In a lot of ways, getting the grant is the easy part. The hard part comes in between your contract start and end dates.

Congratulations! You scored that grant! And whoa…look at all those zeros and commas on that award! Go you!

Except now comes the hard part…managing it. The program deliverables. The expenditures. The drawdowns. The data. All the deadlines. The forms…ZOMG SO MANY FORMS! In a lot of ways, getting the grant is the easy part. The hard part comes in between your contract start and end dates.

Contract management – aside from something you have to do – can be a way of furthering relationships with funders, building your reputation as a reliable steward of funding, and improving chances of grant renewal and funding increases in the future. Funders want to see where dollars are going and how they are being spent. This requires collaboration between finance and program staff, as well as executive administration.

KDS recommends laying the groundwork for this process as soon as the funding has been awarded:

• Identify your grant management team members: program, finance, dept heads and directors, data and evaluation.

• Hold a kickoff meeting with your team that outlines reporting deadlines, funder points of contact, staff responsibilities, makes all forms and portal access available, establishes report development timelines, and outlines approval processes before submitting.

• Establish the “what” and “how” of data that must be collected. Are your current data management processes sufficient to provide the information required?

• Meet the deadlines! If there is a solid reason you cannot meet a deadline, request an extension well in advance of the due date.

• Keep funders apprised of your work in between reports. Add them to your organization’s email newsletters, invite them to join your social media accounts, and let them know you’d love their presence at your events.

Grant management can be an overwhelming process for many nonprofits, even those with dedicated development staff. If you have received government funding of any kind, the requirements are even more challenging and (dare we say) draconian. Multi-year awards may have different reports and data needed at different points throughout the contract.

KDS can both advise and execute post award contract management and compliance to help our clients adhere to funder requirements. We provide guidance on how to operationalize a healthy grant compliance infrastructure in your organization. Engage us for some, or all, of your post award contract management and draw on our wealth of knowledge of how to fulfill and exceed funder requirements.

Want to discuss this further? Reach out to us at heythere@kazanasstrategies.com!