Division II’s new conference-grant application process went for a test drive recently when the Planning and Finance Committee reviewed requests from a newly revised submission system.

The new approach is designed to align allocations with the division’s strategic-positioning platform and strategic plan.

And as with most new initiatives, there’s still some work to do.

Meeting August 5, Planning and Finance Committee members reviewed 24 grant requests (one from each conference and two from independent institutions) via forms that call for leagues to be more specific about why they need the money, where they want to use it and how they intend to measure results.

The applications require more accountability from conferences about how they use the grants in ways that support Division II’s strategic initiatives through a series of “strategic-positioning outcomes” to which grant funding must be devoted. Areas of focus include student-athlete academic achievement, high-level athletics competition, community engagement, rules compliance, and diversity and inclusion.

The first year of applications brought mixed results, with the Planning and Finance Committee members accepting only eight as submitted. Thirteen others were sent back to applicants for clarifications that will be reviewed by staff, and three requests were returned for significant changes that the committee will need to see again.

Committee Chair and Indianapolis President Beverley Pitts said she was not necessarily surprised by the uneven performance given the fundamental modifications to the program that until now had been relatively unchanged for several years.

“In a sense,” Pitts said, “the conferences desiring the funds and the committee charged with allocating them are feeling their way through this much more strategic process. It might take a year or two for both parties to get comfortable with the expected outcomes, but in the end this will help all Division II members target grants in ways that live out the platform.”

Pitts said some of the common mis-steps for applicants included failing to identify the strategy behind the need for dollars and the methodology by which results could be measured. If academic improvement was the goal for funding a particular program, for example, how would results be identified?

Some proposals also asked for funds to bolster focus areas for which the leagues had rated themselves highly and none for areas that were lacking. Others fell short because their intentions were geared more toward day-to-day operations than big-picture planning.

Division II Vice President Mike Racy said the committee might have found some of those acceptable had applicants tied initiatives to long-term strategies.

“While it’s one thing to request funds to convene faculty athletics representatives, it’s another to say why that is necessary and what benefits will emerge from the meeting,” he said. “The committee is interested in learning how that session would improve the conference’s ability to live out the Division II platform.”

Racy said the new process – a product of presidents wanting to align all Division II funding initiatives under the strategic-planning umbrella – is akin to other procedures such as new Division II membership application standards and allocations from the newly established Division II membership fund in that applicants must be more forthcoming about why and how.

Pitts urged conferences to devote more time and strategy to the application process next year since Planning and Finance Committee members will be looking for even tighter rationales.

“In the end,” Pitts said, “the conference grant money is a Division II budget line that is tied directly to strategic outcomes. While institutions have more flexibility in how they spend their Division II enhancement funds, the conference grant dollars come with an obligation to say how they are advancing the division’s mission and goals at the local level.”

Applications that are being returned to conferences are expected to be completed by mid-September. The Planning and Finance Committee will address the remaining requests later that month.