships.

We provide grants management and administrative support so that you can ensure responsible, efficient, and effective grantmaking services while reducing your administrative burden and minimizing your operational costs, even if you have limited or no staff. We also ensure that you have adequate capacity at high volume times of the year, such as during grant cycles. In this role, we also facilitate board governance and operations, including grantmaking, finance, stakeholder relations, and general administration.

In addition to grant management services, we also help funders develop, assess, and refine their grantmaking strategy. We advise program strategy development and facilitate institutional strategic planning that is aligned with your mission, vision, and values. For strategy to be effective, it must be informed by your assessment of institutional priorities, values, capacities, and collaborative opportunities. We help you engage key stakeholders – including groups most impacted, set goals, choose areas of concentration, convene stakeholders, and develop a grantmaking budget.

All of our grantmaking strategy design is grounded in research and the assessment of your vision, resources, capacity, and stakeholder relationships and needs. We help you develop all aspects of your grant programs, from articulating a theory of change to designing your application process and grant selection criteria.