By the Rev. Rowan Larson, UTO Board Vice President for Grants

For several years now, UTO has had a “double deadline” for the Anglican Communion (AC). That is, their deadline for grant application submissions has been a few weeks before the final deadline. This allows us to give staff attention to each AC grant and help each application be the best it can be. We have long offered this level of support for all our applicants. We see part of our mission as helping our applicants learn how to write a really good grant and be able to take those skills and apply them to other grant opportunities as well. 

Based on the success of this method with the Anglican Communion, the hope of the Board is that having the two deadlines will help dioceses select the grant they wish to put forward sooner and allow staff adequate time to help make sure the application is complete, the budget is correct, and give recommendations on whether the grant, as written, meets the criteria for any given year. We have found that our rolling deadlines for different kinds of feedback have been difficult for Episcopal Church applicants to keep track of, or that dioceses have been so late in choosing the grant they’re putting forward that they miss the deadlines for review. By having only two dates, every application will now be able to receive the same level of assistance with time to make sure that applications are ready for review by the Grants Committee for criteria and then the full board for review.

As with any change, it may take everyone a cycle or two to get used to this new way of doing things, but we’re here to help! Don’t hesitate to reach out to the Rev. Heather Melton, staff officer for UTO, or to me with any questions at rlarson@episcopalnetworks.org.