Learn More About Grant Management Software
What is Grant Management Software?
Nonprofit organizations use grant management solutions to manage the entire grant application process. Solutions in this category find available grant opportunities that match an organization’s filters, automate grant writing processes, and ensure compliance through the entirety of the grant process (pre- and post-application). Grant management applications contain grant reviewing and submission features as well. Nonprofits rely on grants as a vital source of income, so ensuring that the process is streamlined, efficient, and well-run is of the utmost importance. Improved grant management could lead to more successful grant applications, increasing organizational income. Some grant management solutions provide functionality for organizations that are applying for grants and organizations that are creating grants. Certain solutions may do both, but the majority specialize in one side or the other. A related but increasingly common category sits between these two: CSR platforms combining giving, volunteering, and grant management into one system for corporate donors managing employee-directed philanthropy alongside traditional grants.
Key Benefits of Grant Management Software
- Increase the ease of grant discovery
- Consolidate all grant-related information
- Streamline the grant application process
- Manage application response and automate grant management activities
Why Use Grant Management Software?
Grant Application Pipeline — The grant application process can be arduous and time consuming with no guaranteed payoff. Just choosing which grants to apply for can be difficult, as there are so many to sort through and vet. Grant management software can automate at least some of this process, providing potential grant applicants with a strong pipeline of opportunities for which the organization will be qualified for. Of course, this is no guarantee of success, but ensuring that every application is not written off as soon as it crosses the desk of the decision maker on the other side is a start.
Grant Application Automation — Automating steps in the grant application process is key to ensuring that you can apply for as wide a range of grants as possible if you are a grant seeker. Federal grant applications take between 80–200 hours to write, so cutting that time down is a boon to getting as many grant applications completed as possible.
Improve Communication — Improving communication channels between grant applicants and grantmakers is an important aspect of grant management software. These applications are designed to make the process as easy as possible on both sides. Any ambiguities in the application process can be addressed through the communication channels that grant management software offers.
Who Uses Grant Management Software?
Nonprofit Organizations — Nonprofit organizations are the largest users of grant management software, particularly organizations operating in areas like the arts, which rely heavily on grants for funding. These organizations are typically grantseekers and use the software to streamline their application process. Document repositories, reporting tools, collaboration features, and more contribute to make the application process as easy as possible.
Governments — Government organizations have funds to give away in the form of grants. Grant management software for grantmakers allows them to maintain application portals, a reviewer hub, and reporting tools.
Private Foundations — Private foundations, or non-governmental organizations with available funds for grantseekers, also use grant management software. They use the same functionality as any other grantmaker though operate with less oversight, as they are private institutions. Private foundations will use the applicant portal, reviewer portal, and reporting tools to ensure that they are giving their funds to the most qualified applicants.
Kinds of Grant Management Software
Grant-Seeking — This type of grant management software is designed to manage the collection of and application to suitable grant opportunities. These solutions focus on putting together personalized grant applications and strengthening the grant application process. Fund seekers are looking to secure as much grant funding as possible, so the more applications to suitable opportunities you can put together the better. Because of this, grant management solutions for grant seekers automate as much of the process as possible. This can take the form of robust document repositories from past applications and tools to automate the discovery process.
Grantmaking — Grant management software for grant creators takes care of the other side of the industry. These grant management solutions manage the creation of the grants themselves, the collection of applications, the review of applications, and the dissemination of the results of the process.
Grant Management Software Features
Based on G2 reviews, nonprofit organizations and private foundations evaluate grant management software by comparing application portal ease, reviewer tool depth, and reporting flexibility. Grant management software often includes, but is not limited to, the following features:
Application Portal — This is a centralized portal through which applicants can submit their grant applications.
Centralized Applicant Management — A dashboard which grantmakers can use to manage all of the applications that are submitted through the application portal. Grant management software provides tools to sort through applications quickly and easily.
Reviewer Tools — Gives application reviewers full visibility into the review process, including what steps need to be taken when.
Integrations — Imports data from multiple sources and integrates with necessary third-party applications.
Data Visualization — Creates charts and graphs from data housed in the application.
Reporting — Produces prebuilt or customizable reports from the available data in the system. These reports often include data visualizations.
Document Generation — Provides users with tools to generate grant related documents.
Push Notifications — These notifications are created and sent out every time a certain triggering event takes place, be it a deadline, document revision, or something else.
Document Repository — This feature is for both grantmakers and seekers, but is more important for grant seekers. Applications allow users to store grant application-related documents in the software to be used over and over again.
