The only grant management checklist you'll ever need
Grant management helps ensure awarded funds reach the right nonprofit organizations, are used effectively, adhere to compliance requirements, and achieve their intended impact. Although the process may sometimes be tedious, nonprofits must meet every step, from strategic planning to reporting.
Otherwise, it becomes challenging to demonstrate to funders why certain nonprofits are the best recipients of their resources now and during future grant cycles.
This meticulous management process includes navigating stringent application and eligibility requirements, accounting for every dollar, complex reporting procedures, and performance monitoring. All that quickly becomes tricky to track (and complete in a timely fashion) without an organized method.
Classic checklists make a simple reference to follow for nonprofit grant management, breaking everything down into easier, much more manageable steps.
A checklist—especially with grant management software—becomes a repeatable roadmap for securing more funds, minimizing administrative burdens, and ensuring effective oversight. Foundant’s go-to grant management checklist, below, helps nonprofits free up time to secure funds and make even more significant impacts.
Pre-award phase
There’s quite a bit of preparation involved with grant management that begins well before submitting any applications. This phase involves searching for funding opportunities, developing proposals, and working with your team on grant applications. Here are the primary steps every nonprofit will need to follow.
1. Identify funding opportunities
Government agencies, foundations, and nonprofit organizations are the main grant funding sources. Finding funders who align with your mission and will be eager to award grants takes effort, but you’ll significantly increase the odds of being selected.
You can start by searching dedicated databases and websites to find funding opportunities, including:
- Grants.gov
- GrantStation
- Candid
- USAID
- HRSA
Assess the eligibility criteria carefully, as some grants may impose exceedingly strict requirements regarding the types of nonprofit organizations and projects they fund. While there’s likely no harm in applying to anything relevant, prioritizing the best matches makes the most of your efforts, as estimates for the average application success rates hover between 10% and 30%.
2. Assemble a grant writing team
After identifying prime funding opportunities, assemble a grant-writing team, including:
- Grant writers
- Budget leads
- Grant coordinators
- Subject matter experts
Aim for a mix of skills and perspectives—from research and writing to budgeting and project management.
Building an effective grant-writing team requires careful planning, coordination, and ongoing commitment. A strong team can streamline and enrich the writing process, improving your chances of winning a grant through detailed, quality proposals.
3. Understand grant requirements
As part of the grant writing process, it’s vital to understand the requirements. Carefully review the eligibility criteria, submission guidelines, deadlines, and other specific information regarding the proposal format or content. Pay attention to the funder’s priorities, expectations, goals, and restrictions on using grant money.
No matter how aligned a nonprofit is, it may be disqualified if it deviates from proposal and application requirements, particularly for federal grants and other government awards.
4. Create a timeline
Develop realistic timelines for producing the grant application while paying attention to the size and scope of the project. Break it down into specific tasks, such as research, writing, and editing, and estimate the time required for each.
Note that the process will likely take considerable effort and may last weeks or longer. Regardless of the application’s complexity, aim to submit the proposal at least a day or two—if not a week—before the deadline. That way, you can follow up with the funders to confirm their receipt and your adherence to their requirements (with some time left to fix any issues).
5. Define grant objectives
Clarify the application and project’s purpose, demonstrating the impact receiving the grant would achieve by defining your key objectives. Sticking to the SMART method makes this straightforward; each goal should be:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-related
This allows you to outline the intended roadmap for achieving your goals and establish a basis for evaluation and accountability. Ensure all team members understand the objectives to keep the parts of the proposal they’re working on aligned.
6. Plan your budget
Identify the proposal's cost, including materials, travel, equipment, and labor needs. Break down all direct and indirect costs to create a reliable estimate, considering cost types, hours, and amounts. The nonprofit budget planning expertise of any financial roles added to the grant writing team will help significantly. Put all these together in a cost summary and submit it for approval.
7. Write your proposal
Once the budget is approved, it’s time to write the proposal.
