Table of contents:
Federal government agencies in the United States collectively award more than $1 trillion in grants to states, cities, tribes, nonprofits and other entities each year. These grants are divided among agencies, with the Department of Health and Human Services being the largest grant-making organization in the country.
For most federal agencies, though, managing all that money once the grant cycle begins can be a significant challenge. Monitoring funding usage, scaling to meet demand and adhering to rapidly changing regulations can all prevent awards from going to their intended purpose.
That’s why agencies at every level of government need to focus on modernizing their grant-making and management processes for the digital future. Our guide provides actionable recommendations your organization can use to simplify grant management for federal government applications.
To properly understand how modern grant management solutions can benefit the federal government, it’s important to first discuss the unique challenges faced by agencies at the national level.
All government agencies and their grantees must comply with extensive regulatory requirements to ensure accountability and security when managing grants. Understanding and adhering to these regulations can be complex, especially since they’re updated frequently.
While thorough reporting is critical for demonstrating compliance, a lack of data accessibility due to reliance on disorganized paper and software systems can negatively impact a grantee’s ability to deliver these reports on time. The key is to upgrade to a system that offers advanced reporting capabilities, configurable report templates and advanced analytics.
At the federal level, the volume of grant transactions has been consistently rising at a rate of 3% per year. Agencies reliant on rigid legacy systems are limited in their ability to expand their operations in response to this increasing demand, leading to process bottlenecks and regulatory risk.
Inflexibility in grant management can also make operations less efficient by creating more obstacles for specialized tasks. Federal grantors must use a flexible, modern solution that allows grantees to contact them quickly and enhances visibility for full accountability on funding decisions.
Handling sensitive financial data is a core component of grant management on both the grantor’s and the grantee’s sides — and that data is a gold mine to cybercriminals. Having protections in place to mitigate your cyber risk is critical for both your organization and your grantee’s because it mitigates the risk of a data breach.
It’s especially advantageous to select a grant management solution that comes with advanced security features and compliance certificates, like IntelliGrants® IGX.
Whether you develop a system in-house or license software from another company, reliance on obsolete legacy systems can make it difficult to handle complex reporting requirements.
Generally speaking, 42% of federal grant-awarding organizations use at least four separate grant technologies with multiple portfolio locations. Such a distributed system makes searching for documents, data points and other information inefficient and challenging. It can also potentially impact the grantee’s ability to meet deadlines and provide accurate progress updates by making it more difficult for them to access what they need.
Upgrading your agency’s grant management system to a singular centralized platform can minimize these issues and reduce complexity. For example, integration with a financial software solution brings all your grant and budgeting information to the same screen. You can then make more informed decisions faster with more accurate, well-managed data.
Relying on legacy systems makes grant management complex and costly. In addition to being expensive to maintain, most legacy systems save files locally. Employees can’t access those files outside the office, which can reduce your overall efficiency and strain collaboration on key grant processes. An all-in-one, web-based solution solves this issue. Users can access and edit documents from anywhere, on any internet-connected device, for maximum efficiency.
Federal agencies have a full roster of responsibilities, from resource management to administrative duties to industry regulation. So many ongoing tasks can make it difficult for organizations to find the time for managing their legacy grant software, which can lead to missed deadlines and even noncompliance penalties.
Modernizing your agency’s tech stack with a web-based solution streamlines grant management processes. Experience time-saving features like workflow automation, configurable templates, and advanced reporting and analytics capabilities.
Many federal agencies lack visibility into their return on investment, which can prevent organizations from accurately monitoring the recipient’s grant performance and success. Legacy systems make it more challenging to access this information due to a lack of integration across your tech stack.
As a result, information is distributed throughout your system. Users must spend more time searching for the data they need to create reports, get in touch with stakeholders and manage budgets. Minor bottlenecks interrupt normal operations.
While digital transformation has resulted in massive overhauls, many federal agencies still coordinate record-keeping between digital and paper sources. This mismatched system creates information management inefficiencies that can lead to compliance, timeline and budget issues.
A centralized source of truth can help your organization ensure all files are organized and easy to find, which is critical for adhering to important data security regulations.
