The Importance of Grant Reporting

Tips for developing a grant reporting process

Recipients only take grant reporting seriously if the funder does.

As a business owner, you have made the great decision to donate funds to nonprofits whose mission and/or work aligns with your initiatives and values. Regardless of the reason that your organization is donating funds, it is important to develop an effective and efficient process.

Small businesses rarely have the staffing infrastructure to create a complex process for awarding grant funds to nonprofit organizations. This does not mean that you should not have a process. In fact, it is more important to have a process as a small business to make sure that you are being fiscally responsible. In this article you will find four tips on how to establish a grant process that is reasonable for your organization.

Tip #1 - Develop a grant cycle that works for you

The grant cycle can be as simple or as cumbersome as you make it. The most important thing is to be consistent. Some funders have a rolling grant cycle, meaning that applications can come in throughout the year and awards are made based on the proposal and the availability of funds. This process is less competitive, as each application is reviewed without comparing to other applications/proposals. Other grants have finite schedules of when proposals are accepted. This means that you are only able to apply during a specific timeframe or by a specific date. This process allows organizations to allocate staff and resources for a finite period of time.

The grant cycle may include:

Request for Proposal (RFP)
Letter of intent
Pre-Bid Conference
Application Process
Proposal review and scoring
Award
Meeting with the recipient(s)
Reporting frequency
Site visits
Final Report

While this is an efficient process, it is one that requires a great deal of manpower. Creating the RFP alone can be an arduous task. Not all funders develop an RFP, they may simply have information available about their initiatives and a simple application process. This reduces the amount of time spent on the process significantly. Some organizations only accept applications/proposals from organizations who have been invited to apply.

Take some time and think through your capacity and decide which components of the grant cycle are most important to you.

Tip #2 - Create templates for every step of the process

A template is a great tool to create efficiency in the grant process. The more time you spend creating templates for every step of the grant cycle, the less time you will need to find the needed information from the application.

Tip #3 - Put the responsibility on the award recipient

Create grant deliverables as a part of your funding agreement which includes templates, due dates, and clear directions. The more information you give to the recipient in the beginning, the better.

It is helpful to tie funding to specific deliverables. Some organizations develop a schedule for payments and have reports due prior to receive the subsequent payment. This process calls for a great deal of oversight. If you are planning to provide all funds to the recipient at the beginning of the award period, you can decide to have all reports due at the end of the award period. While you have already given the funds to the organization, this process still holds them accountable for using the funds as stated.

Tip #4 - If they cant follow directions through the application process, they will most likely not follow directions on reporting.

When developing your application/proposal, as stated previously, you should have a scoring process. As a part of your scoring, you may want to include a component that evaluates whether the proposal follows the directions given. Why is this so important you might ask? If an organization cannot follow directions when completing a proposal, the likelihood that they will follow directions related to reporting and fiscal management decreases.

When working with clients to develop their proposal scoring tool, I encourage them to allocate some of the points to the overall proposal. Many funders will share the point value of the various sections of the proposal. Below is an example of how an RFP proposal may be scored:

Narrative providing information about the company, experience, etc. (25 points)
Staffing and/or qualifications (25 points)
Financial strength of the organization (15 points)
Budget and/or budget narrative detailing how funds will be allocated (15 points)
Scope or plan (20 points)

Don't let your hard earned money go to waste.

Your organization has decided to donate funds to a nonprofit. Taking the time to develop a system ensures that you not only find the best recipients, but also have a mechanism in place to show the impact of the funds. If you have the desire to donate funds and do not have the capacity to develop a system, hire someone to do it. It is worth it in the long run.