By Taylor Billing
A grant award arrives – great news! But three months later, no one is sure which budget codes to use, a reporting deadline surprises the program team, and finance is scrambling to recode expenses.
Sound familiar?
In a sector full of varied funders and funding requirements, compliance concerns, and available systems, tackling the broad topic of management can feel daunting. However, at its core, strong grants management prioritizes the flow of information between development, finance, and program leads.
Involving a Grants Manager (GM) at each phase of the award cycle helps break down interdepartmental walls by acting as the liaison between the three teams.
Pre-Award: Build a Strong Foundation
One of the first pain points we encounter happens when grant proposals are seen as the stand-alone responsibility of the development team, or even an outsourced grant writer. The danger is that submitted budgets are unrealistic or incorrect, or appropriate staffing is not available.
An experienced GM will review the budget against the narrative as well as coordinate with finance for review and approval.
Early review ensures:
- Budget feasibility
- Accurate staffing allocations
- Proper application of indirect cost rates
- Alignment with federal or passthrough funding guidelines
- Realistic projections of revenue and expense timing
For organizations managing public funding, this step is especially critical. Federal awards and subawards often contain strict rules regarding indirect cost recovery and allowable expenses. Misalignment at submission can create avoidable post-award complications. Including finance during budget preparation enables a smooth start-up once the award is secured. The proposal budget can then align with existing account codes and structures.
Best Practices:
- Include a requirement for finance approval as part of the grant submission checklist.
- Begin a Grant Overview file (this can be a shared Word document or included in a system depending on organizational procedures).
Your Grant Overview file should include:
- Funder name
- Funder type (public or private)
- Funder notes (repeat funder, referral, or new relationship)
- Request amount and submission date
- Key contacts (internal and external)
- Summary of the project & link to final submitted narrative
- Summary budget and/or link to submitted budget
Starting this documentation early reduces institutional memory gaps later and provides a quick and easy reference point for award information.
Post-Award
1. Setup
Once an award is secured, coordination continues to be critical for success.
Development informs all teams of the new funding, and the GM becomes the central liaison between development, finance and the program team, responsible for overall oversight.
They ensure compliance requirements are understood, finances are on track, supporting documentation is filed, and execution aligns with the award agreement, allowing each team to focus on what they do best.
With each team in charge of specific award-related activities, the GM communicates all relevant information between the three departments. They will share the finance-provided account codes and award ID to the program team, ensure finance is aware of revenue-reporting implications, and the program team is aware of compliance requirements.
Best Practices:
The GM hosts an internal Grant Opening Meeting to bring together all relevant parties, outline roles and responsibilities, and the terms of the agreement.
Suggested attendees: Grants Manager, Program/Implementation team, Finance, Development
The meeting should cover the following*:
- Compliance considerations (flag any unallowable costs)
- Payment schedule and milestones
- Implementation period
- Budget and budget flexibility guidelines
- Reporting deadlines and requirements
- Role of each team member
*This information is also added to the Grant Overview file.
2. Implementation
The GM supports execution of the workplan by tracking spending and identifying needed recodes, budget modifications, or extensions. They also coordinate with finance, program teams, and development to ensure programming is implemented in compliance with the agreement.
Best Practices
The GM conducts monthly budget-to-actual reviews with program team to:
- Inform remaining available budget
- Confirm correct expense coding
- Identify extension or modification needs
- Update forecasts
- Review compliance
Streamline funder communication: Designate one primary donor contact—typically Development — to ensure consistency and clarity in all communications and reporting.
3. Close-Out
At this stage, final reporting is completed through coordination with the GM and program team. Any last recodes are processed, the full award is reconciled, and the final financial report is reviewed by finance. Narrative reporting is written by the program team with coordination from the GM and development team.
Best Practices
- Require finance approval of the final financial report, prior to submission.
- Formally close the award coding in the financial system to prevent the posting of additional expenses.
- Create a timeline for report writing when multiple parties or editorial teams are involved.
Why This Matters
When teams are siloed, you risk grants sitting unused, expenses coded to the wrong locations, missed deadlines, and strained relationships with funders, hurting your ability to renew and your bottom line.
Grants are invaluable resources for nonprofit organizations. No matter the size of your organization or the complexity of your funding portfolio, successful grants management rests on three fundamentals:
- Clear procedures
- Defined ownership
- Effective collaboration
Engaging a designated GM increases the likelihood of follow-on funding, streamlines processes, and gives teams the space to focus on their priorities: program implementation, organization-wide financial management, and securing new funding for sustained community impact.