When I started with Chattahoochee four years ago, we were using a paper process to collect scholarship applications. Applicants would send in a fillable PDF and ask to be applied to scholarships for which they were not qualified because they hadn’t read the scholarship descriptions.

Also, they would provide contact information for recommenders and it was my responsibility to acquire the letters of recommendation for every applicant. Weeding through applications to determine which applicants were qualified for which scholarships as well as tracking down letters of recommendation consumed so much of my time, I would say four hours per application, that I didn’t have any time left to handle the other responsibilities of my job.

We knew this was not the most efficient way to run our scholarship program. After a demo of AwardSpring, we were sold by the ease of use and the opportunity to move our process online.

We didn’t even look at any other vendors and have never once regretted our decision! We have seen a drastic increase in the number of applications received since we implemented AwardSpring.

In 2014, with our paper process, we received 82 applications and awarded 34 students. In 2018, with AwardSpring, we received 900 applications and awarded 99 students.

And we are not just seeing an increase in volume; we are seeing an increase in the quality of applicants as well. We have also seen growth in both the number of scholarships we offer as well as the amount of scholarship funds available to award.

This is in part due to the fact that we use AwardSpring as tool to sell ourselves to donors. The donor profile feature makes us look more professional and the matching feature means that donors are confident that we are awarding the most qualified applicants.

We also use AwardSpring to easily collect donor thank-you letters from scholarship recipients. The AwardSpring platform has made the scholarship process easier for everyone.

My time has been freed up by not having to do manual data entry, track down application paperwork, round up letters of recommendation, or determine qualified applicants for each of our scholarships. The software does this all for me and now I have time for handling those other parts of my job!

Also, I no longer have to worry about human error that is often a result of manual processes and paper shuffling. I am confident we are making the right decisions because we have accurate data.

Our reviewers are busy folks. We allow them a couple of weeks to review and AwardSpring gives them the flexibility to fit it into their schedules as they wish, and they can do it in their pajamas from the comfort of their own couch!

They are no longer required to take time out of their busy schedules to shuffle a bunch of paper applications around over a long dinner. If you’re considering AwardSpring, do the math to determine how many hours you are spending on your current process.

You will see that using AwardSpring will provide you huge savings with the time it will save your team. You will also see an increase in applicants and an overall better experience for everyone involved in the scholarship process.

AwardSpring’s customer service is amazing. I typically hear back from them the same day!

But, we don’t have to reach out often because it’s a great and intuitive product. Purchasing AwardSpring is the best investment we’ve made in the 4 years I’ve been here!

It’s like having another person in our shop.