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Blog
Grants Program Management: Measuring Outcomes
Discover how technology can help identifying the impact and value of a grants program.
Regina Alvarado, Principal, Strategy & Life Sciences, IQVIA
Aug 08, 2022
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  • Grants Program Management: Measuring Outcomes

In this blog series, we look at the role of grants professionals in life science companies, the challenges they face working with internal stakeholders, and how technology and data-driven insights can help.

What do we mean by “outcomes”?

Merriam-Webster has a simple definition of the term outcome: “something that follows as a result or consequence.”1 Specific to grants, outcomes measurement is described as follows: “…outcomes record the changes that occur as a result of your program. Outcomes are the difference you’ve made as a result of the outputs: the decrease in hunger, the decrease in disease, the increase in a person’s ability to care for themselves, etc.2

Why do we measure outcomes for grants?

Commercial supporters should seek to understand the impact of the grants they provide, whether it is a monetary amount or a product donation. The purpose of a grant is to have a positive impact on a specific population such as increasing disease state awareness, fostering educational information dissemination for healthcare providers (HCPs), or increasing caregiver knowledge. In the life sciences industry, there is a specific interest in supporting grants that improve patient outcomes.

Tracking and measuring outcomes enables future decision-making for the Grant Review Committee. Would we or should we support this type of program again? Should we provide funding to this organization again?

Organizations who are delivering the program (the grantees) are also measuring outcomes for similar reasons, or they should be! They will want to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs to gain additional funding for future programs and expand their program offerings to reach new audiences.

The tactical perspective

What types of questions should grants professionals ask? What types of information should be checked? Consider these:
  • Was the funding spent as it was supposed to be? Was the organization a good steward of the funding provided? If not, you may want to reconsider supporting them again.
  • Did the actual expenses match up with the proposed budget? Submitting a final program budget after the event is completed is a standard requirement. Check to see how accurate their projections were. Also check to see if any funds were unused and need to be refunded.
  • Was the program completed on time? This is another standard item to verify and demonstrates the grantee’s capabilities to complete the program as described in their application materials.
  • What were the attendee responses? Did they complete a pre- and post-test? Were there any unexpected findings or results? This process starts with the review of the requestor’s plan for measuring outcomes as part of the initial application. Does it seem reasonable? Is it applicable to the stated learning objectives? Does it appear that it will capture an accurate measurement of the intended result(s)? The grantee should share these results with the commercial supporter, at the very least in a summary report format, to demonstrate results. Data-driven measurements are very helpful, and so are subjective assessments in which the grantee asks the attendees for written comments on their perceptions of the program’s success or outcomes.

How can technology help drive outcomes measurements?

One of the challenges faced by commercial supporters is procedural: what to measure, how to collect it, and how to implement it.
  1. Identify what you want to measure and what data you will need to collect.
    This will be different based on the grant type. For example, a charitable contribution will have different goals and planned outcomes than an educational grant. Therefore, the data you collect will be different.
  2. Design your grant application form accordingly.
    Make sure you include the necessary data collection fields that enable the outcomes measurement analyses you want to perform. There can be baseline information similar across all grant types that you want to collect such as intended audience/attendees, geographic location, disease state, etc., and unique fields by program type, accredited status, grant type, or other factors.
  3. Implement information collection and review processes.
    This process should include communicating to the grantee a timeframe for when the outcomes information is due back to you and what information and documents need to be submitted as substantiation. Consider what is needed to collect and receive this information, such as fields in an online form. Also determine who will receive and review this information once it’s submitted.
    • Consider adding a brief statement about consequences of non-compliance such as, “Failure to provide the required post-program information may impact receipt of future grant support.” Your LOA (Letter of Agreement) should contain more details about the requirements for submitting the post-program information including supporting documentation (e.g., final budget).
    • You may need to set up multiple outcomes measurement report requirements (milestones) if it’s a long-term program or a program series.

The grants professional should present outcomes measurement information to the grant review committee on a regular basis. But what if you don’t receive an outcomes report? And what if the outcomes are not what was anticipated or expected? How will you address these situations? Sometimes the outcomes measurement data (and other information) may not be available immediately after the program is finished, and if enough time passes, it can easily be forgotten. A grants management system can streamline and simplify the collection process.

  • Use automated periodic reminders and alerts for the grantee and the grants professional to track requirements. Specific action can be taken for late or missing outcomes reports.
  • Configure a dashboard on the user’s home page (after logging in) to show late/overdue tasks. If not resolved, the status of these tasks can remain visible for when that organization submits another request for support.
  • Standardize the collection of information with written instructions, online tutorials and help text, pre-configured forms, and lists of required documentation.
  • Once received, the grants professional can circulate the information through the system to the Grant Committee for review and discussion at the next committee meeting.

Summary

A technology platform purpose-built for life sciences, with embedded compliance and streamlined workflows, can help automate the process of receiving, reviewing, and analyzing program outcomes. Analytics dashboards and reports provide easy consumption of insights, including outcomes, across departments, teams, regions, and countries. Leveraging these capabilities will help grants professionals communicate with stakeholders and provide them with the key information they need to demonstrate important impacts of supporting these programs.

View all posts on this five-part Grants Program Management blog series or download them as an eBook here.

Blog #1. Communicating the value of supporting Independent Medical Education (IME)

Blog #3. Adapting to Globalization 

Blog #4. Capturing and aggregating program data

Blog #5. Operational Program Management 

 

Reference

  1. Merriam-Webster online dictionary available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outcome
  2. Professional Grant Writer. (2021). What are Outcomes Versus Outputs in Grant Writing? Available at: https://www.professionalgrantwriter.org/understanding-difference-outputs-outcomes

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IQVIA Grants & Funding Management is an end-to-end SaaS solution that manages global funding requests for medical education, charitable donations, sponsorships and other grant types.

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