For most participating grantmakers that require our Cultural Data Profile (CDP), to apply means entering your organization’s data, completing a survey, running a Funder Report, and sharing that report with the grantmaker. After reviewing some of our frequently asked questions from last year, we saw that the last few steps in this process caused confusion for many and we needed to make some changes .

We want to make sure that you can stay focused on your top priorities, which is why we make continuous efforts to ensure that our platforms are as streamlined and clear as possible. Our most recent set of improvements have made the last few steps of running and submitting Funder Reports to your funder much more straightforward by changing some of the language throughout the survey as well as providing clear direction on next steps.

 Here's what you need to know about our recently launched updates. 

We have changed the language from ‘Submit Data’ to ‘Generate a Report’ throughout the process. We found that using ‘Submit Data’ led many users to believe that this was the final step in the process, when in most cases, grantmakers also require applicants to take one more step and directly share their Funder Report.

Dead ends are disappointing and we want to lead you in the right direction to make the most out of the work you’ve done to complete your survey. You may recognize this ‘Survey Completed’ message as something you would see after completing our survey.

This was great for letting you know that you have successfully entered your data, but it didn’t provide much information about what to do next.

Now you’ll see that we have changed the message, acknowledging that you have completed the data entry portion of this process and provided you with an opportunity to start a search for the grantmaker you have in mind or click on the orange ‘Funder Reports and Grants’ to see a full list of grantmakers.

After submitting all your data, the next step in the process is to generate a report. On the page where you would do this, you had an option to ‘Preview data’ which meant running a draft report to double check everything was correct.

The purpose of previewing data was not clear and many users ended up submitting a draft report to potential funders. We have made minor changes to that page to show a clear difference between generating a final report and running a draft report for preview. We’ve also added some tool-tips that you can access by clicking on the question marks which will better guide you through this process.

The last change we’ve made is on the final step to this process.

We have provided you with an outlined check list to make sure you have all the information you need to submit your application successfully.

We’re constantly working towards finding better ways to provide you with resources and tools to help you make an impact on your community. While our platforms become more streamlined and we’re able to provide you with new and improved tools, our team is always here to provide you with the guidance you need.

Questions? Our Support Center is staffed by employees versed in helping with your technical needs and in nonprofit accounting.

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DataArts offers a range of free training and educational resources designed to help cultural professionals and grantmakers put data to work.

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