Employees often complain about their work’s restrictive nature, how the workplace environment bogs them down, and how much they want to switch jobs to get something better. These are quite common across the world as most companies put their benefits as a priority over their people. But a few organizations understand the value of having a supportive work atmosphere and letting employees realize their full potential. One such company is ZoomGrants.
Spearheaded by Geoff Hamilton, ZoomGrants ensures growth opportunities for its employees and leverages their contribution to drive unmatched success. Geoff handpicks his employees from diverse fields and bases it on their professional capacity. While selecting people for his team, he scrutinizes each detail to understand the suitability of the candidate, for he knows the value of having varied skill sets aligned with his company’s mission. And then, as the final step, he lets them do their job.
Many may find this odd as it could potentially reduce the pace of growth or trigger some rift. However, this is how Geoff fosters his thriving management style. He gives his employees autonomy but first sets the results bar high by his own example. His attitude towards productive execution proliferates across his team and inspires his employees to become positive stakeholders.
Simultaneously, the work ZoomGrants does is extremely gratifying in many ways as the people who make up the company get to see how much change their work is ushering in. Such a positive impact on lives round-the-clock and round-the-year makes ZoomGrants nothing less than a great place to work.
How Did It Start?
Geoff as a grant manager in 2002 had first-hand experience of managing ‘a boundless number of binders filled with reams of paper from applicants for grants.’ He realized that the only way out of this time consuming process was the proper implementation of technologies. This forward thinking helped applicants, reviewers and administrators streamline the process.
In fact, to ensure clarity in the intention to establish a ‘fast and easy’ management solution for grant and scholarship administrators, he used the name ZoomGrants. But in the company’s early days they witnessed a lot of struggle as some people were averse to online methods. Now, with so many business practices shifting online, ZoomGrants is booming.
The tagline of the company further elaborates their philosophy and mission. It says, “Great Technology is a Given, Exceptional Service is Our Promise.” Working with great technology is a dream come true for many and when the service gets aligned, the horizon only widens.
What’s the Scope?
ZoomGrants is a customer-centric company; hence, customers’ needs and input drive the newest features it introduces. This inspires the technology designers herein to work on specific details and innovate accordingly. The company’s support team is also doing an excellent job by digging deep into customers’ challenges acting as a trusted advisor and devising customized solutions. When clients or applicants contact support, the team adopts extraordinary measures to resolve queries. Additionally, the company has created “ZoomGrants™ University (ZGU) with a library of support tools to help users 24/7.” Customers can also leverage the learning process via video to better understand various features and allowing more proficiency in the use of the system.
The Work Culture
The core of ZoomGrants is formed by a belief system that has three pillars – People, Planet and Prosperity. The company takes special care of its people. Some of the company employees were first introduced to ZoomGrants as a customer using the system. They were so impressed with the people and the product, they inquired about career opportunities. Many others in the company started their journey as interns and then took up responsibilities to capitalize on their potentials. Geoff believes in putting people in a place for maximum success. That success includes staff members authoring stories, writing industry papers, conducting webinars and speaking at numerous conferences and events.
Moving Forward
ZoomGrants’ structure is very dynamic. The technology it has built to manage grants and scholarships is also flexible enough to accommodate other application processes. It has become a favorite among several organizations like The Grant Professionals Association (GPA), where GPA staff uses ZoomGrants “to collect, review and award their call for speakers for their annual conference.” The GPA has substantial access to various online application management systems and they chose ZoomGrants and has been using this technology for the past six years.
ZoomGrants’ technology is a great fit for “associations and organizations who handle call for speakers for conferences and training.” That is why the company is always advancing new features and enriching its already robust platform. Such strategic moves often open up areas that new staff can translate into opportunities for their personal growth.
The initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic were testing for the company. When CARES Act funding needed to be distributed there was a rush to execute the applications for relief. The sheer volume of applicants was uncharted waters. The urgency for administrators to properly manage these funds was critical. All of these elements became a priority and they fell directly on the shoulders of the ZoomGrants staff. It is so much easier for a team of employees to weather a storm if they believe in the company. They knew it was a great place to work, but through the triumph of their system and their people during a pandemic it reinforced that ZoomGrants is an ideal space to thrive.
