GRANTMAKING MANIFESTO - Our Community

• Grantmaking is an art, a craft, a distinctprofession. It requires a complex set of skills.Grantmaking is not a function that anyone can beexpected to take on as a trivial addition to theircurrent duties.• Grantmakers need to be conscious of theirprofessional status and impact.Grantmakers should demand higher statuswithin their organisations, and an opportunity tocontribute at the policymaking level.• Grantmakers should be held to professionalstandards, and should be given the tools tohold others involved in the process to the samestandards.Grantmakers should have to sign off on agovernance and due process certificate for everygrants program.• Grantmakers should be encouraged andsupported to participate in professionaldevelopment opportunities in grantmaking,including conferences, workshops, shortcourses, certificate courses, and tertiarysector education.Existing grantmaker education programshave demonstrated their value. Grantmakingorganisations need to adjust their trainingbudgets to allow more grantmakers to takeadvantage of such opportunities.• Grantmakers, and their organisations, shouldfollow a recognised code of practice.Codes of practice guide behaviour and help toincrease professionalism. We have includedsome sample codes as appendices.• Grantmakers should have a professional body tofacilitate creative interactions.The Australian Institute of Grants Managementhas assembled a network of grantmakers tobuild the capacity of the profession.• We need to know more about grantmaking.There is a pressing need for more research intohow grantmaking is done, and how grantmakingpractices can be improved.• Grantmaking does not operate in a vacuum.Grantmakers should be conscious of theirresponsibilities to the profession as a whole andto the wider society.Grantmaking Manifesto: Australian Institute of Grants Management9