{"id":84,"date":"2025-07-24T15:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=84"},"modified":"2025-07-29T15:13:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T15:13:02","slug":"guidance-on-panels","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/help\/guidance-on-panels\/","title":{"rendered":"Guidance on Judging Panels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judging panels are a fantastic way to engage your team and stakeholders in selecting which community projects to fund. Panels bring fresh perspectives, support collaborative decision-making, and help build internal and external awareness of your fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This guide explains how to plan, run, and get the most out of a judging panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why run a judging panel?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Involve your stakeholders e.g. colleagues, partners, or residents in meaningful decision-making<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gain diverse viewpoints on the impact and potential of projects<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Build transparency and accountability into your funding process<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Bring more visibility to your community fund and its purpose<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How does a judging panel work?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Judging panels can take place virtually or in person and usually follow this structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Project Presentations<\/strong> &#8211; Each shortlisted project is introduced, either by a facilitator or via written\/video submissions. This includes what the project aims to address, the proposed solution, funding required, and anticipated impact.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Discussion<\/strong> &#8211; Panellists discuss each project, ask questions, and share opinions. This part is often the most valuable, as it brings insight from different perspectives.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scoring<\/strong> &#8211; Each panellist scores every project out of 5 using agreed criteria. Scores can then be tallied to help determine the highest-ranking projects.<br><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ask your Customer Success Manager about ActionFunder facilitating your panel \u2014 a great way to keep things impartial and efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who should be involved?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consider including a mix of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Internal team members<\/strong>: A great way to build engagement and awareness across your organisation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Local stakeholders<\/strong>: If your fund is place-based, consider inviting residents, community leaders, councillors, or business owners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Topic experts<\/strong>: If your fund has a theme (e.g. youth, environment), invite people with expertise in that area.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Past grantees or community reps<\/strong>: Their lived experience brings vital context and credibility to your discussions.<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We recommend a maximum of 6 panellists to keep conversations focused and manageable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How long should it take?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Allow at least 1.5 hours per panel session. This gives enough time to review approximately 6 projects, allow for discussion, and complete scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to prepare<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Schedule Early &#8211; Give panellists plenty of notice and agree on a date and time that works for everyone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Send a Judging Pack &#8211; Share a judging pack at least one week in advance. It should include:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A short overview of your organisation and the fund\u2019s aims<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An explanation of the panel format and what\u2019s expected of panellists<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The scoring criteria (see our <em><a href=\"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/help\/guidance-on-scoring-projects\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/help\/guidance-on-scoring-projects\/\">Guidance on scoring projects<\/a><\/em> article)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A summary of each project (or links to the project pages on ActionFunder)<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scoring criteria<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Use the same criteria as in your shortlisting phase to ensure consistency. We recommend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Community Need<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Community Impact<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Attainability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Effective Use of Funding<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also add custom criteria (e.g. alignment with fund goals, inclusivity) depending on your organisation\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">After the Panel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once the panel concludes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Collate scores and review any standout projects<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Decide whether to go to a public or employee vote (if applicable)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Offer funding to successful projects via the platform and reject unsuccessful projects<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Need help?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want support planning or running your judging panel? Your ActionFunder Customer Success Manager can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Help design your scoring process<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set up your judging pack<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Facilitate your panel session<br><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Need more help? Get in touch with your Customer Success Manager or email us at customersuccess@actionfunder.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Judging panels are a fantastic way to engage your team and stakeholders in selecting which community projects to fund. Panels bring fresh perspectives, support collaborative decision-making, and help build internal and external awareness of your fund. This guide explains how to plan, run, and get the most out of a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[28],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-84","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-decision-making-tools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/84","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/84\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=84"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/help.actionfunder.org\/funders\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=84"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}