Northern Ireland Family Business Awards 2017 Family Business Awards 2017 | Page 19

Thus allocating the grant itself becomes the
aim with the task of the grant­givers then
being to allocate it ‘fairly’ but not necessarily
to achieve anything from it. But ‘fair’ can be
seen in different ways.
Without a clear end purpose the ‘fair’
allocation of grants is often viewed as judging
each application against the same criteria
same ­ rather like the ‘fair’ marking of exam
papers which must be based solely on how
well has the questions are answered which it
turn depends on each candidate’s ability to sit
an exam.
But that judges grant applicants on their
application ability not on their need ­ because
the need has been forgotten. It is like
prioritising applicants for hospital treatment
based, not on how ill they are, but on how
well they have filled in forms requesting
medical assistance.
If the overall aim of a grant is to address a
need, and the applicants for the grant have
that need, or are helping those with that need,
is it ‘fair’ to award the grant solely on
application ability and on how well the
application forms are scored?
Th