I don’t think this post engages with the core argument Linch makes, much less refutes it. You have some reasons more feedback is nicer than less feedback, but don’t quantify the benefits, much less the costs.
That said, I had a rejection from SFF that implies a system I’d love to see replicated. From memory, it was ~”you are not in the top N% of rejections, and therefor we will not be giving detailed feedback”. This took no extra work to generate (because SFF already ranks applications), and gave me a fair amount of information about where I stood. I ended up giving up on that project in that form, and that was the right decision.
But I agree with your point that no-info rejections combine poorly with “when in doubt, apply”, and would love to see people stop doing the latter.
Yeah there were some other useful recommendations in my original post on how to do scalable feedback. We recently worked with the Manifund team to implement a new dashboard/technical way to communicate to grantees. I’m optimistic that we can find a way to extend that dashboard to provide some high-level, non-granular feedback in ways that’s low-cost to grantmakers but still useful. I don’t expect us to prioritize that in the short term (as opposed to hiring, fundraising, work on improving grantee experience, and processes that speed up grant evals further) but I am optimistic we can get something reasonable this year (this is a prediction not a commitment).
While I expect the process-driven feedback to be mildly object-level useful, I’m skeptical about the cultural/”warmness” benefits however. I think most (honest) forms of “warmness” signaling comes from a credible signal that you are willing to devote your time to address concerns, and any clear signs of automation in the pipeline would undercut that.
But I agree with your point that no-info rejections combine poorly with “when in doubt, apply”, and would love to see people stop doing the latter.
I think I’m skeptical that people apply at above the optimal rate, especially for grants. I think the numbers mostly don’t add up, unless people are extremely close to the indifference point between getting a grant and their next-best option. (I’m more sympathetic to the case for job applications, particularly ones with extensive early stages).
I don’t think this post engages with the core argument Linch makes, much less refutes it. You have some reasons more feedback is nicer than less feedback, but don’t quantify the benefits, much less the costs.
That said, I had a rejection from SFF that implies a system I’d love to see replicated. From memory, it was ~”you are not in the top N% of rejections, and therefor we will not be giving detailed feedback”. This took no extra work to generate (because SFF already ranks applications), and gave me a fair amount of information about where I stood. I ended up giving up on that project in that form, and that was the right decision.
But I agree with your point that no-info rejections combine poorly with “when in doubt, apply”, and would love to see people stop doing the latter.
Yeah there were some other useful recommendations in my original post on how to do scalable feedback. We recently worked with the Manifund team to implement a new dashboard/technical way to communicate to grantees. I’m optimistic that we can find a way to extend that dashboard to provide some high-level, non-granular feedback in ways that’s low-cost to grantmakers but still useful. I don’t expect us to prioritize that in the short term (as opposed to hiring, fundraising, work on improving grantee experience, and processes that speed up grant evals further) but I am optimistic we can get something reasonable this year (this is a prediction not a commitment).
While I expect the process-driven feedback to be mildly object-level useful, I’m skeptical about the cultural/”warmness” benefits however. I think most (honest) forms of “warmness” signaling comes from a credible signal that you are willing to devote your time to address concerns, and any clear signs of automation in the pipeline would undercut that.
I think I’m skeptical that people apply at above the optimal rate, especially for grants. I think the numbers mostly don’t add up, unless people are extremely close to the indifference point between getting a grant and their next-best option. (I’m more sympathetic to the case for job applications, particularly ones with extensive early stages).
I reached out to Linch about doing a dialogue about grant applications. Hopefully we’ll get to do so after eag.