Audit Trails — This feature tracks all changes and revisions made to an application, profile, or specific grant so that you can go back and audit the process later on.
Other features of grant management software: Ad Hoc Reporting, Data Analytics, Eligibility Screening, Fund Accounting, and Program Evaluation.
Grant Management Software FAQs
Most Popular FAQs
Which grant management software has the best reviews?
Across the Grant Management category, the top grant management platforms in 2026 tend to be the ones that keep grantmakers and applicants working from the same clear process, not just the ones with the single highest score.
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Submit.com: Carries the largest review base at a near-perfect rating, with the team's understanding of a grant campaign's goals coming up as a reason organizations keep coming back.
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Groundswell: A smaller sample so far, but it posts a perfect satisfaction score, with support staff that are the gold standard of the category.
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Evalato: Fewer reviews than the category leaders, though satisfaction is just as strong, with a straightforward setup that even very small teams manage on their own.
What is the best free grant management software?
A handful of platforms in this category offer a genuine free trial rather than a locked-down demo.
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Good Grants: Listed among G2's free grant management picks, with a support team that's quick to respond to any issue.
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Submit.com: Also appears on G2's free lists, with reviewers specifically calling out an affordable setup process alongside genuinely responsive support.
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SmarterSelect: Listed as a free option too, with an evaluation process that simplifies the entire allocation workflow.
What is the best grant management software?
The right answer depends on what a team needs most, but a few platforms come up across a wide range of use cases.
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Bloomerang CRM: One reviewer calls it a dependable CRM worth its weight in gold, with the flexibility to add fields as reporting needs change over time.
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Submittable: Handles submissions, custom review, scoring, and reviewer management all in the same portal, rather than stitching several tools together.
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NewOrg: A flexible, comprehensive system that records data exactly the way an organization needs it, without an outrageous price tag attached.
Which grant management solutions are most reliable and stable according to established enterprises?
Reliability language comes up directly in this category's reviews, and a few platforms stand out specifically for that reason.
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Submit.com: Reliability comes up repeatedly in its reviews, backed by a solid base of larger-organization reviewers who rate it just as highly as smaller teams do.
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Groundswell: Holds a perfect score among its larger-organization reviewers, with significantly shortened grant distribution timelines cited as a direct benefit.
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OpenWater Application and Review Cloud: Reliability comes up in its reviews too, with integration into existing AMS systems streamlining login and cutting down on manual data entry.
Which grant management platforms have documented ROI results and minimal implementation risk for mid-sized organizations?
Within the mid-market segment of Grant Management, a handful of platforms have reviewers reporting payback in under six months rather than an open-ended timeline.
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Submit.com: The largest share of reviewers reporting fast ROI use this platform, with a near-perfect satisfaction score among mid-sized organizations specifically.
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Good Grants: Strong satisfaction among mid-market reviewers backs up its ROI reports, with a customizable interface that keeps implementation risk manageable.
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NewOrg: Reports fast payback among mid-sized reviewers too, with individualized support tailored to make a specific department's workflow make sense before rollout.
Among the best grant management software for mid-market organizations, fast rollout and low IT overhead go hand in hand with that same documented ROI, a customizable interface that a program team can configure directly tends to mean IT doesn't need to get involved for every change.
Which grant management platforms integrate with nonprofit accounting for donor tracking?
The strongest fit here tends to be a platform that already treats donor and grant data as one connected record, rather than a grant tool and an accounting tool that only syncs occasionally.
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Bloomerang CRM: Reviewers specifically cite its QuickBooks integration for automatically creating a sales receipt for every donation, alongside Engagement and Generosity Scores that track donor behavior directly in the same system used for grant and fundraising data.
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Submittable: Listed among G2's top-rated platforms for Fund Accounting, syncing with accounting software to track grant expenditures against budget and support financial audits.
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Submit.com: Also listed among G2's top-rated Fund Accounting platforms, keeping grant expenditure tracking tied to the same system used for application and review data.
Small Business FAQs
What is the most affordable grant management software for SMBs?
Within the small business segment of Grant Management, a few platforms stand out specifically for not being outrageously priced.
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NewOrg: One reviewer specifically notes it isn't outrageously expensive, on top of a flexible system that records data exactly as needed.
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Bloomerang CRM: Posts solid price-to-value scores among small business reviewers, with an easy learning curve that gets colleagues trained quickly.
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Keela: Built with nonprofits in mind, without requiring a technical background to understand its core features.
