Grant management for charities
Grants you apply for, and grants you give, kept straight
For the money you ask funders for: who you applied to, what you promised, what has arrived and what reports you owe. And for charities that give money to people: a confidential register of every request, what the trustees decided and why.
Free for 30 days, no card needed. Then £5 a month or £50 a year, everything included.
Where grants go wrong at a small charity
Rarely in the application. Usually afterwards, when the promise, the money and the report have drifted apart.
- The final report is written from memory. The application promised forty sessions and a survey. Eighteen months later nobody can find what was promised, and the report is written against what people remember.
- Reporting dates are on the offer letter, and the offer letter is in a drawer. Missing a report is the commonest reason a funder turns down the next application.
- Nobody can say where the funder's money went. Asked for, awarded, received and spent are four different numbers. Kept as one, nobody can answer a funder who asks how much is left.
- If you give grants, consistency is the worry. Two families in similar circumstances asked for help a year apart. Were they treated alike? Without a register of decisions and reasons, nobody can say.
What it keeps, on both sides
Your own list of funders
The trusts, councils and funds that give to charities like yours, with what each will and will not fund. Writing down why you were turned down saves the next person writing the whole application. There is no national directory behind it: it is your list.
Applications, including the ones you decided against
Each application from considering it to awarded or turned down, with the deadline and, in full, what you told the funder you would do - the thing the final report has to be written against.
Four figures kept apart
Asked for, awarded, received so far and spent so far, so you can see what is still to come in and what is still to spend.
Reporting due, with a reminder
Every report and claim you owe a funder, with its date. The treasurer gets an email before each deadline, and the list shows what is overdue across every grant at once.
A pot that does not reset at the year end
A restricted grant spent over eighteen months crosses two financial years. A project counts from the day it started, so it can always say how much of the money has gone and how much is left.
If your charity gives grants: a confidential register
Each person who asks for help is given a reference you can say aloud at a meeting. Their request, the trustees' decision and the reasons are recorded - a yes or a no cannot be saved without reasons - and the signed application form and the letter you sent can be kept with it. Names and reasons are stored encrypted.
The decisions register
Every request from everybody, side by side, with the amounts and the reasons in one column, so the trustees can check that similar requests were treated alike. Once a grant is paid, it goes into the accounts without the person's name.
What it costs
£5 a month, or £50 a year
One price with everything in it: the money, the forecast, the trustees, the meetings, the compliance records, the grants and the GDPR records. No charge per trustee, and the charity is billed rather than whoever signed up, so the subscription stays put when the committee changes.
Questions people ask
Does it find grants for us to apply for?
No. There is no funder database behind it. It keeps your own list of funders - the ones your trustees already know about - with notes on what each will fund, which is usually more use than a directory of thousands.
Does an awarded grant appear in the accounts automatically?
No, and that is deliberate. When the money actually reaches the bank you record it as income, dated by that day. Use the same fund name on the application, the income and the spending it pays for, and the three line up.
Our charity gives small grants to local people. Is that covered?
Yes. There is a separate section for grants your charity gives: applicants, their requests, the trustees' decision and reasons, the letter you sent them, notes of calls and letters, and the cheque with its two signatories.
Who can see the grant-giving records?
Owners, administrators, the treasurer, the secretary and trustees can read them; trustees cannot change them. A volunteer never sees that the section exists. Names, addresses and the reasons for decisions are stored encrypted.
Does it write the decision letters?
No. You write the letter as you do now, then keep a copy with the request so it can be found again. The decision, the date and the reasons are recorded alongside it.
Can applicants apply online?
Not through us. Applications arrive however they arrive now - on paper, by email - and you record them and attach the form.
Put in the grants you are holding now
Start free, add the grants you have and the reports you owe, and see the next deadline before it arrives.