Grant Process Checklist: Pre and Post Award

Even the most seasoned nonprofit leaders can feel overwhelmed and uncertain about the grant process. 

Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be the case. With the help of a structured checklist, your grant management woes will soon be a thing of the past! 

In this article, we will walk you through a comprehensive grant process checklist that covers the entire pre-award, award, and post-award funding cycle. We will outline each key step from initial research to final reporting, offering detailed guidance, related resources, and best practices throughout each stage.

Before you start applying for funding, ask yourself: is your nonprofit grant ready? 

Grants are an excellent source of nonprofit funding, but they’re also a significant time and resource commitment and require some serious preparation work. 

“In the rush to get out a proposal, it's easy to forget to review your systems to properly receive funds and account for expenditures.”—Matt Hugg, President and Founder of Nonprofit Courses

There’s a lot that goes into becoming “grant ready”; fortunately, we’ve developed a comprehensive Grant Readiness Checklist you can use. In it, you’ll find a list of 12 questions to help you determine how prepared your organization is for winning and managing funding.

Pre-Award Phase

Grants are not something you want to jump into without thoughtful planning beforehand. In the pre-award phase, you will work with your team to:

• Identify strong grant opportunities

• Secure board approval

• Create a project plan

• Write and submit a winning proposal 

Research Funding Opportunities

The first step in the grant process is identifying relevant grant opportunities. This is accomplished through thorough research and review of the funding landscape. Strategies for grant identification include: 

• Reviewing grant databases, 
• Search-engine research (e.g. Google, Bing), 
• Identifying who has awarded peer-organizations with similar missions funding, and 
• Determining existing connections to funders via your organization’s staff and leadership (e.g. Does your Board of Directors have existing connections to a foundation?). 

One of the most pressing challenges nonprofits face when it comes to effective grants research is time. Thankfully, there are grant research tools available to help you save valuable time—tools like Instrumentl. 

Instrumentl is the all-in-one grant research and grant management tool that saves nonprofits time and helps them win grants. 

Instrumentl is an end-to-end grant management software that combines grant and foundation discovery, project management, reporting, and cross-team collaboration into a single centralized platform. 

Instrumentl prioritizes efficiency. You tell Instrumentl what your funding needs are and its Smart Matching system finds relevant grant opportunities that match your criteria—fast!

Ready to learn more about Instrumentl and how it can streamline your nonprofit’s grant research? Sign up for a 14-day free trial. 

Obtain Board Approval 

When it comes to pursuing grants, leadership buy-in is vital. 

According to Rachel Grusin, Project Coordinator at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego: 

“When running a nonprofit and looking for funding, it's essential to guarantee the organization's readiness and capacity to competitively and successfully apply for grants from all major and minor funding sources. To do that, the organization should, ideally, have a great team with clear roles and responsibilities, including a Board of Directors who are passionate and knowledgeable about the mission.”

However, coordinating with your organization's leadership and Board of Directors can be a challenge. Securing the Board’s approval for new fundraising opportunities can require some strategic planning and action on your part.

Consider the following approaches when presenting funding opportunities to your board members: 

• Define clear goals and objectives for the funding
• Highlight any strong alignment between your organization and the funder 
• Point to any data relevant to the pursuit of the specific funding opportunity (e.g. note if the funder has given to a large percentage of similar nonprofits in the past)
• Note any existing connections between your nonprofit’s board or leaders and the funder 

For additional guidance on how to best coordinate and build trust with your Board of Directors, check out this article, “How to Engage Your Board to Help You Win More Grants”.

Develop a Project Plan

Once you’ve identified a great grant opportunity and have secured board approval, it is time to develop a project plan. 

While your plans will vary depending on individual grant opportunities and their specific requirements, there are several actions you will always need to take:

• Create a set schedule and timeline: A great project plan will lay out internal deadlines (e.g. securing signatures and final approval of a grant application from the Executive Director) and external deadlines (e.g. final application deadline) to keep the project moving forward efficiently. Take the final deadline for proposal submission and determine a cadence for key tasks. 
• Develop a task list and milestones: Review the requirements of the grant proposal, its application, and any associated materials to determine a set list of tasks and key milestones.  
• Determine team roles and responsibilities: Decide which member of your team will be responsible for specific action items and responsibilities associated with the grant and grant proposal. You can do all this with Instrumentl’s task feature!

Maintain transparency and accountability throughout the grants process with Instrumentl’s Tasks feature. 

Draft the Grant Proposal

This is what all your planning and research has led up to—drafting a winning grant proposal!

As with all components of the grant process, the proposal can vary depending on a specific grant’s requirements and guidelines. However, almost all proposal will include the following elements:

• Project Summary,
• Organization Background, 
• Statement of Need,
• Project Description, 
• Budget and Budget Narrative,
• Objectives, Outcomes, and Outputs, and
• Sustainability Plan. 

