16 grant reporting best practices every foundation and nonprofit should master

Grant reporting is a critical component of grant management—it demonstrates the grantee’s accountability, compliance, and transparency. It also offers grantseekers a chance to showcase their success, capability, and capacity, increasing the likelihood of securing even larger funds.

In fact, filing grant reports is generally mandatory—certainly for federal grants, as provided in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA).

For foundations and nonprofits, it’s crucial to get grant reporting right, including factoring in grant guidelines, reporting requirements, deadlines, and reporting periods. They must act on all requests for information and documents throughout the grant lifecycle, working with grantors to ensure accurate submissions.

This shouldn’t be difficult, especially when technology and streamlined workflows significantly simplify the process. Below, we share actionable tips and grant reporting best practices to guide foundations and nonprofits.

1. Align on grant requirements early

After receiving grant funding, organizations must read and understand the grant terms and requirements, seeking clarification when necessary. Ensure all teams and departments involved in the project are familiar with the requirements and regulations. This is key for grantees to align their project goals and missions with the grantor’s objectives and reporting expectations.

2. Create a reporting timeline

A reporting timeline helps identify, organize, and prioritize tasks to avoid delays and missed deadlines. Create milestones for data collection, analysis, and report drafting with specific deadlines. Identify interim and final reporting deadlines and align them with internal deadlines; internal deadlines should be at least one or two weeks before the actual due dates.

3. Establish clear goals and outcomes

It’s important to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals to provide a roadmap for what the team needs to achieve. 

Examples of SMART goals and outcomes include:

• Gathering accurate data
• Reducing last-minute edits
• Getting stakeholder approval before submission
• Submitting the final version at least 3 days before the deadline

Also, identify key performance indicators (KPIs) to track, including draft completion rate, clarity and readability, data accuracy, and adherence to grant guidelines. Grantees can use software to manage the project and keep track of every milestone and task.

4. Use a centralized system for data collection

A centralized data collection system is essential for grant reporting. It captures and consolidates all grant-related data and documents for easy access, reference, and analysis. 

This results in:

• Improved data consistency
• Streamlined reporting
• Better data security
• Enhanced data analysis

Organizations can use applications, forms, surveys, and software to improve and streamline data collection. These tools can be integrated with the data collection system to avoid manual data entry and save time.

5. Track expenses in real time

Grant reporting is a project by itself, and the costs of facilitating a grant can quickly increase without effective tracking. An expense management tool helps simplify this, allowing teams to track and monitor expenses to ensure alignment with the overall project budgeting. These tools can record expenses in real-time, making it easy to control and predict costs.

6. Maintain transparency and accuracy

Grant reports detail how funds were used and highlight the project’s performance and outcomes, which makes them vital for influencing decision-making and creating future funding opportunities. 

Ensure their data—especially financial information—remains transparent and accurate by:

• Clearly defining the data sources
• Reviewing and validating data
• Documenting methodologies
• Providing detailed explanations
• Involving all stakeholders in the process

7. Use clear, concise language

Report language should be clear, concise, and professional. Grant recipients must communicate findings clearly and explain key data comprehensively. 

Avoid using jargon and complex terms, and eliminate unnecessary words. Present the data clearly to simplify the review process for grantors.

8. Incorporate visual elements

Visual elements enhance the clarity and appeal of reports. They also provide a way to distill complex data into engaging bits. Strategically use tables, graphs, charts, maps, images, and diagrams to:

• Present complex data
• Break up text sections
• Highlight key trends and patterns

Place the visuals as close as possible to their related text and give them descriptive titles to enhance readability and provide context.

9. Include testimonials and success stories

Testimonials and success stories are powerful tools for demonstrating the qualitative impact of funded projects/programs. They add a human element to the complex data and statistics in reports, making a report relatable and insightful. Collect and include quotes, testimonials, and stories from stakeholders and communities impacted by the grant to paint a holistic picture of the grant’s impact.

10. Provide context for data

Data is key in strengthening reports, but presenting quantitative data without context or nuance generally fails to deliver the appropriate impact. A lack of context makes it challenging for grantmakers to make sound decisions and limits the grantee’s ability to report crucial findings. Instead, explain key numbers, deviations, trends, events, actions, and unexpected outcomes to provide further information and build insightful narratives.

