Operating Support Vital When Laying the Foundation for Success

Support Operations are not the most glamorous departments in any business or organization but they are certainly the most vital. In fact, for any business or organization to work cohesively to serve the public, there must be a strong support operations hub in place. Every business, organization, foundation, and nonprofit needs these departments to properly function. Ever doing our part, GrantWatch has made it a point to include Operating Support as a separate and distinct category in its directory list of grants. It’s our pleasure to provide support for support operations departments!

What is Operating Support?

Support operations involves “processes, activities, and resources required to successfully provide customer support services while reducing stress and workload for the customer support team.” (Mindmesh, “Support Operations,” 2023)

Support Operations are the elite teams working behind the scenes that make it possible for other departments like customer service to better serve the public.  They are essential to keeping the daily work in your organization flowing smoothly. Indeed, these highly trained teams provides the training, tools, and quality management so agents can do their best work. In addition, they also implement new working systems that allow for better productivity and create a culture of collaboration within a business. Finally, support ops is responsible for recording data for analytics, feedback, and training purposes. From top to bottom, the support ops teams keep their organizations humming.

Who Are Support Operators?

So, who are the people behind the scenes? Support ops staff includes roles like developers, trainers, quality control representatives, systems analysts, human resources, tech support, IT support, and facilities management. Think about it like this, your customer support specialists have a very specific job to do; they put a human face on your organization as they focus on customer satisfaction.  Support operations teams are the facilitators who make sure CSRs are trained properly, have a clean work area, tools for communication, a standard of quality to uphold, and all the means they need to shine.

Why is Operating Support Important?

Above all, the most important benefit of strong support ops teams is cost reduction. Whether it’s a business, a nonprofit, or even a government agency, reducing costs is always number one. Support ops helps to keep overhead low. Proper training, work efficiency, quality control, and everything else they do directly affect the bottom line.

To conclude, support operations teams work in conjunction with the other departments in your organization and create a web of support.  Each one performs a distinct function that contributes to the whole. To that end, it is important to remember to show your appreciation and seek funding that supports these departments.

Below are some of the dozens of Operating Support grant listings currently available.

Operating Support Grants

1. Grants of up to $20,000 to eligible nonprofits for programs that improve operational efficiency. Funding supports organizations in merging with each other to improve efficiency and outcomes.
2. There are also grants of up to $30,000 to nonprofits and municipal museums for general operations support and programming. Moreover, funding is to foster strong, vibrant, community-based museums that are valued and supported by society. As a result, funding is for a museum focus on excellence in programs and operations.
3. In addition, grants to eligible nonprofits to support general operations. Funding is for arts-focused organizations.
4. Grants to nonprofit arts organizations and councils for operating support. Funding is to provide support to organizations that offer high-quality arts programming throughout the year.
5. There are also grants of up to $10,000 to eligible arts and cultural nonprofits for general operating support. In fact, funding is for a wide range of expenses, including staffing, operations, rehearsals, performances, production, and administration. Emphasis to be placed on applicants who serve marginalized communities.
6. Also, grants to eligible nonprofits for capital improvements and operating support. Funding supports local organizations serving rural areas to provide community programs in the areas of arts, sports and recreation, and social activities.
7. Grants to nonprofit arts organizations for general operating and other expenses. Funding is for member-based arts organizations that provide educational, resource-based, promotional, and advocacy services as the umbrella organization for an artistic discipline.

Additional Operating Support Grants

1. There are also grants to nonprofits for general operating support. Funding seeks to improve overall services to the community by strengthening infrastructure, staff, and systems.
2. Additionally, there are grants up to $10,000 eligible nonprofits and government agencies for general operating support for projects and programs to benefit local residents. Funding is to help local citizens maintain and develop vibrant, healthy and strong communities. Areas of interest include the arts, children, education and music.
3. Finally, there are grants to nonprofit arts organizations to support general operations. Funding is for expenses including programs, promotions and administration. Applicants are to be professional organizations that produce large-scale public presentations of arts disciplines.

We hope you’ll find a grant that will lend itself to having a positive impact on the operating support you’re looking to provide!

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