Peer Reviewer Panel Criteria

The United Way of Essex and West Hudson (UWEWH) is seeking a diverse group of peer reviewers especially individuals who have expertise in one or more areas of civic engagement (i.e., national service, volunteer management, education, literacy, tutoring, human services, nonprofit management, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS and public safety).

Panel Reviewers should have a strong commitment to UWEWH's strategic program initiatives, expertise in a variety of areas, and the ability to use their knowledge to assess the quality of grant applications.

Panel Reviewers may not (1) be an employee of, (2) have a family member who is an employee of, or (3) be a decision making volunteer of an organization applying for funding in the same initiative they are reviewing.

Panel Reviewers must attend a Mandatory RFA Peer Reviewer Orientation.

All peer reviewers are required to review, evaluate, and provide a written summary of proposals prior to the sessions. Reviewers are expected to discuss each proposal and highlight the positive and negative aspects of each.

Reviewers will meet in teams of four to eight individuals to formally assess proposal applications and make recommendations for funding priorities.

Individual Peer Reviewers assign scores based on an application's content. Each panel's aggregate scores are utilized in making final funding decisions.

Application Scoring: The maximum score for each criterion will be indicated in the program announcement and the total possible score for each application is 100 points.