The process involves:
- Writing a cover letter
- Creating an executive summary
- Providing organizational information
- Defining your objectives and needs
- Describing your methods and strategies
- Adding an evaluation plan
- Including the budget and financial sustainability plans
Remember to include supporting information in the form of appendices at the end of the proposal. The details contain tax status, letters of support, and personnel bios. Ensure the proposal highlights mission alignment and community impact.
8. Review and edit your proposal
After drafting, take a break and reapproach your proposal with fresh eyes to refine it. Review each part multiple times before submitting, from basics like punctuation and grammar to grant compliance, budget breakdowns, and the compellingness of your storytelling.
After sending in your grant application, contact the funder and ensure everything’s in order.
Post-award phase
If your nonprofit successfully wins grantor funds, put the word out (and credit the contributing team)! After some celebration, it’s time to start the post-award grant management phase with the following steps.
1. Accept your award
Upon funding approval, respond with an acknowledgment letter to express your gratitude. Review the contract with a lawyer to understand the terms and conditions, as signing the agreement means you have accepted the funds and its requirements. You become obligated to carry out the full terms and conditions of the grant.
2. Track grant performance
Once the project or program is running, track relevant metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to ensure the proper allocation of grant funds and maximize their impact. You likely determined these while putting together the application.
Be sure to track ongoing performance across multiple awards, as well. Monitoring the effectiveness and efficiency of your grant programs can provide further evidence to current and future funders that the resources they provide achieve the results they want to support. Grant management software with dashboards and reporting tools will substantially simplify tracking your metrics and KPIs or analyzing them further.
3. Create and submit reports
Nonprofits must create detailed reports on expenditures and program progress funded by grants to maintain transparency and accountability. These reports—likely submitted at recurring intervals—demonstrate your adherence to grant reporting requirements and provide insights into the program’s impact.
Reporting also allows you to document key milestones and create an audit trail should compliance or other requirements necessitate reviews. Given the serious consequences of grant fraud, especially when the government is the grantor, you’ll want meticulous records of compliance on hand.
4. Engage with the funder
Communicate openly with the funding agency during the project to share successes, lessons, and challenges. Seek feedback on your performance and reports—their insights can help you improve and ensure proper program alignment with their priorities. Your funder relationship management strategy will also help enhance your chances for future funding.
Closeout phase
The closeout phase marks the conclusion of a given grant’s lifecycle. This stage involves fulfilling all remaining obligations and ensuring a smooth wrap-up.
1. Submit your final report
Prepare a comprehensive final report that summarizes the outcomes of your grant-funded program.
Include the following:
- A summary of goals and objectives achieved
- A breakdown of expenditures versus the approved budget
- An evaluation of the program’s impact and lessons learned
Ensure the report adheres to the funder’s grant submission guidelines and is submitted on time.
2. Reconcile your finances
Close out your financial records by reconciling all expenses with the approved budget. If needed, work with the principal investigator (PI) in charge of the funded project or research to identify and address discrepancies and ensure accuracy. Provide a detailed financial summary to the funder as part of the final report.
3. Archive records
Organize and securely store all grant-related documents—including contracts, reports, and financial records—in a single repository. Retaining these records is essential for future reference, audits, or evaluations, as they provide historical, legal, administrative, fiscal, and research value for future grants.
4. Document learnings
Reflect on the grant management process and document key takeaways, including milestones, challenges, and solutions. The experience allows you to identify areas for improvement for future grant management, fundraising strategy, and applications.
Need grant management support?
Effective grant management can be overwhelming, but leveraging the right tools and resources can streamline your processes. This checklist is a great starting point for staying on top of every aspect of grant management, but the grant management checklist isn’t foolproof alone.
Leveraging dedicated grant management software will help simplify and streamline the process further by automating workflow, tracking deadlines, and centralizing documents and data. Unlike the platforms later adapted for philanthropy with costly customizations, Foundant’s grant management software has been purpose-built for nonprofits and funders.
If you want to minimize grant management and return to making impacts, learn more about Foundant’s grant management software for nonprofits.