11. Review reports before they’re submitted

Before submitting grant reports, take the time to conduct a thorough review of every section to:

• Check for accuracy and consistency
• Ensure clarity and conciseness
• Proofread for grammar and formatting
• Verify compliance with the grantor’s requirements

Grantees should aim to review a complete report at least one or two weeks before the deadline. This provides adequate time for stakeholder approval and a final submission check.

12. Ensure timely submissions

It’s a simple but fundamental aspect of grant stewardship: timely submission of grant reports meets requirements and helps build trust and positive relationships with grantmakers. It also demonstrates a grantee’s commitment to project success and accountability. 

For timely submissions, grantees must:

• Understand reporting deadlines or schedules outlined in the grant agreement
• Set internal deadlines in advance of the grantor’s due dates
• Create a project timeline for drafting reports
• Use automated notifications to stay on top of key dates

Organizations should use technology to automate and simplify processes, saving time on tasks like data collection and entry. Grantors should also have a method for receiving reports on time and following up if grantees miss deadlines.

13. Analyze program success

Grantors should analyze and use reports to evaluate program success based on KPIs, such as:

• The number of funded projects
• Impact on the target population
• Cost-effectiveness
• Number of beneficiaries

A thorough analysis must consider the program’s alignment with the funder’s objectives, long-term sustainability, and the grantee’s overall performance.

14. Maintain regular communication

Grantees should communicate openly with grantors throughout the reporting process to seek clarification or ask questions. This is important to ensure reporting, formatting, and content requirements compliance. It also creates a channel for receiving reporting updates and feedback from funders to better ensure a program’s success.

15. Leverage grant management software

Using grant management software streamlines financial reporting by improving accuracy, automating data collection, and ensuring grant compliance. Here is how software benefits grantors and grantees:

• Centralizes data collection: Software creates a central repository for financial reports, program outcomes, and other documents for effortless access and audits.
• Improves collaboration: It allows project managers to create and assign tasks and deadlines, bringing all team members together on a single platform for effective collaboration.
• Automates reporting: Software tools have built-in, customizable templates to generate and format reports according to grant requirements. Nonprofit organizations can schedule automated data exports to track progress and ensure accuracy.
• Tracks compliance: Software solutions with built-in audit trails and version tracking simplify grantee compliance and monitor risk throughout the grant lifecycle. They also have automated reminders to alert terms to key dates and actions.
• Streamlines communication: Grantors can access real-time dashboards to track progress and access important alerts from grantees. This facilitates consistent feedback, grant amendments, and open communication.

When selecting the right grant administration software, organizations must opt for a solution that supports integration with their existing tools, like CRM, ERP, and finance management systems. Integrations ensure efficiency, seamless collaboration, and enhanced data accuracy.

16. Regularly review and update your reporting process

Both grantees and grantors should continuously improve their reporting processes based on feedback and evolving standards. Grant reporting constantly evolves due to technological advancements, donor expectations, and emerging practices.

For example, in 2024, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updated 2 CFR 200, introducing a key change requiring grantors to report recipient non-compliance, such as failure to submit final reports on SAM.gov. Organizations must embrace continuous improvement, ensure their reporting practices adhere to current standards, and reflect stakeholder feedback.

Need grant reporting support?

Grantors and grantees play important roles in ensuring the success of funded projects. A common role is grant reporting, which ensures grantees adhere to donor requirements, provides grantors with valuable insights, and ensures accountability.

The reporting process can be complex, involving multiple teams, specific reporting requirements, various data sources, and tight deadlines. However, funders can simplify the experience by leveraging grant reporting best practices and Foundant’s grant management software for grantmakers.

Foundant features collaboration tools to support file sharing and teamwork. These tools allow key team members to complete their tasks and receive feedback. The platform also offers access to reports and analytics, which can be included in interim and final reports to demonstrate impact. Automated alerts keep your team informed of key dates and tasks to ensure all projects stay on track.

Learn how Foundant can help your grantmaking organization with grant management.