For government agencies managing grant cycles, keeping all important stakeholders in the loop with regular reporting on grant progress is critical. This process keeps your agency — and your grantees — accountable for the appropriate usage of awarded funds and helps with reaching organizational goals. The right grant reporting steps and tools can make all the difference.
Whether your agency is at the federal, state, local or tribal level, these eight grant reporting tips for grantmakers can help you streamline your next grant cycle.
When grantees know what you’re looking for in reports, it’s easier to ensure they include all the necessary information. Clearly defining your grantees’ reporting requirements can also help them reduce submission errors and eliminate the need for duplicate work.
Some key elements to include in your reporting guidelines include:
Using web-based technologies can help grantors like you ensure your grantees get the information they need at the right time and the right place by improving remote accessibility. All authorized users on both sides of the grant life cycle can connect to the internet to view and edit grant information from anywhere on any compatible device.
One of the most essential best practices for grant reporting is implementing a centralized digital solution that compiles all your historical and current data under one roof. Over time, this solution can help you better manage grants and reporting with capabilities like:
Maintaining an organized paper trail of grant data is an essential grant management reporting practice for several reasons:
Implementing an organized, centralized database of all your grant data allows you to retain and retrieve the information you need without spending hours switching between windows and moving files around. Seamless integrations with other platforms enable the solution to pull data from other sources in your system, creating a single source of truth for all stakeholders.
Transparency is essential for building trust with grantees — and for remaining compliant with public funding regulations. For example, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) requires federal grantors to post national grant information on a searchable, publicly accessible website. The FFATA will also require all prime contractors and grantees of federal awards equaling $30,000 or higher to begin reporting via SAM.gov beginning in March 2025.
A unified grant management solution can help by making your data more accessible to stakeholders outside of your agency. Complete integrations make it easy to display all relevant grant information on your organization’s website. You can also run advanced analytics to provide in-depth, up-to-date insights into all your active grants.
As a member of the local, state or federal government, you know how quickly the law can change. Keeping up with updates to important standards and regulations is critical for ensuring compliant reports from grantees.
Some essential elements of compliance management in grant reporting include:
Automated solutions support industry- and region-specific requirements, so you can rest easy knowing all documentation is compliant with the standards that apply to your organization.
Miscommunications between internal and external parties can lead to major data errors, potentially resulting in lost opportunities for prospective grantees. That’s why it’s vital to meet stakeholders where they are in terms of their preferred communication channels, such as:
An automated solution that generates email and in-system notifications for various system actions and dates can help you eliminate miscommunication, ensure grantees meet deadlines, successfully receive documentation and more.
Although this requirement varies between different grantors, grantees are often only asked to submit one static report at the end of the grant period. Because this final report contains so much information, creating it can easily result in the loss of important project data.
Rather than relying on a single report, grantors should consider requiring more frequent reports throughout the process. Multiple reporting milestones enable your agency to create ongoing conversations with your grantees, allowing you to pinpoint key areas for improvement in future grant cycles.
While grant fraud and misreporting are relatively uncommon, it’s still a possibility. Agencies should proactively address this risk by requesting regular reports from grantees and carefully monitoring project progress.
That’s where a comprehensive digital grant management solution comes in. A platform that can manage all steps in the grant management process, from application submission to completion and post-mortem, can help grantors more closely track what grantees do with their funds.
Digital solutions are also excellent for helping grantees build trust with grantors. Advanced analytics and reporting capabilities enable them to provide consistent proof of all transactions and work so they can demonstrate that their money is going to the right places.
A fully integrated, all-in-one grant management software solution like IntelliGrants® IGX enables government agencies at every level to enhance reporting and review processes with features like:
Its highly configurable interface and advanced reporting capabilities help you ensure the platform meets your agency’s specific requirements to mitigate compliance risks. Workflow automation streamlines key processes, like application reviews and messaging, to save your staff valuable time reading and responding to report submissions.
Plus, grantors and grantees can communicate directly through the platform. With just a click, you can send the appropriate messages to the proper stakeholders for timely receipt.
If your government agency is looking for a streamlined solution to better manage grant processes, IntelliGrants IGX is here for you. We also offer a preconfigured version, IntelliGrants IGXpress, for agencies operating with more limited resources.
Ready to get started? Book your free demo today to see our solutions in action, and feel free to contact us with any questions!
