20 CAPTURE. COSTTREE 2016 Q4 ISSUE
when technology hurts innovation
Best Practices in Action
TRANSPARENCY
The city of Fort Collins recently sought to address their own technological challenge using many of the preceding principles. Specifically, Fort Collins sought to build a comprehensive grant management system to strengthen their internal capacity to identify funding opportunities, write competitive applications, and successfully manage their grant awards. The city viewed a comprehensive grant system as an essential tool to help sustain city initiatives by providing additional revenue sources and overseeing compliance with federal, state, and private funding regulations.
Fort Collins assessed their current capacity and found that they had a fragmented grant system operating inconsistently among their departments. The city identified the need to create a position to develop and manage its grant process and invested in the creation of a grants development specialist. The city also sought a tool to assist in developing a comprehensive grant system, and it participated in a pilot project with the Alliance for Innovation and one of its corporate partners to implement a cloud-based grant management tool for identifying and pursuing funding opportunities.
Defining Need and Creating
Clear Ownership
TRANSPARENCY
Clear Ownership - The grants development specialist was charged with managing the pilot.
Leadership Support - City leadership was involved in communicating their support for the pilot participation and messaging was sent out city-wide.
The vendor provided onsite training for key staff members who became departmental “superusers” and the grants development specialist became the chief city liaison to support their use of the system.
The City strategically went about implementing this new technology in THREE steps.
TRANSPARENCY