Applicants: Completing the Application

As a cloud-based system, ZoomGrants makes it easy for applicants to work on and submit their applications. ZG takes the program content and requirements set up by the program administrator and provides helpful features to facilitate the application process. Read about the basics, below.

Step 1: Go to Organization’s ZoomGrants Page

Navigate to the ZoomGrants page for the organization by using the link provided to you by the program administrator.

NOTE: For this first step, do not go to the ZoomGrants homepage. Once you’ve started an application using the link above, you can log in at https://ZoomGrants.com/login

Step 2: Create an Account & Log In

Create your ZoomGrants account and log in using the New ZoomGrants Account box on the righthand side. If you already have an account, log in using the boxes in the upper right corner of the page.

NOTE: In ZoomGrants, each application is officially associated with a single account and each account is ‘owned’ by a single user and accessed by a single email address. We recommend that the person who will be the primary contact for applications creates the first account for an organization. Once that person creates their account, gets logged in, and starts the application(s), they will be able to invite other people to collaborate on all or some of the applications in their account.

Step 3: Create Your Application

Click the Apply button next to the appropriate program to create your first application for that program.

Step 4: Invite Others to Collaborate (as necessary)

Use the Collaborators section in the first tab of the application to invite others to work on this application with you.

NOTE: If granted access, collaborators can do everything that the application owner can do except: editing the Applicant and Organization information sections in the first tab of the application and submitting, archiving, or deleting the application

Step 5: Fill out Questions, Budget, & Tables

Program/Application Content

In each program, the program administrator decides what content they’d like to request from the applicant. As a result, the tabs, questions, and requested documents will differ between programs and organizations. (For ZGU search and training purposes, refer to the default tab labels to find the appropriate resources.)

Admins also decide how to capture the information from their applications. They can choose the question type for each question, what features to use, what files to request, etc.

The program admin controls the application content.

ZoomGrants staff plays no role in determining the content requested by the administrator from the applicants.

If you have a question about the application content or what is expected of you, please use the Contact Admin tab in the application in your account to send an email directly to the program contact. The ZoomGrants tech support staff cannot answer content-related or requirement-related questions.

Character Counts

Text questions will be limited to a specific character count. Characters include letters, numbers, spaces, punctuation marks, and carriage returns. A page of text is approximately 3000 characters. ZoomGrants automatically limits short-answer responses to 255 characters or fewer (a healthy sentence or two). Paragraph-style response limits are set by the admin on each question, so they may differ. Learn more about the character counter here.

Formatted vs. Unformatted Text

Text boxes will save unformatted text only. Bolded, italicized or underlined text will be saved in a plain text format. Bullets, numbered lists, and other formatted text may look correct on your computer but may not display the same thing on the admin side. If you are copying and pasting content into your ZoomGrants application from another file elsewhere, be sure that your source file uses unformatted text only (such as can be found in a .txt file).

Tables

Calculated columns and rows in tables require a page refresh to display the latest calculated values. If the administrator has set up tables for you to complete in the online version of your application, keep in mind that the calculations in those tables (if any are set up) will be displayed only after you have input your information and used the Refresh Page button in the upper right corner to reload the page. If you find that a specific calculation does not run as expected, check the data that you have entered and remove any characters that are not numbers, decimals, or commas. Do not include any other symbols in the cells that are used in the calculations.

Required Document Requests

For a Document Request that has been marked Required, you must have something uploaded in that slot before you can submit your full application. If you think that a requested document does not apply to your application, you still need to have something uploaded there. Contact the program admin to ask what they would like you to do. Some admins will accept a document stating why the requested document does not apply to the applicant. In any case, you will need to have a file in that slot before you can submit the application.

NOTE: Some question tabs may have a branching question, which will hide certain questions based on your answers to the branching question

Auto-Save Feature

The system will automatically save your answers as you move through the application and enter text then click outside of each text box or select a multiple choice or checkbox item and click into a new field. Click on the tabs to quickly jump to another section of the application or use the ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons at the bottom of the tabs to move sequentially through the application. You do not need to finish the application in one sitting nor do you need to intentionally save it.

Read more about the auto-save feature here.

Step 6: Upload Documents

Click the Upload button next to each applicable document request set up by the administrator to open up the File Upload Window for that request. Follow the instructions in the window to upload or link a file (or multiple) in that slot.

NOTES:

Any document request marked with a yellow ‘Required’ note MUST have something uploaded or linked in that slot in order for your application to be submitted. If you feel a required request is not applicable to you, create a document in which you note the inapplicability and upload that into the slot.
If the administrator has provided a template, click the orange ‘Template’ link to download that template. Fill it out, then upload it into that slot.
Click the Help button in the File Upload Window to access a quick tutorial video (also available here: http://youtu.be/b0Ixkjss_Ow).
If you finish your application by uploading documents, use the grey Refresh Page button to reload the page before clicking the Submit Now button to submit your application.

Step 7: Submit the Application

Click the gray Submit Now button (indicated by blue box) at the top of the application when you’ve completed the applicable content in every tab. The system will check to ensure you have answered every question and uploaded all ‘Required’ documents. Any skipped questions or missing documents will be listed in red (indicated by red box). When you’re done with your edits, use the gray Refresh Page button in the application to reload the page, then click the Submit Now button to re-run the check. If your application is complete, you’ll be able to enter your initials and officially submit the application.

NOTE: If the administrator has chosen to let you make changes to your application even after it has been submitted, you can edit your submitted application up until the deadline passes. If you do make any changes, you do NOT need to ‘re-submit’ it. The changes are automatically reflected in the submitted application.

Check for Completion

The completion check verifies that you have answered the applicable questions and uploaded ‘Required’ documents, but you are responsible for ensuring you have completed the content requested in the budgets and tables (as applicable) and uploaded the documents that are requested but not ‘Required’.

Read more about the check for completion here.

Application Print Preview

Click the Print/Preview button to print a copy of your entire application. The Print/Preview also shows the calculated columns in tables in the Budget tab (if the program admin has set any up).