Aaron Copland Fund for Music
How one foundation’s paper process became ApplyCycle
The Aaron Copland Fund for Music was created by Aaron Copland's estate to encourage and improve public knowledge and appreciation of contemporary American music, and it awards more than $1.4 million in grants each year. The Fund shares its grant platform with two sister foundations: the Amphion Foundation, which supports performing and presenting organizations dedicated to contemporary concert music, and the Ditson Fund, established at Columbia University to fund performances and recordings of music by emerging American composers.
Before moving online, the Fund ran its grant cycles on paper. Applicants mailed in recordings and scores, and staff photocopied binders and shipped them to panelists, who couldn't hear the work until the panel met. The off-the-shelf grant software the Fund evaluated couldn't handle the audio and scores at the center of every application, so the Fund worked with Zivtech to build a system around its own process. That system became ApplyCycle, a Drupal-based application management platform that now runs all three foundations and that Zivtech offers to any organization that accepts and reviews applications.
Grant cycles as varied as the music they fund
Grantmaking for music depends on hearing the music. Panelists need to listen to recordings while they read proposals and follow scores, and staff need to run several programs a year, each with its own form, deadlines, and review process. Some cycles have a single deadline, while others open with a preliminary round and follow with an invitation-only round. Most applicants are organizations rather than individuals, so several people often work on one application, and many applicants receive their awards through a fiscal sponsor.
The three foundations also needed one system rather than three. Each has its own website, programs, and branding, but one team at Kendrick Arts Group manages grantmaking for all of them. The platform had to give each foundation its own site while sharing a single code base, so every improvement reaches all three.
Turning a custom grant system into a product
Zivtech built the original grant system for the Fund and extended it to the Amphion Foundation and the Ditson Fund. As the platform matured, Zivtech rebuilt it as ApplyCycle, a reusable Drupal distribution, so the features developed for these foundations could serve any organization that runs application cycles, from grants to scholarships, awards, and fellowships.
ApplyCycle covers the full application cycle. Staff define a form for each program, schedule when each cycle opens and closes, set application limits per organization, and decide what happens at each stage, including who can edit and which emails go out. Applicants save as they go, with autosave, and attach audio, scores, and video. Panelists see the applications assigned to them, listen while they read, enter a score, and leave comments, while staff keep private notes out of panel view. Staff update applications in bulk from an editable grid, export data to CSV in the columns they choose, and download a combined PDF of any application or an entire cycle at once. Because ApplyCycle is built on Drupal, it also runs each foundation's public website.
The latest version of the platform added features shaped by the foundations' day-to-day work: organization accounts with multiple users, fiscal sponsor relationships, panel groups for assigning reviewers, a pre-screening form for new applicants, and payment tracking for awards. Zivtech also built encrypted storage for applicants' banking details, so the foundations can pay awards electronically without collecting account information by mail, email, or phone.
Testimonial from ACF
Using the Zivtech system, we have reviewed thousands of proposals from applicants and we have convened dozens of review panels, all with success. It is simply essential to our work.
- Philip Rothman, Program Advisor, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music
One platform for three foundations, and a product for any application process
Applicants now apply online, panelists review complete applications, recordings and scores included, from wherever they are, and staff manage every cycle for three foundations in one system. Philip Rothman, the Fund’s longtime program advisor, describes the impact:
“We have used Zivtech’s grant management system for years after trying several other off-the-shelf solutions, and cannot imagine working without it. Applicants can submit their proposals with documents, audio, and video for staff and peer review — all done through a web interface that works on any browser, computer, or tablet. Reviewers can comment and score proposals so that staff can make informed funding decisions. The burden of applying for a grant is eased so that our grantees can make their best case for support. What’s more, every year the system becomes more valuable as we have more data, because we can track applicants’ progress and review their histories over a sustained period of time, allowing staff to better understand funding needs and reply to changes in the field.”
Zivtech remains the foundations' long-term partner for hosting, support, and platform enhancements. Through an ongoing retainer, the team keeps all three sites secure and current, has carried the platform through major Drupal version upgrades, and continues to add features to the core product. When a foundation needs something that wouldn't make sense for every ApplyCycle customer, Zivtech builds it as a customization on that foundation's site. Zivtech manages both the foundations’ roadmap and the overall ApplyCycle roadmap, and the core product is available to any organization that runs an application workflow at applycycle.com.
Call to action
Running application cycles for your organization? Request a demo of ApplyCycle at applycycle.com.
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