There is a lot that goes into drafting a strong grant proposal. The following resources can help you develop the strongest application possible:

• Grant Proposal Template (Plus 5 Tips Include) - Instrumentl
• How-to Write a Winning Grant For Your Nonprofit: Step-by-Step Guide - Instrumentl
• Introduction to Grant Writing - Purdue University
• Grant Proposal Template - Crafton Hills College
• The Importance of Grant Writing for Nonprofits - Lesley University

Award Phase

Now that you have finished writing your grant proposal, you have completed the pre-award phase and are in the award phase. Excellent! In this phase you will:

• Submit the final application

• Await a decision from the funder

• If awarded, take action upon receipt and notification of the award 

Submit the Application

Once you have finalized the grant proposal, you are ready to submit it to the foundation. 

As with all other elements of the grant process, this can look different depending on specific direction and guidance from the funder. 

Some funders request that you submit your responses into an online grants portal while others allow you to email a proposal packet as a pdf attachment. 

Instrumentl is a great tool to manage proposal submission. With its grant management tool, Instrumentl allows you to track key deadlines and will even send you emails with upcoming deadlines and any updates or changes to those deadlines. 

Track your nonprofit’s most critical grant deadlines with Instrumentl’s grant management feature. 

Await Decision

Now comes the hard part, waiting. 

However, you will still want to take action while you wait to hear back from the funder. For example, if you get the award, use this time to begin setting in motion a project implementation plan so you are ready to hit the ground running. At the same time, set up a plan of action for how to continue fundraising and/or applying for new grants to support the project. 

Receive Notification

SUCCESS! You have been awarded a grant. 

Once you receive notification of the award you will likely be sent a grant agreement. This document will include: 

• Any requirements of the receipt of the award
• Terms and guidelines stipulated by the foundation 
• Reporting requirements 

Work with your team to execute the document so you can kick off the grant term as soon as possible.

If you received unfortunate news, don’t let it get you down! Grants are notoriously difficult to secure, with the Grant Professionals Association reporting that on average, grants have approximately a 10%-30% win rate. 

Don’t let it discourage you. In fact, you can use a rejection from a funder as an opportunity to strengthen the funder relationship and position yourself for greater success down the line. 

Post-Award Phase

You have received an award from a grantmaker and you are ready to go! So what are the next steps from here?

In the post-award phase, you will:

• Work to effectively implement your project or program that has received funding

• Accurately manage grant funds

• Develop reports to illustrate the impact the award has had on your organization

• Express gratitude to the funder

Implement the Project

For some, your project may already be underway and operating with the grant funds providing sustaining support for your ongoing work. Other times, you will have to work with your team to kick off an entirely new project. 

Either way, having a plan in place for effective program evaluation is vital. Work with your program staff to identify key metrics and outcomes that your organization can track and share with funders to demonstrate impact and results. 

Manage Funds

The ability to effectively manage grant funds is essential. Most funders require financial reporting in addition to narratives to make certain that their gift was used in accordance to the agreed upon terms. 

Ensuring your organizational finances are sound will not only help you show the funder that you appropriately managed the awarded funds, it will also help build trust with the funder and other stakeholders relevant to the project. 

Make sure there is someone on your team who is responsible for keeping diligent track of the grant spend down, specifying clearly where the funds were directed.

Instrumentl even has a feature to help track your grant spending—Awards View! 

With Instrumentl’s Awards dashboard, you can track your grant spend down, your reporting deadlines, and more. 

For some, financial management may seem daunting. However, there are a variety of resources online to help you track grant expenses and manage your organization’s finances effectively: 

• Budgeting for Nonprofits - National Council on Nonprofits
• Nonprofit Audit Guide - National Council on Nonprofits
• Financial Management Tools Every Nonprofit Should Use - Instrumentl 

Report on Progress

Reporting can be one of the most challenging aspects of the grant process—but it is also one of the most crucial. 

While the writing and submission of a report is completed during the post-award phase, much of the work to prepare for the report will happen long before that. 

Before you even begin the reporting process, be sure you have answered several key questions:

• What are the funder’s reporting requirements? (E.g. Do you need to submit a narrative, budget spend down, tracked data, etc.?)
• Who on your team is responsible for tracking and recording relevant project data, outcomes, and outputs?
• What information or data will you need to track and report out on? 

Do not wait until the report is nearly due to begin this process. Set up a system for reporting from the start. 

For more ideas on how to tackle even the most challenging reports, read the Instrumentl article, “10 Best Practices to Revamp Your Grant Reporting”. 

Express Gratitude

Don’t neglect to thank your funders!

It may seem like a small thing, but expressing gratitude can make a world of difference, especially when it comes to stewarding a strong, long-term relationship with a foundation. 

Don’t forget to thank funders publicly! Most funders enjoy receiving public recognition of their investments whether that's a mention on your nonprofit’s website or making a post celebrating their partnership on social media. 

Always make sure that the funders approve recognition before posting anything—while most funders appreciate the praise, some prefer to remain anonymous. 

For more insight into cultivating positive relationships with your grant funders, check out this helpful guide: Your Nonprofit Checklist for Building Relationships With Grant Funders.

With a grant process checklist, you will no longer be second guessing yourself about how to develop, submit, and manage a grant at your organization. With this helpful tool, you’ll feel prepared to secure more grants and manage them efficiently and effectively. 

Want to learn more about how to conquer the grant process? Visit Instrumentl to access a library of helpful grant tools, resources, articles, and other forms of support. Get started with Instrumentl today!