What is the best grant management software for small nonprofits?
Small nonprofits evaluating small business grant management tools tend to prioritize something a lean team can run without dedicated IT support.
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Submit.com: Among small business reviewers, it posts one of the strongest satisfaction scores in the category, with a team that understands a grant campaign's goals from the first interaction.
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Evalato: A small team of two admins and eight review committee members successfully ran a full competition on this platform without a complicated demo process.
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NewOrg: Individualized support helps a small team's workflow make sense from the start, without requiring outside consultants.
Which grant management software is the most user-friendly for small teams?
Ease of use matters most at this stage, since the person managing grants is often handling several other responsibilities too.
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Submittable: Posts strong ease-of-use scores among small business reviewers, with customization features that make the whole experience intuitive.
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Bloomerang CRM: Easy to learn and use, with reporting and graphs that make finding information straightforward without extra training.
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Keela: Designed so that anyone can understand its features easily, without needing a technical background to get started.
Which grant management tool is easiest to set up for small teams?
Setup speed is one of the more differentiated ratings in this category, and small teams generally do best with something usable well before it needs to prove its worth.
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Keela: The transition process from a previous CRM went excellently, with integration that stayed smooth from day one.
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Submittable: Posts strong setup scores among small business reviewers, with all-in-one capabilities that remove the need to configure separate tools.
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Submit.com: A large review base backs up consistently strong setup scores, with a responsive team that helps organizations get their portal running quickly.
Which grant management tool is best for small nonprofits managing employee giving or CSR programs?
A distinct use case in this category is corporate social responsibility and employee giving, rather than traditional grantmaking, and a few platforms are built specifically for that.
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Goodstack: Bridges the gap for smaller operations by giving them access to highly discounted or even fully free software, which helps stretch limited operational cash.
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Benevity: Makes it easy for employees to support the nonprofit of their choice, whether through volunteering or donating.
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Groundswell: Acts as a single hub for all charitable giving workstreams, rather than requiring separate tools for distribution and employee matching.
Enterprise FAQs
What is best-rated grant management software for large enterprises?
Within the Enterprise segment of Grant Management, a smaller set of platforms have the review volume from large organizations to back up a strong rating.
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Submit.com: Carries a solid enterprise review base at a strong rating, holding up well even at that scale.
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Groundswell: Posts a perfect score among its enterprise reviewers, with shortened distribution timelines cited as a direct benefit at scale.
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Benevity: A solid enterprise review base backs up a program that makes it simple for employees to support causes they choose.
What is the most reliable grant management tool for enterprises?
Reliability at this scale tends to come down to support responsiveness, since a large organization needs fast answers when grant cycles span many stakeholders at once.
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Groundswell: Support ratings are the strongest in this data set among enterprise reviewers, consistent with the gold-standard support it's known for at every organization size.
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Submit.com: Support scores stay strong across a substantial enterprise review base, backed by a team known for understanding what an organization is trying to accomplish.
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YourCause from Blackbaud: Holds solid support ratings among its enterprise reviewers, with a clean, modern interface that stays organized for administrators, reviewers, and applicants alike.
Which grant management platforms have documented ROI results for large enterprises?
The same fast-payback pattern seen in mid-market organizations shows up among the largest enterprises in this data set too.
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Submit.com: The fast-ROI reporting pattern seen at smaller organizations holds up among its enterprise reviewers as well.
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Groundswell: Significantly shortened grant distribution timelines translate directly into faster measurable payback at enterprise scale.
Enterprise grant management solutions with the fastest deployment and time to value tend to be the same ones already showing fast ROI. ROI and deployment speed are really two ways of measuring the same thing at this scale.
Which grant management platform is best for enterprise CSR and employee giving programs?
At enterprise scale, CSR platforms need to support thousands of employees making individual giving decisions, not just a handful of grant applications.
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Benevity: Built specifically to let large employee populations support the causes they choose, whether through volunteering or donations.
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YourCause from Blackbaud: Stays intuitive for grant administrators, reviewers, and applicants alike, which matters more as the number of participants grows.
Which grant management platform minimizes implementation risk for large, complex rollouts?
Complex enterprise rollouts benefit most from a vendor that understands the organization's specific goals before the contract is even signed.
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Submit.com: Its team's understanding of what an organization is trying to accomplish from the first interaction reduces the risk of a rollout going in the wrong direction.
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Groundswell: A single hub for all giving workstreams means fewer integration points to get wrong during a large-scale implementation.
