For many non-profits and research organizations, grants are the only way to secure funding for projects and growth. As a result, securing these grants becomes extremely important, essentially a required step for the organization to survive and grow.
Since grant management is so important to these organizations, any tools that can aid the process are extremely valuable. So, what are the best tools to help you secure and manage your grants? Here are four beneficial tools to use in your grant management efforts.
Editing Software
Editing software is an extremely beneficial tool for grant management. Writing and creating grant proposals and acceptances are vital in the grant management process. You need to be able to illustrate why you need the funding from the grant and persuade others actually to provide you with the grant.
In addition, you need to be able to write compelling acceptance letters that accurately portray your gratitude and establish relationships that your organization will rely on in the future. To do this well, you need to ensure that your writing is free of spelling and grammar mistakes. While editing these projects yourself can work, there’s always a chance that something slips through the cracks, and that’s where editing software can come in. Editing software can ensure that your proposals are perfect, fixing the mistakes that were made from human error.
Budgeting Software
Budgeting is an extremely important part of grant management. If you’re going to secure a grant, you’ll need to illustrate exactly how you’ll use the finances provided from the grant to better your organization. In order to do this properly, you’ll have to create a budget that uses all of the funds allocated from the grant effectively and efficiently. During this process, budgeting software can be a huge help. Rather than computing the budget by hand, budgeting software can help allocate funds efficiently. As a result, budgeting software can be a huge help in the grant management process.
Management Software
When undergoing grant management, you must keep track of a lot of data. It would be best to track exactly how much and what you spend on. In addition, you need to track various metrics on how your organization’s performance is improved or affected by implementing the grant’s funds. Tracking so much data can be tedious, which is where data management software like Microsoft Excel can come in. Here, you can neatly organize all of the data and metrics you measure and can later easily implement them into the reports you need.
Reporting Software
Whether you’re focusing on federal grant management or private grant management, you’ll have to create many reports on your organization’s progress. Many grants require monthly reports to be due on set dates to ensure you adequately use the funds provided. These reports will take the metrics that you previously installed and present them in a neat and easy-to-follow manner.
Reports are critical to your organization’s success, so any help you can get in creating them is welcome. There is lots of software out there that can help with writing and creating reports, helping you stay on track with the grant management process. To stay on top of the grant management process, effectively using reporting software is a key tool you must master.
