Scholarship review committees help ensure the chosen applicants meet scholarship criteria and represent the donor’s intention, often working nights and weekends to complete their reviews. While they are a vital part of the scholarship process, getting these groups to change their methods or adopt new technologies can be challenging.

As scholarships have become more complex, colleges, universities, and foundations have adopted scholarship award management software to streamline processes and administer funding. Part of that streamlining is converting to an online review process, which can improve communications among committee members, reduce bias, set scoring expectations, and expedite the reviews. These are some tips to get you started.

1. Get buy-in.

From the beginning of your technology implementation project, talk to leadership about why moving to an online process will benefit everyone on campus. For example, award management software provides increased visibility into scholarship dollars available versus dollars awarded, and documenting reviews online is the best way to keep records for future audits. It also streamlines the application process for students, giving them greater access to education and driving college completion rates.

Once leadership understands the reason for the change, ask them for their support. This may be a campus-wide email encouraging the use of the new software for all scholarship review committees. Invite leadership to join some of your training sessions for reviewers. Of the hundreds of colleges, universities, and foundations that use Blackbaud Award Management®, those with full support from campus leadership have had the fastest implementation and highest participation rates.

2. Listen to your reviewers.

The needs of every scholarship review committee are unique, just like every scholarship. Take some time to meet with each committee. Learn their process and how they review scholarships today without automation. Then work with each committee to help implement the technology in a way that makes the most sense for them. The less drastic the change is for them, the more likely they will adopt your new technology.

3. Keep it simple.

The whole point of moving to an online process is to make things easier and more transparent. Make sure it is simple for reviewers to access technology, log in, complete reviews, and submit their final recommendations. Work with your software provider to provide clear step-by-step instructions, in-person or online training, PDF guides, videos, or a mix of these options. Ensure each reviewer has a realistic number of reviews to complete during the review period.

4. Set clear deadlines.

Set a deadline and stick to it. If reviews are not completed by this date, let reviewers know you will either make the final scholarship decision or assign their reviews elsewhere. This method will help your scholarship cycle to stay on track. Communicating the deadline as early as possible can help reviewers plan their schedules accordingly and ensure reviews will be completed on time. When creating the deadline, try to be sensitive to holidays, office closures, and times when reviewers may be extremely busy with their day-to-day jobs. Automate deadline reminders within your award management system.

5. Tie it back to the students.

Remind your reviewers that their work benefits students. Moving scholarship applications and reviews online makes it easier for students to access all scholarship opportunities on campus, ultimately increasing their access to education. One thing everyone should agree upon is helping students, so focus on that as your reason for making the switch.

Consider having previous scholarship recipients speak to your review committee or record a personal statement about how awards have benefitted them. Remind reviewers of the importance of their role and that scholarship awards are only possible with their contributions.

6. Follow up with reporting.

Automation in the review process means that the data is centralized in one location. This data can empower an institution to better steward the funds entrusted to them. It can also be a powerful tool for administrators to help spot reviewer trends, scoring anomalies, potential biases, opportunities for training improvements, etc. Improving the process and showing reviewers their results can help decrease turnover and fatigue and equip reviewers to work more efficiently from one award cycle to the next.