Clean-up & Reporting

File Under: Film Festival Planning

I'm at that point of the Film Festival cycle when reporting to sponsors and foundations (government and private) are what preoccupies my time. There are two pieces to this project that make it excruciating; the first is double checking payments received and getting those who haven't paid to "pay up;" the second being actual grant reporting to justify monies received. I will elaborate more on the latter now.

Grantwriting can, arguably, be an art. You write what exciting programs you have in mind if only you could get the money to fund it.

The best grants are realistic, imaginative and contain an arc - just like a story, your project/program/non-profit is the protagonist. You give reasons why your story makes sense and (if you're good) you let them know how you can prove it to them that you've done (or attempted to do) everything you say you will. All the while allowing for the possibility that an unexpected outcome may happen, but you'll judge what happens by this specified criteria so everyone can see how the results may come to pass.

The most important thing to do when you write all this is that you follow through with the measures you describe to judge the efficacy of the project/program/non-profit. You'll save yourself time and hair-pulling if you have these measures built into the program themselves (e.g. questionnaires as part of a panel discussion). Then when the time comes you can compute the data from the questionnaires put it in the context of the original grant and send it off to the foundation.

And if you don't have technology issues like we do at NAATA (OS 9.2 for chrissakes!) then the process is rather smooth. Taking into account that you're a good writer, that you aren't burnt out, etc... but I digress.

Happy reporting!