1. What is grant management software?
Grant management software helps guide nonprofit organizations through all facets of the grant-seeking process. This includes everything from researching and applying for grants to nonprofit accounting and compliance functionality.
2. The benefits of grant management software
- Find more grant opportunities. Instead of manually searching the web for new grant opportunities, grant management software will find them for you.
- Spend less time on applications. Grant management software can store templates, documents, and assets for users to reuse and adjust, which is especially helpful for organizations without a dedicated grant writer.
- Fewer missed deadlines. Keeping track of the many deadlines associated with grant applications can be a struggle. With grant management software, users can set alerts for upcoming submission dates.
- Better collaboration between team members. This software lets users assign tasks to individuals and collaborate through the software’s project management-esque functionality.
- Increased likelihood of success. Grant management software makes it easier to identify the elements of your proposals that are succeeding and those that should be revised or thrown out.
3. Typical features of grant management software
- Compliance management. Verify adherence to company policies and industry-specific regulations.
- Grant application management. Track the status of grant opportunities throughout the application's lifecycle.
- Grant award tracking. Comply with deadlines, submission requirements, and financial documentation for awarded grants.
- Collaboration. Work on projects with colleagues and share information across your team in real time.
- Contract management. Store and manage client/customer contracts for easy reference.
- Financial reporting. Generate analytics-driven reports to gauge business performance and identify trends.
- Grant discovery. Automate your search for funding sources and set alerts for when new grant opportunities arise.
- Payment tracking. Track sent and received payments, invoices, and bills.
- Quote/proposal creation. Create custom quotes/proposals and store them in a database for reference.
4. The cost of grant management software
Most products in the market are priced on an annual basis. Pricing can be divided into three pricing tiers based on their starting price:
Price ranges:
- $83 - $108
- $108 - $362
- $362+
*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offering found on vendor websites on Feb. 26, 2020. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.
5. Considerations when purchasing grant management software
- User access management. Many vendors offer software with user access management functionality, which gives administrators the ability to restrict access to certain modules and documents to qualified users or roles.
- Stand-alone software versus software suite. Buyers can purchase grant management systems as a stand-alone system or as part of a more comprehensive nonprofit fundraising software suite.
- Deployment method. Grant management software can be deployed through the cloud, (ideal for small and midsize businesses with limited resources) or as an on-premise solution (primarily for enterprises with a dedicated IT department).
6. Relevant grant management software trends
- Ensure grant eligibility. According to Grants.gov more than 1,000 different grant programs exist in the U.S., totaling more than $500 billion annually. But competition for grants is fierce, making it all the more critical that your organization find and implement grant management software to get a leg up on others competing for the same funds.
- Secure your data. Cybersecurity is critical for any organization, but it’s especially critical for nonprofits, which have the added responsibility of being ultra transparent with their contributors. Protect your private information—and your donors’—by selecting grant management software with data encryption and other security features.
