Grant management software helps grantmakers and grantseekers manage the grant proposal and awarding process from different perspectives. Though predominantly utilized within the nonprofit sector by grantmaking foundations, these tools also have applications for government agencies and scientific research organizations. Certain tools are better designed to manage the complexities of public funding, including government regulations and compliance, as opposed to private funding. Grant management software streamlines the call for submissions by providing form creation, task automation, and review support. Funders utilize these tools to track their award budgets, monitor progress of all grantees, and measure success over time to determine if funding priorities need to shift. From a project management perspective, this type of software helps users monitor the necessary activities that occur at different stages of each grant application, from pre-award to post-award.
On the other hand, grant management software designed for grantseekers allows organizations to search open grant opportunities based on selected criteria, and provide tools to assist with proposal preparation and submission. These tools support document attachment, store commonly used files and responses, and help grantmakers and grantseekers communicate more effectively. Grantees can measure their progress against proposed metrics over time and correct course as needed, and can pull reports to track larger data sets related to funding or programmatic success.
Some fundraising software and donor management software support basic grant management functions, allowing important deadlines and action items, relationship information, and proposals and reports to be managed. Additionally, most grant management tools integrate with accounting software to manage fund accounting and ensure grant expenditures align with the contracted budget.
To qualify for inclusion in the Grant Management category, a product must:
- Manage the grant opportunity pipeline from a grantseeker or grantmaker perspective
- Provide communication tools for organizations to interact with their funders
- Create task assignments for required actions throughout the pre- and post-award process
- Track grant allocations to monitor funding portfolio health or ensure grantee compliance
