Utilising perpetual seasons

What is a perpetual season?

In Good Grants, a season is used as a container for an entire period of time, starting with the collection of applications and concluding with the finishing of application reviewing. While the majority of Good Grants accounts utilise an annual or quarterly seasonal structure, wherein applications are accepted and then reviewed before a dormant period, some programs require an "irregular" cadence. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the largest number come down to the need for overlapping reviewing and application rounds with ongoing reporting. 

A perpetual season is a season that does not "end" but is used year after year with older applications, score sets, and the like being archived. 

Who should use perpetual seasons?

You may, for example, need to start accepting your next batch of applications while your previous applications are still being evaluated by reviewers or your successful grantees are completing their grant reports. 

Tools for managing perpetual seasons

Create a new form

Good Grants accounts with a Premium subscription and above may create an unlimited number of forms. For those programs, a new form can be created either from scratch or as a copy of an existing form and the old form(s) can be "hidden" by making them invitation-only. Here's how:

1. Navigate to Forms in the Manage workspace
2. To create a new blank form, click Create form or, click the ellipsis (three dots) next to an existing form and choose Make copy to create a duplicate
   
3. Configure your form as desired
4. To "hide" your prior form(s), click the ellipsis and choose Form settings
5. Select the Invitation-only access checkbox
   
   Note: if the Display form on public home page when round is open checkbox has been selected, deselect it.
6. Click Save

Auto-tag applications

The automated tagging feature available in Good Grants allows you to set up a tag that will be automatically applied to your applications based on a specific trigger. For those clients using perpetual seasons, this is particularly useful. 

You may want to automatically tag applications with the month or "cycle" in which they were accepted. This will allow you to pull those applications into designated reviewing panels. Here's how:

1. Open the Manage workspace and navigate to Settings > General > Tags
2. Click Add tag
3. Provide your tag with a title in the Tag field
4. Select the Application submitted checkbox 
5. Save

When the time comes to automatically tag applications with a new tag:

1. In the Manage workspace, go to Settings > General > Tags
2. Click the tag you'd like to remove the automation from
3. Deselect the Application submitted checkbox 
4. Save

To create reviewing panels that pull in applications that have been tagged, follow the steps outlined here: Using tags in your reviewing configuration.

Utilise saved views

Saved views allow you to quickly apply multiple filters at once. For programs that utilise perpetual seasons, you can create saved views for submitted applications from the current cycle, a previous cycle, or something else entirely. Learn how to create saved views in our dedicated guide: Using saved views.

Rounds

Programs that utilise perpetual seasons generally either never stop accepting applications, or take short breaks. When configuring your application and reviewing rounds, you may opt not to close them which is possible in Good Grants. To do this, simply skip adding a date or time to the 'Starts' and 'Ends' fields during round configuration. Should you choose to take a brief pause between rounds, simply edit the existing date and times. 

For more information on creating rounds, see this article: Round configuration.

Archiving applications

Once an application has run its course and has completed reviewing, you may wish to archive it. Archiving an application does not delete the application, but simply tucks it away for later use. You can learn more about how to archive (or unarchive) applications here: Archiving applications.

Archiving score sets

Like applications, score sets that have been used evaluate your program's submissions can be archived. Doing so will not only store the associated reviewing data, but will also archive any associated panels and scoring criteria. To archive a score set:

1. From the Manage workspace, go to Reviewing > Settings > Score sets
2. Click the checkbox net to your desired score set(s)
3. Open the Action drop-down and select Archive

Archived score sets can be viewed by opening the Current drop-down at the top of the page and selecting Archived. For more information, see our dedicated guide: Archiving score sets.