posted on: Tuesday, October 18, 2011

This is a guest blog post by Idealware's executive director, Laura Quinn.

By Laura Quinn

It’s not always easy for grantmakers to streamline the grant application and progress reporting process for nonprofits, while still ensuring a robust and efficient internal process. 

The right grants management systems can help, however. The number of vendors offering solid system has greatly expanded, providing many more options for foundations at affordable costs. Online hosted systems are becoming the norm.

This expansion is great for grants managers, but the array of choices can make it complicated to decide what system makes sense for any given organization. Idealware’s new Consumer’s Guide to Grants Management Systems explores the systems available to help grantmakers streamline application and review process, process payments and track grants throughout their life cycles. 

The report includes detailed comparisons of 20 systems, from inexpensive platforms that allow small organizations to take online applications with basic internal processing features to more expensive ones that allow almost complete customization of the system and workflow. The report divides them into five categories:
 

• Low cost for simple needs

More functionality isn’t necessarily better. If you have only a small grants program, a straightforward system with a lower price tag could provide exactly the support you need. Consider Bromelkamp’s Akoya.net, Closerware GrantMaker, Foundant Grant Lifecycle Manager, MicroEdge GIFTS Online or WizeHive Grant Manager.

• Flexible relationship management

If you are hoping to track not just the basic details of a grant, but complex custom tracking information about applications and relationships, consider the growing number of systems geared to support this need with customizable options and strong support for relationship management, such as Bromelkamp Akoya.net, Bromelkamp First Pearl, Good Done Great Grant Management System, MicroEdge GIFTS, MicroEdge GIFTS Online, NPower Foundation Grant Manager, SmartSimple GMS for Private Foundations or Solpath Fluxx.
 

• Complex online data collection needs

If your core priority in a grants management system is to collect complex application and grantee progress report data online, a number of systems provide both strong online support and useful general grants management functionality. Consider CyberGrants, Good Done Great Grant Management System, JK Group, PhilanTech PhilanTrack or NPower Foundation Grant Manager.  

• Complex application review needs

Some systems provide very little functionality to support complex review processes, while others provide complex scoring mechanisms, online forms to allow outside reviewers, and even specialized functionality geared toward reviewing arts projects or medical research applications. If review functionality is a core priority, consider WESTAF GrantsOnline™, Dulles Technology Partners WebGrants, GrantStream GrantRight™ or Altum proposalCENTRAL.
 

• Strong all-around functionality for the large foundation

If you need all of the above—and are willing to pay for it—large “enterprise” systems provide strong functionality and customization for a larger price tag. Consider Altum Easygrants, Grantium G3, FusionLabs GrantedGE or MicroEdge GIFTS.

 
What about the grantees?

There’s a special section on “Online Applications” includes a number of criteria that will be of interest to those looking to make the application process easier for grantees. These include functionalities that are becoming more widespread such as reusing application information, saving incomplete applications, checking spelling and viewing grant status and submitting reports through online portals.

Particularly applicant-friendly software include PhilanTech’s PhilanTrack, WizeHive Grant Manager, Grantium G3 and Altum EasyGrants.

For more on the systems that can help both you and the organizations you work with, view the full report at http://www.idealware.org/reports/grants-management.

Laura Quinn is executive director of Idealware.