Many different internal and external parties are involved in grant management, and maintaining clear communication between all of them is essential for a successfully managed grant. Some of the core challenges that shape federal grant communications include:
While keeping parties connected can be challenging using legacy systems, modernizing your agency’s grant management solutions can help simplify communications.
When federal agencies collectively juggle dozens of legacy IT systems to support grant management processes, keeping up with increasing demand becomes significantly more challenging. Investing in a digital grant management solution like IntelliGrants IGX can help your organization improve workflow efficiency while adhering to critical regulations and standards.
Migrating your data to a centralized, cloud-based solution makes it significantly easier for grantors to adhere to key data security and reporting requirements. With all grant information in one place, users can quickly find what they need to report on and run the appropriate analyses.
Integration with other software tools pulls all your grant management data from the rest of your tech stack so you can run analyses, generate reports and check in with grantees all from the same window.
It can be challenging to ensure you and your grantees meet deadlines when relying on manual submissions. Workflow automation capabilities save valuable time and effort by pushing operations along through your organization’s unique, specified workflows.
For example, upon completion of a report, IntelliGrants IGX will automatically send the report to the selected parties and notify recipients once it hits their inboxes. This way, you can reduce the amount of repetitive, easy-to-forget tasks on your plate so you can ensure compliance and keep grant processes moving.
To ensure compliance with federal cybersecurity regulations, select a grant management solution that incorporates proven security features, such as:
IntelliGrants IGX provides all the above and more, with disaster recovery solutions to ensure your agency can get all critical processes back up and running quickly after an emergency.
Comprehensive analytics and reporting features are crucial in funding management for federal government. Your grant management solution should offer the option to customize report templates for easy, fast reporting and submission. Advanced analytics streamline reporting processes by reducing the risk of human error and ensuring timeliness.
Read our testimonials to see how we’ve helped real organizations at various levels of government achieve smooth, seamless grant management operations.
Here are five best practices government agencies can use to improve their grant management processes:
Before adopting a new grant management system, it’s essential to understand what your agency needs from it. Assess where your current grant management processes are and compare them to where you’d like to be — your findings in this evaluation will provide the information you need to begin searching for new solutions.
When your organization uses multiple disparate systems to collect and store grant information, it’s easy to lose track of files due to poor data management practices, such as:
That’s where an all-in-one grant management solution comes in. Using a centralized platform, you and other users in your agency can better manage all relevant documents in one location from anywhere. You can establish a consistent folder structure and naming convention for all grant-related files. You can also use metadata tagging to categorize grants by type, agency or status to make retrieval and reporting more efficient.
Thorough staff training is an essential component of any grant management initiative, especially if you’re making changes to the system your organization uses. When everyone within an organization knows how a system works — and how to use it in a compliant, efficient manner — you can save valuable time and money on grant management projects.
Federal agencies are a prime target for cyberattacks. Digital tools can help organizations mitigate that risk with advanced security tools and capabilities.
In addition to selecting a compliant grant management software solution, upgrading your agency’s existing security infrastructure can help. By combining next-generation cybersecurity tools with an advanced grant management platform, you can close any security gaps that may exist and significantly reduce your risk of a breach.
Federal grants, such as Uniform Guidance for Federal Awards (2 CFR Part 200), are well-known for their strict requirements. Developing an organizational culture that prioritizes adherence to these guidelines is key to reducing the risk of noncompliance.
A compliance-first culture is an environment where all team members are committed to meeting and exceeding the basic standards of behavior required by key government and industry regulations. A robust compliance culture in your organization can help elevate your compliance management capabilities.
If you’re looking for ways to simplify grant management for federal government, IntelliGrants IGX may be the right solution for your agency. Our highly configurable platform gives users the ultimate flexibility to tailor the solution to their specific objectives and use cases. We take a data-driven approach to implementation to ensure maximum benefits for your organization.
We also offer IG Essentials, a simplified version of IntelliGrants IGX, for agencies with tight timelines and limited budgets. With preconfigured roles, workflows, report templates and forms, your organization can begin processing grants much faster than you could with disparate legacy systems.
See how our grant management technologies can help your organization modernize at scale. Request a free demo today to see our solutions in action.
