Did you know that organizations spend 720 hours annually on grant administration?
From maintaining ad-hoc systems to updating spreadsheets, imagine the time you could put toward revenue-generating tasks if you were to automate processes.
With grant management software, you can automate competitive award management, grant research, reminders and post-award report generation. Learn more below.
1. Competitive Award Management
Funders can simplify competitive bidding by automating reviews, tasks and reminders with customizable workflows that align with their defined information processes. Example activities that can be automated include: alerting reviewers of new submissions, routing and scoring applications through internal review hierarchies, and keeping applicants informed of their status in the vetting process.
This streamlines the competitive bidding process from application to award distribution, while keeping all involved parties informed of next steps.
2. Research and Planning
Finding a grant that aligns with your organization’s needs can be time-consuming. Forgo endless hours sifting through various funding options. Some grant software solutions provide advanced research and targeting capabilities that send you an automatic notification when a grant matches your saved search parameters.
For instance, if you’re looking for a federal grant in the education sector with a deadline after January 2018, grant research tools can quickly search opportunities by category, eligibility requirements, deadline, funder types, terms and geographies.
Automated alerts reduce both administrative time and help you find the grants most applicable to your organization.
3. Reminders
Has your organization ever forfeited grant money due to missed deadlines or unorganized processes? With grant management software, ensure the full grant is drawn down with automated reminders.
Alerts can automatically be sent to staff members when a deadline is approaching or a review is needed, taking that administrative task off your plate.
Additionally, you can receive immediate notifications when budget category and line item spending thresholds are met over the course of a tracking period. This helps keep funds under control and grants processes in line with project scope.
4. Post-Award Report Generation
With changing federal regulations, data throughout the entire grant lifecycle must be accurate and performance-based. Knowing this, organizations can run automated internal reports to link financial expenditures to activities and grant funding to results.
These reports provide grant managers the information necessary to remain compliant with award terms and federal requirements, and can be set to run at regular intervals.
Data standardization between grantor and recipient, as tested in DATA Act section 5 pilot program, could also open the door to automated reporting to the funder.
How does automation benefit your grants team? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
. . .
Grant management software can help you expedite grant management processes, drive efficiency and eliminate wasted resources. But, is the timing right for you to implement? Find out with our Grant Management Readiness Assessment.
Image Source: Pexels
Topics: Drive Best Practices
Essential Resource
