Why Grant Management Should Be a Priority

For many organizations, grants are like golden tickets – they open doors to exciting possibilities and help bring dreams of positive change to life. But let’s face it: effectively managing these grants throughout their lifecycle can feel like navigating a complex maze. Don’t worry! We are here to guide you through the twists and turns of grant management. We’ll explore why making it a top priority is essential for any organization relying on grant funding to fulfill its mission. You will discover how proper grant management can transform potential headaches into opportunities for growth and impact.

The grant lifecycle is an all-encompassing process that needs to be properly managed in order for all parties involved to be successful. Consider the grant award to be a partnership between the funder and your organization. The steps of this partnership include completing a goal that is beneficial to the organization and the community it serves. Because nonprofits rely on grant funding, systems must be in place to properly manage that funding. So, how do we prioritize managing grants?

What is Grant Management?

Per Omnistar (2022), grant management is the administrative work and process that goes into accessing and fulfilling the requirements of a grant. Grants provide organizations with funding to achieve the overall goal of supporting communities and various causes. An organization needs to be able to successfully manage and oversee grants and the responsibilities involved throughout the grant lifecycle. Applying for a grant requires that established criteria and guidelines be met throughout the entire process. More often than not, management is required for multiple grants simultaneously! So where do you start?

When should it begin? 

You’re right! At the beginning. The organization should already have policies and procedures in place before starting the grant application. Internal grant policy(ies) are integral parts of implementing grants. At a minimum, they should include governance, risk management, systems, continuous program monitoring and evaluation, and financial management. As Dr. Miranda Wojciechowski said (2023), “The grant proposal and its many components, such as the workplan, objectives, evaluation metrics, and budget, will serve as the blueprint for measuring post-award progress and set important perimeters for project completion.” By laying this groundwork early, organizations set themselves up for smoother grant management and increased likelihood of achieving their project goals.

Why It’s So Important

Because there are so many moving parts throughout the grant life cycle, it’s critical that an organization has the systems in place so nothing gets overlooked. Each part of the grant lifecycle has multiple steps. The grantmaker must undertake tasks like creating grant applications, announcements, and distributing funds. The grantee must apply for funding, manage the funds received, deliver programming, and report outcomes regarding that same funding. 

Three benefits of having a streamlined grant management process are:

1. Increased transparency for improved decision-making – ensure past mistakes are recognized and adjustments are made to inform future actions and achieve a positive outcome.
2. Improved performance management – Determine delivery performance with feedback to stakeholders to make sure program goals are achieved.
3. Impact is the vision of change that grantmakers are working towards through their investments – grantors can quantify the impact of money spent while proving a societal impact within a grant program (Omnistar, 2022).

Streamlining Your Grant Processes

In order to be effective at grant management, like a system, steps and processes must be put in place and followed. To create a grant management process for your nonprofit, you can utilize these 7 core steps (Rosen, 2021):

1. Identify resources and clearly define roles.

○ Start by determining what you’ll need and who will handle which aspects of the grant management process. Then, define your needs, various team responsibilities, who they’ll report to, and when they need to take action as specifically as possible.

2. Create documentation for tracking grants.

○ Create any documentation that your team will need to effectively handle their responsibilities in the process. This can include configuring any special projects or views in your project management, accounting, or database software.

3. Review all relevant grant requirements.

○ Take some time to review your grant’s requirements. Ensure that team members can easily access and understand the requirements, as well.

4. Lay out a comprehensive schedule for your grant.

○ Combine your team assignment notes from Step 1 and grant requirements from Step 3 with your broader programming plans to create a thorough grant schedule. This plan should show the complete picture of how and when different parts of your program and grant management steps will be executed and reported.

5. Understand how to record grant funds.

○ Before moving ahead with using your grant funding or incurring expenses, double-check that your finance team is prepared to properly record and report the funds in accordance with the grant’s requirements.

○Make sure to use an appropriate bookkeeping system. Some grantmakers want their funds kept in separate accounts from other general funds. 

6. Report on your progress internally.

○ Funders may require periodic reports and updates. But even if they don’t, it’s still a good idea for the entire grant management team to regularly report any updates, changes, and progress made toward the goals.

7. Double-check your grant closeout plan.

○ Finally, review any stated requirements around final reporting for your grant. What defines the end of your grant? How will you measure or gauge success? Which reports or documents will you need? Determine these specifics in advance so that this final stretch runs as smoothly as possible.

And Finally….Don’t Forget The People!

With proper grant management comes one of the key components: the people. Communication is critical to the success of any relationship. When considering the grant management process, it’s essential that all teams, from programs, finance, and development to HR and management, realize their efforts make a difference in whether the process succeeds or fails. Here are 5 tips to follow for successful relationship management:

1. Try not to make last-minute requests that will stress out your colleague(s). 
2. Conduct a quick quarterly grant check-in meeting or surveys to check on deliverables and ensure everything is on track. 
3. Provide training opportunities for team members involved in grant management. This ensures that everyone is knowledgeable about the grant process, compliance requirements, and reporting standards. 
4. Encourage team members to build relationships. Network and collaborate outside of the grant project (if possible). 
5. Establish a feedback loop where team members can provide input on processes, improvements, and challenges. This continuous feedback can lead to refinements in grant management practices.

Strategic planning is key to success during the different stages of grant management. If there are unreported and unfixed failures, it could be seen that grant oversight isn’t a priority to current and potential grantmakers. Funders will not keep supporting organizations if they don’t believe that their funds are being properly managed. The benefits of a successful grant management program are influenced by core processes and the people involved in completing them. An effective and efficient grant management system will allow you to make better decisions and focus on what really matters – the communities you serve.

Resources

Omnistar. (2022, June 15). Why is Grant Management Important? Retrieved from https://www.omnistar.cloud/insights/why-is-grant-management-important

Rosen, K. (2021, November 4). Nonprofit Grant Management: Learning the Essentials. Retrieved from https://grantsplus.com/grant-management-guide/

Wojciechowski, M. (2023, August 15). From Pursuit to Post-Award Compliance: Successful Project Design for Full Federal Grant Lifecycle. Retrieved from https://grantprofessionals.org/news/news.asp?id=648409